LOOKING BACK

 I attended my grandson Dylan’s baseball game Saturday and I sat next to another grandfather who was there to watch his grandson play. We struck up a conversation when I told him I was from Corbin and he told me he was from Whitesburg. His name is Jim Whitaker.

The gentleman recalled his best sports memory was of the 1951 state tournament when he played for Whitesburg against a highly ranked Corbin Redhound team. The gentleman said his team had fallen behind by 13 points at halftime, but they roared from behind to beat the Redhounds in the second half. He told me how much he admired the play of Jerry Bird.

I also ran into John Kelly from Middlesboro originally, but now lives in Lexington and has a son playing in the same league as my grandson.

John played softball for the Middlesboro Merchants a few years ago. John’s brothers, Tim and Bill, were also on that team. Tim is a top notch official in this area for both football and basketball in the 13^th Region. Bill Kelly, the other brother is now the mayor of Middlesboro.

I spoke with basketball coach Tony Pietrowski and he told me the roundballers are going to be very active this summer playing local teams as well as some other competition.

I look forward to it almost as much as the regular season. I am anxious to watch the development of Robbie Igo, Trevor Hill, Kaleb Maguet, Zach Farley, Joey Shelton, Hunter Grubb, and Kevin Goins and there are always kids that can really take big steps up.

Farley stepped it up last year and really made a significant contribution. A lot of what you reap in March must be sown in June.

The national champions of Coach John Calipari have moved on leaving Coach Cal and his coaching staff once again working on the puzzle. I don’t feel that recruiting the best players is altogether what determines the results that Coach Cal has been able to achieve.

This new set of recruits will have to buy into what Coach Cal preaches, play hard, play smart and play together.

All the coaches through out the nation use that same sermon, but very few are able to achieve what has been so successful at the University of Kentucky.

What are we to expect this coming basketball season? I feel Coach has laid the groundwork for another exciting season. Look for help along the lines of what Darius Miller brought to last year’s team from John Hood, who has grown to 6’7” and should have been able to gain from the many practices he has observed and will make a significant contribution to this year’s team.

I want to congratulate Vinny Timperio and Clay Elliott on winning their fishing tournament while representing Georgetown College last week.