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Orange Origins: Williamsburg basketball in the 1940s
When you walk into Williamsburg High School’s JB Mountjoy Gymnasium you will notice on one wall four banners featuring jerseys of former Yellow Jacket basketball greats Jack Miller (1936-40), Ed Fish (1937-41), Bill Miller (1939-43) and Scotty Perkins (1942-46).
For those well-versed in Yellow Jacket history, these names are all too familiar, but for those who may not be familiar with who they are, they represent a golden age of roundball action in Williamsburg that has not been matched since their time in uniform.
True, the Jackets did surprise many fans in 2014 with exciting wins in both the 50th District and 13th Region tournaments, and they mostly dominated on the court en route to a Sweet 16 appearance in 2015, but the boys basketball teams of the early-to-mid 1940s managed to maintain a level of success that saw them contending for regional championship titles on a regular basis, as well as going on to compete at the state level on more than one occasion.
On March 7, 1940, a team photo of the basketball Jackets was featured on the front page of the Whitley Republican along with a headline reading “Williamsburg Team Goes to Regional Tournament.”
The 39-40 Yellow Jackets, which featured Jack Miller and Ed Fish, along with Alfred Richardson, Clyde Davis, Lloyd Sharp, Bill White, Joe Meadors, George Miller, Jim Sawyer and Richard Hill was coached by Raymond Lovett. The team hosted Corbin in the finals of the 51st District championship tournament that season, falling to the Redhounds in the championship game. An excerpt from the story on the tournament read, “Coach Raymond Lovett’s Williamsburg Yellow Jackets, after a mediocre regular season, reached their peak of performance in the 51st District tournament, held here last week end, and were runners-up to Corbin’s Redhounds for the district net title.”
As it turns out, author Dennis Vaughn’s assessment of the Yellow Jackets having “reached their peak of performance” turned out to be inaccurate, as the boys from the Burg would go on to win a regional championship title the following week at Pineville.
Vaughn wrote in the March 14, 1940 edition of the Republican, “By virtue of three hard-won victories in the regional tournament at Pineville, the Williamsburg Yellow Jackets will represent the thirteenth region in the in the state meet at Lexington. Their opponent in the first round will be St. Joe of Bardstown, champs of the sixth region.”
Williamsburg had a difficult path to the regional crown, defeating Benham High School (out of Harlan County), 25-23, Corbin, 26-19, and Middlesboro, 24-23. According to the article, the Jackets scored five baskets late in the game against Benham, considered by many to be the pre-tournament favorites, to secure their first victory. They were then able to exact some revenge on the Redhounds in their second game, despite the fact that Fish only played for a total of three-and-a-half minutes due to getting into foul trouble early in the contest.
In the regional final, it was a “charity toss” by Lloyd Sharp that lifted Williamsburg past Middlesboro after Jack Miller had tied the game up at 23-23 with a basket just minutes earlier. Jim Sawyer led the team in scoring in the championship game with 13 points.
According to Vaughn’s report on the tournament, the 1939-40 Yellow Jackets team was “the first Williamsburg representative ever to win as much as one game in regional play.”
“This was Williamsburg’s year,” Vaughn also wrote. “The boys started slowly and at times looked like the eighth grade second team in early season encounters, but gained momentum as the season progressed and played their best ball when it counted the most – in tournament play.”
On March 21, 1940, Vaughn reported in the Whitley Republican that Williamsburg had managed to advance all the way to the semi-finals of that year’s state championship tournament. He recounted the action, saying, “Coach Raymond Lovett’s Williamsburg Yellow Jackets, playing in their first state basketball tournament, surprised even their fondest admirers as well as the so-called ‘experts’ by their fine showing in the meet held at Lexington.”
The Yellow Jackets defeated St. Joe 26-24 in round one, and then took down the previous year’s state champions, Brooksville High School (out of Bracken County), by a final score of 25-22 before falling in the semis in a competitive game against Ashland. Sawyer once again led the way for Williamsburg in the game against St. Joe, scoring 14 points. He and Sharp both scored nine points in the win over Brooksville.
Jack Miller would earn all-state honors for the Jackets in the 1940 state tournament as a senior.
Editor’s note: Newspaper records of the 1940-41 high school basketball season were, unfortunately, not available on the archive shelves, but a program from the 1941 state tournament found online does show that the Jackets made it back to the big dance in Ed Fish’s senior season. Williamsburg met up with eventual state champions Inez in the opening round that year, falling by the final score of 37-21.
After back-to-back state championship tournament appearances in 1940 and 1941, the Williamsburg Yellow Jackets boys basketball team underachieved in 1942. A photo of the team appeared on the front page of the March 19, 1942 Whitley Republican along with the headline “Williamsburg Has a Good Cage Season.”
Editor’s Note: The word “cage” was often used to describe a basketball season, coach, player, etc. due to the fact that, in the early days of the sport, the court was commonly surrounded by a cage in order to protect spectators sitting in close proximity to the action on the floor.
Underneath the photo, the caption read, “Pictured above are Glenn Faulkner and his Williamsburg High School Yellow Jackets, who enjoyed a good basketball season. The local boys lost to Corbin, 30-28, in the semi-finals of the district tournament at Corbin recently.”
Team members that season were: Simon Renfro, Jimmie Smiddy, Elmer Davis, George (Pig) Miller, Frank Caddell, Farris Buckner, Ivan Bunch, JD Eastin, Bill Miller and Harold West.
Things would begin to go Williamsburg’s way again in 1943, starting with the team coming out on top of the then 100th District tournament.
“Coach Herb Steely’s Yellow Jackets were awarded the winner’s trophy in the 100th District tourney last Saturday night a few minutes after they had eliminated Rockhold in the finals by the score of 40-16,” wrote Bill West in the March 11, 1943 edition of the Whitley Republican, going on to describe how Williamsburg had also bested Woodbine and Corbin in the tournament’s earlier rounds.
“The boys from WHS led by their captain, Bill Miller, were all over the court,” West wrote of the game against Corbin. “Playing in such a fashion that the Corbin Hounds were bewildered…”
The box score for the semi-final round contest against Corbin shows Miller scoring 16 points in the win.
From here, the Jackets moved on to that year’s regional tournament, played at Pineville. They bested Knox Central in the opening round, 23-15, with Miller once again leading the charge with ten points. This was as far as Williamsburg would get, however, as they would fall in the semi-finals to Manchester, 32-21.
Harlan won the regional tourney that year, defeating Manchester in the championship, 60-29.
Prior to the start of the 1943 regional tournament, the Whitley Republican reported that S.L. Renfro had hosted a special banquet for the Jackets at the Methodist Church in Williamsburg. The report lists the players present at the banquet as: S.L. Renfro, Jr., Ed Davis, Frank Caddell, Jimmy Estes, Bill Miller, Coolidge Early, Norman Renfro, G.C. Criscillis, Jimmy Smiddy and Bobby Smith.
“Mr. Renfro emphasized the importance of athletics in building character and developing the body,” the story went on to say. “A winning basketball team, he pointed out, also does much to create school spirit and loyalty. He also brought out the importance of keeping athletics clean and wholesome, stating that Christianity can be practiced on the basketball floor just as effectively as in Sunday School and church.”
Uneventful ends to the 43-44 and 44-45 seasons led to the 1945-46 season, where senior Scotty Perkins and the Yellow Jackets once again climbed to the mountaintop of the region and qualified for state tournament competition.
“Williamsburg High School’s Yellow Jackets qualified for this week’s 13th Regional Tournament at Pineville by winning the 50th District championship last Saturday night at Corbin,” wrote James Levin on the front page of the March 7, 1946 edition of the Whitley Republican. “In winning the right to represent the district in the 13th Regional tournament, they defeated Knox Central, 25-22, Lynn Camp, 30-28, Corbin, 25-24, and Barbourville, 49-33.”
In the regional tourney, Levin wrote that the Jackets would be paired up against Hall High School (out of Harlan County), who had defeated Harlan, Evarts and Benham High School to become that year’s champions of the 52nd District.
The following week, a large headline across the front page of the Republican announced to readers “Yellow Jackets Win Regional Tournament,” signaling that the boys in orange were once again getting the opportunity to contend for a state championship title.
“The Williamsburg High School Yellow Jackets will represent the 13th Region at the annual Kentucky High School Tournament in Louisville this week by virtue of winning the regional tournament in Pineville last Saturday night,” Levin wrote. “They won the coveted honor of going to the state tournament by defeating Hall, 38-24, and Middlesboro, 39-27, in the regional. This was the third regional title the school has won in history.”
Box scores for the regional tournament contests show that Johnnie Renfro was the star of the show, leading the way for the Jackets with 16 points against Hall and 21 points against Middlesboro.
In the state tournament the following week, Williamsburg fell in the first round, 53-43, to the eventual 1946 state champs from Breckinridge. Accompanied by coverage from the game on the front page of the March 21 edition of the Whitley Republican was a team photo featuring Jess White, Charles Watson, Scotty Perkins, Bob Smith, Johnnie Renfro, Raymond White, John Hill, Bob Petrey, Harold Browning, Jr., Bob Bishop and Coach Wallace Hicks.
“Above are pictured the Williamsburg High School Yellow Jackets, who closed one of their most successful seasons in history last week,” the photo caption read. “Winners in 26 out of 31 contests, including tournament play, the Jackets, 50th District and 13th Regional champions, lost to Breckinridge Training School, who went on to win the championship.”
Another highlight from the coverage of the 1945-46 Yellow Jackets basketball team was a feature that ran in the Republican prior to the state tournament that explored how Coach Wallace learned the game not from personal experience on the court, but from reading about it in books.
“Williamsburg Cage Coach Learns Sport from Books,” was the title of the interesting article, written by Clarence Greene of the Courier-Journal.
In the article, Greene wrote, “Hicks is a graduate of Cumberland Junior College and furthered his studies at the University of Kentucky, where he picked up what pointers from Adolph Rupp that could be gathered from the sidelines. From obscurity as a teacher in the Whitley County school system who never played a high school or college game, the man who taught it from books has proved in reaching the zenith as the title bearer that the best coaches don’t have to play the game.”
Coach Hicks himself was quoted in the story, saying, “I have loved and lived the sport since a child in neighboring Pleasant View. I didn’t want the coaching job this year, although I took it until they could get a coach. I feel I’ve done a rather good job.”
Indeed, Hicks’ comments foreshadow what Williamsburg athletics would become all about in the decades ahead… Coming together. Stepping up to a challenge when asked. Finding ways to be successful and add to a tradition that, in large part, was established during the 30’s and 40’s thanks to the efforts of the Millers, the Renfros, Ed Fish, Scotty Perkins, and so many others.
