Memories

Well, I took an extra week to digest all the basketball I saw week before last. The Corbin Redhounds of coach Tony Pietrowski fought their hearts out in Rupp Arena, before coming up a little short in a quarterfinal game against University Heights. But that loss was hardly the story.
The story was the effort, the courage and the attitude of this group of young men and of a young coach who never gave up on his kids.
I watched as coach Pietrowski left the floor for the final time with his seniors, Andrew Parks, Jordan Noble and Brad Lawson and my thoughts were, there is a bond that will never be broken.
Andrew Parks will rank very high among all the players who played at Corbin High School as far as playing with intensity. Andrew collected 34 rebounds in the two games.
Jordan Noble was a key “go to” guy all year for the Redhounds, and I would always love to have Jordan take the big shot.
Brad Lawson knew his role as a defensive stopper, but he was much more than that as he played with reckless abandon.
Ryan Tate and Josh Hamlin fought their hearts out in support of their three seniors above and Ryan Swim played hard under the basket.
The play of eighth grader Josh Crawford was astounding. Josh was very active on the boards and at the defensive end. Crawford also found time to score 20 points in the first game.
From the demeanor he presents on the court, the sky is the limit for this young man.
The win and loss leave the Redhounds record at the “Sweet Sixteen” at 12 wins and 12 losses.
Andrew Parks was named to the all-state tournament team and joined nine former Redhounds to have received the honor.
In 1936 the state championship Redhounds placed brothers, Marion and Stan Cluggish along with Bill Asher on the all-tournament team.
In 1939, it was Charles Triplett named to the honor squad. In 1950 it was Frank Selvy and Robert Barton, In 1952 it was Jerry Bird.
The 1991 tournament saw Bo Roaden selected to the all-tournament team. In 1997, it was a sophomore, Ricky Jones, who later transferred to Scott County, where he was named to the all-tournament team as a member of the Scott County Cardinals.
This column ends my season, hopefully, I will return in the fall for football season. Thank you for your expressions of interest and words of encouragement, God Bless you all.
Don Estep picked up the following poem on the internet and it seem to fit our feelings to a tee.

Simpler Life in Black & White
(Under age 40? You won’t understand)

You could hardly see for all the snow
Spread the rabbit ears as far as they go.
Pull a chair up to the TV set,
“Good Night, David. Good Night, Chet.”
Dependin’g on the channel you tuned,
You got Rob and Laura – or Ward and June.
It felt so good. It felt so right.
Life looked better in black and white.
I Love Lucy, The Real McCoys,
Dennis the Menace, the Cleaver boys,
Rawhide, Gunsmoke, Wagon Train,
Superman, Jimmy and Lois Lane.
Father Knows Best, Patty Duke,
Rin Tin Tin and Lassie too,
Donna Reed on Thursday night!
Life looked better in black and white.
I wanna go back to black and white.
Everything always turned out right.
Simple people, simple lives…
Good guys always won the fights.
Now nothing is the way it seems,
In living color on the TV screen.
Too many murders, too many fights,
I wanna go back to black and white.
In God they trusted, alone in bed, they slept.
A promise made was a promise kept.
They never cussed or broke their vows.
They’d never make the network now.
But if I could, I’d rather be
In a TV town in ’53.
It felt so good. It felt so right.
Life looked better in black and white.
I’d trade all the channels on the satellite,
If I could just turn back the clock tonight
To when everybody knew wrong from right
Life was better in black and white!