Looking Back

Well, football season has come and gone, all but those great memories of an outstanding season. One miscue of probably what was many over the season, was that I failed to include Addison Hamblin as a member of that terrific senior class of 2004.
Addison was number 38 and had a very good year, as I remember that number getting up from several tackles over the year. My apologies Addison and congratulation on being a leader on such a great team.
I believe it was 1952 when my grandfather Crook took me and my cousin Richard Holland to our first basketball game at the Edwards Gymnasium, I will never forget the smell of popcorn and the bouncing of balls on that hardwood floor as it ingrained in me something I have never lost over the past 50 some odd years.
It was renewed again this past couple of weeks as the Redhounds took the floor on four occasions and now stand at two wins and two losses. The Running Redhounds show a great deal of promise with very good size and adequate quickness. The senior leadership of Andrew Parks, Jordan Noble and Brad Lawson plus a strong group of underclassmen should have the Redhounds in the thick of things come March.
Andrew Parks had a big game against Garrard County Saturday night scoring 40 points. The Garrard County coach could be heard calling to the player guarding Andrew to not play behind him. This plea was made with approximately six minutes to go in the game, and Parks had 30 points at the time, but it helped I guess, because Andrew only scored 10 more points in that final six minutes.
Jordan Noble and Parks are perhaps the most prolific one-two scoring punch in the 13th region.
I saw all-time Redhound great Bobby Terrell at the game against Boyle County Friday evening, as he was there watching his grandson Ryan Tate run the Redhound offense from his point guard position. Ryan, a junior, is very aggressive and unselfish and an important component of this team. By the way, Grandpa Terrell wasn’t too shabby either.
As I watched Jordan Noble play, I cannot help but notice the resemblance he has to another Redhound of the past, Don Turner. Both players stand about 6-3 and move very smoothly on the court with outstanding touch on their outside shots and the graceful moves apparent in their inside play. Turner graduated in 1956, and was an outstanding all-around athlete. Turner signed a football grant and aid and attended the University of Kentucky for a year before transferring to Union College. He became one of the Bulldogs all-time leading scorers in basketball.
Coach Tony Pietrowski is entering his fourth year as head coach and in what appears to be a wide open 13th region. It appears he has a good shot at getting the Redhounds back to the state tournament. Rockcastle County led by its point guard, Aaron Cash, could be the best in the region at this time, but most years its merely a matter of being the best at the right time, which is as we all know in March.
This is the last year for the 13th region as we know it, next year it will change along with the 50th District to include South Laurel and become increasingly more interesting. North Laurel will also be part of the 13th region under their new coach Daniel Brown. Coach Brown I believe will turn North Laurel into a championship contender right away.
Congratulations to Brad Lawson and Ryan Cleary for their selection to second-team All-State squad.
My profile this week is not of the past, but more of the present. Terry Joe Martin, past president of the Varsity Club, and past director of the Cumberland Falls Invitational Tournament has very quietly gone about being an organizer and driving force behind many local projects particularly involving athletics and certainly the community is grateful for his contributions.