Looking Back

The beat goes on as the Corbin Redhounds thrashed a very formidable looking football team from Louisville, the DeSales Colts to the tune of 42-21. The DeSales squad was heavily laden with physical size and pure numbers.
But to quote their head coach, they were not ready for the physical brand of play they were to receive from the Redhounds.
The coming week will bring a squad from Elizabethtown more equipped to deal with the Redhounds physical brand of play. Elizabethtown has a division one prospect at quarterback as well as a very athletic corps of receivers. This will be the ultimate test of the ‘Hounds.
The loss of Dub Woody could prove to be a real problem for the Redhounds kicking game at such a critical time.
Woody was ejected very early in the DeSales game after being involved in an altercation along the Colts sideline. KHSAA stipulates if you’re ejected from a game, you must also sit out the next game.
As I wrote of the seniors last week, I overlooked that Lucas Neely was one of that fine group of seniors. Lucas worked very hard over the summer and lost a lot of weight and has really improved his game.
I normally sit on the visitors side of the field for most games, and as I looked across the way I could not help but notice the stands were not half full. There young Redhounds are two wins from competing in Louisville for a state AA championship, and they deserve all the support available, get out and get behind them.
The magic carpet ride continues in Williamsburg as those high riding Jackets of Williamsburg High School notched yet another win in their quest of an undefeated season.
The Jackets staved off the valiant efforts of a Lynn Camp Wildcat squad who pressed the Jackets to the end in a very hard fought 15-12 victory. Watch for those Wildcats next year.
Meanwhile the Jackets turn their attention toward Pikeville as the Panthers will roll into town with a 10-2 record. I can think of no more enjoyable day than being in Louisville pulling for the Redhounds and the Jackets as they compete for state championships.
As basketball season looms just around the corner, I think back to yesteryear and remember many of the small communities whose identies were defined by local high school basketball teams. In Laurel County it was London High School Tigers, Hazel Green High School Bullfrogs, Bush High School Blue Devils and Lily High School Bulldogs who represented their communities. In Whitley County it was the Pleasant View Panthers, The Rockholds Hornets, the Woodbine Tigers and Poplar Creek Bulldogs.
In Knox County, it was Aretmus, Barbourville Rosenwald and the St. Camillus Saints.
I still have the same fever I have always had for basketball season, but I miss the House brothers playing for London High, watching the Tuttles and Elza’s as they took Hazel Green to great heights. I miss watching the Reams brothers and Burton Asher leading Bush, and Harvey Mize, Don Parsons and the Smith brothers fighting for the Lily Bulldogs. I can still in my mind see the Haynes brothers and the Davenports scoring for Pleasant View, the great leaping ability of Rockholds Bill Bryant and the great play of the Broyles brothers. I can remember Delbert Mays at Poplar Creek and Bill Lambdin. Woodbine had the great Ralph Centers, Kenneth Pennington, the Harris brothers, Roy Bullock and Charley Moore.
Barbourville Rosenwald had Milo Adams, Ralph Tinsley and big Wilbur Smith that come to mind.
The Saint Camillus Saints of course bring back more to me than the others because I was part of that in an even more personal way. I will touch on St. C in an entire column over the next few weeks, but as these ghosts from the past pass through my memory, it makes me very sad to think of what today’s generation has been deprived of.