LOOKING BACK

 The Kentucky Wildcats of Coach John Calipari showed true grit this past week as they won over Mississippi State and Vanderbilt on the road against veteran teams who were determined to play physical and get the young Cats out of their game.

The Wildcats were very physical as well and they played magnificent defense. The TV announcers kept talking about how Vandy was off their 3-point shooting. There was a reason they were off, it was the defense of the young Wildcats.

The coaching job of Coach John Calipari has been nothing short of astounding. Calipari took a team that lost early in the NIT last season and lost its leading scorer, Jody Meeks to the NBA draft.

Calipari recruited six newcomers with various personalities and blended these newcomers with the remaining holdovers from last year and has led the Cats to 26 wins in 27 games.

To quote Dick Vitale “the perfect coach for the Kentucky program”.

As we look forward to the 13^th Region Tournament I think back to some of the outstanding players who have played in past 13^th Region tourneys.

There are far too many to name them all, but a few of the very best were Jerry Bird, Frank Selvy, Jerry Smith, Calvin Bird, Edd Selvy, Robert Barton, Tony Pietrowski and Bobby Terrell from Corbin, From Clay County there were Richie Farmer, Ray Mills, John “Crow” Fletcher, Henry “Skylar” Garrison and Russ Chadwell. Harlan had Wallace “Wah Wah” Jones, Charles Thomas, Robert Brown and Charles Tabb.

Knox Central had Don Bingham, Pat Hauser, Bill Fultz, Noble Potter, Terry Mills, Doug Logan, Rondal Phipps, Vencil Phipps and Bill Burch.

There are other small schools and many other players, but these players and schools come to mind right away.

The regional championship that I enjoyed most was last year when the Redhounds thoroughly beat South Laurel in the finals.

The regional championship of 1965 was the most disappointing. After the Redhounds defeated Knox Central by 24 points in the 50^th District finals, the tables were turned on the region as Knox Central defeated Corbin and moved on to the state tournament.

I always felt the ’65 Redhounds may have been one of the best ever Redhound teams.

A member of that ’65 team, Charles “Curly” Selvy had heart by-pass surgery last week at St. Joseph Hospital and is now recovering. I wish “Curly” a quick recovery.

While checking on “Curly”, I was able to visit with his brother, Edd and Edd’s wife, the former Sandra Poynter, and “Curly’s” other brother and my good friend, Marvin. Edd spoke of the ’54 Redhound football team and one of his teammates on that team, Calvin Bird.

Edd played football later at the University of Kentucky, but said Calvin was the best player he ever played with high school or college.

Edd Selvy was named a high school All-American basketball player in the Parade Magazine in 1954, also on that All-American team was a young man named Wilt Chamberlain from Overbrook High School in Philadelphia, Pa.

Calvin Bird of whom Selvy spoke was the main speaker at a Power lunch at the Central Baptist Youth building last week. It was very obvious Calvin took great pride in being a Corbin native and the people in attendance were just as proud of Calvin.