Looking Ahead

The new alignment in high school football represents a change in Corbin High School football that provides Redhound fans with a pleasant surprise. Rarely am i ever in agreement with change, being the old goat that I am.
I have never particularly liked the schools being classified even in a 4A system nor did I like the 3A system. I believe there is only one state champion in a high school football season just as there is only one state champion in basketball.
Yes, it is true your smaller schools will seldon prevail in such a system, but when they do, I.E. (Corbin Redhounds of 1955) it is truly special. Someone once said “there is no honor in winning a race of turtles.”
Al that being said, however, the new system provides opportunity for the Redhound football program to return to the days when their schedule peaked the interest of Redhound fans.
Enough of the Casey Counties, the Taylor Counties, the Green Counties that under the alignment the Redhounds have been required to play over the past few years.
Now the required games will be with Middlesboro, Somerset, Leslie County and Knott County Central.
Now we will not have to play Middlesboro as an extra game or Somerset. Leslie County will also be a very formidable district opponent and it frees up the rest of the schedule to play a Lexington team, a Louisville team, a Boyle County or any number of opponents. Danville will also be found somewhere along the line if the Redhounds progress through the playoffs.
Bell County will still be available on the non-district schedule. Football teams rise or sink to the level of competition, the Redhounds have this opportunity and I am sure coach Steve Jewell and his staff will answer the challenge.
Speaking of rising to the challenge, the teams in the decade of the fifties played strong schedules year in an year out. The last team in the decade of the 50s was naturally 1959.
The 1959 team was led by all-state tackle, Big Fred Rader, and sensational all-state running back Billy Bird. Bird, an outstanding broken field runner, ran behind a big strong offensive line made up of Rader, D. L. Lynch, Bobby “Muncy” White, Jesse Grant, Taylor Hollin, Jim Andy Wilder and Johnny Jervis.
There was probably a first on that 1958 team, as it was the first time a coaching staff at Corbin ever moved a kind from center to quarterback, as coach Watt Green talked young Billy Short into make the transition and it worked great.
Billy had four excellent running back to whom he could hand the ball off to. Of course there was the unstoppable Billy Bird, a big horse of a running back who was a terrific player named Bobby Croley. He was a brilliant scholar.
Duane “Derby” Hart was a hard blocking fullback and a player who very well have been the best all-around player to ever play at Corbin High School. Billy’s younger brother, Rodger Bird, was there as an underclassmen to pick up for Croley when he suffered a broken collarbone in the Pineville game that year.
The Redhounds of 1959 had a great year and probablly would have been in line in for a state championship had they not run into a juggernaut in Louisville Manual the final game of the season. Each of the seniors on that ’59 squad were offered the opportunity to play college football that next season.
As we near a new school year, several coaching changes have been made in the local area. A new head football coach at South Laurel, a new head football coach at Whitely County and a new head football coach at South Laurel and a new heading football coach Williamsburg.
Whitely County and Williamsburg each have new basketball head coaches with Corbin ties. Coach Mike Deaton who was very successful at Whitely County. Rick Jones who was an outstanding player in Corbin HIgh School before transferring to Scott County under coach Billy Hicks has taken over the reigns at Williamsburg High School. Good luck to all the new guys.