LOOKING BACK

The red-hot Corbin Redhounds came out firing against Jackson County and put away the Generals, 84-67.
Freshman Madison Johnson burned the nets for 19 points followed by Josh Crawford and Deke Barley who each tallied 18 points. Josh Smith chipped in with 13 points to help seal a win over a pretty good Jackson County team. The young Brumback kid played a great game for the Generals.
The Scott County Cardinals of coach Billy Hicks look like the class of high school basketball in Kentucky.
Coach Hicks continues to dominate the 11th region but will be tested Friday, February 2nd as the Cardinals will take on Huntington. West Virginia’s Wheeler High School which features Patrick Patterson whose basketball talents are being sough by Tubby Smith and the University of the Kentucky Wildcats.
I ran into Baker Reasor at the Redhound-Jackson County game last Friday, and he brought to my attention another coach who led his team against Corbin on at least one occasion and that was Charlie Khun of Louisville Male. Baker recalled how impressed coach Khun was with Corbin’s great running back Rodger Bird.
The Khun family in the 50’s and 60’s were to the city of Louisville what the Brohm family is now. Kenny Khun, one of Charles’ brothers, was probably Male High’s greatest all-around athlete.
I have more highlight memories of games from the past.
January 1947 – The All Kentucky Invitational Tournament (known now as the Louisville Invitational Tournament). The Redhounds led by Curt Selvy and Max Mobley captured the championship.
November of 1960 – Corbin 46, Louisville Manual 34 as the Redhounds complete their last undefeated season to date behind five Rodger Bird touchdowns.
I realize that the Hounds had a couple of undefeated regular seasons although right off hand I cannot think of any.
Even if there has been, it would not be considered an undefeated season if you lost in the playoffs,
January of 1960 – The basketball Redhounds lose to an outstanding Lexington Dunbar team at Edwards Gymnasium. Dunbar was a team of great players, perhaps, the best in the game of high school basketball in the state of Kentucky over a five-year period.
There was another factor added to the 13th region last week as Clay County upset Bell County. Coach Kevin Spurlock who came to Clay County from Hazard High School last year seems to have the Tigers ready to play as we enter the last month of the regular season. While I think coach Spurlock has done well since arriving at Clay County, I really like the job done by Lewis Morris at Hazard as Spurlock’s replacement.
In the meantime, Coach Tony Pietrowski is developing the deepest team in the region by not hesitating to go to ten or 11 players deep. The team is developing more chemistry now as you see them congratulate each other on a nice pass or a good shot, which is a team sport is the most important component a team can have.
Josh Crawford continues to play hard and provide leadership despite a nagging injury. Josh is simply the best sophomore in the state and can play for anybody. Josh is not only an outstanding player but also a very fine young man.
The Kentucky Wildcats picked up a big win over Tennessee Sunday, and even though Chris Lofton did not play, it was a win the ‘Cats needed badly.
Tennessee without Lofton, however, is very ordinary. The Wildcats are going into a very difficult part of their schedule beginning with Arkansas at Arkansas and it only gets more difficult from there. I have never seen more parity than in the SEC, except for Florida, anybody can beat anybody.