Out and About KY Style: Kentucky Basketball HOF Meet and Greet

If you are a high school basketball historian and even followed some of the stars into their collegiate careers, mark your calendar for August 12.

Gary West is an author and News Journal columnist.

The Kentucky High School Basketball Hall of Fame will be inducting 14 former prep greats and coaches at the Historic State Theater in downtown Elizabethtown. This group has as much statewide appeal as many of the classes before them and gives those who attend an opportunity to visit and share a story or two.

The High School Basketball Hall of Fame began selecting members in 2012, and this group of inductees rivals many of the past with records, achievements, and careers that continued into the college years.

Eastern Kentucky is well represented by Ervin Stepp, the number two all-time national high school scorer. Playing at Phelps High School he averaged 47 his junior year and 53 his senior year in 1980. He is a former Mr. Basketball.

Whitesburg’s Brigette Combs, in 1985, was a Miss Basketball who later was part of two Final Four teams at Western Kentucky University, playing for Paul Sanderford.

Craig Eversoll starred at Warren Central High School in Bowling Green in 1982, averaging 26-points a game. He went on to play at Virginia Tech.

Perhaps no other player flew under the nation’s basketball radar in 1962 more than Glasgow Bunche’s Charles “Big Game” Hunter. Many observers felt he could have played at any powerhouse in the country, but he chose to play for legendary Abe Lemon at Oklahoma City University. At 6’5” he was a rebounding machine as well as leading his region in scoring in 1961 and 62.

A first team all-stater, he posted a double-double playing in the Kentucky-Indiana All Star Game in 1962.

Greg Smith, joins his brother Dwight as a member of this Hall of Fame. In 1964, he led Caldwell County High School to the Sweet Sixteen before heading to Western to play with his brother, Clem Haskins, and Wayne Chapman. Greg also was part of the world champion Milwaukee Bucks and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar.

Other inductees include:  Wayne Golden, Shawnee; Ronnie Daniel, Shawnee; Adia Mathis, Iroquois; Patti Jo Hedges, Western High; Jerry Eaves, Ballard; John Burr, Adair County (Jim Richards WKU high school coach); Tim Mudd, Elizabethtown girls: Chris Renner, Ballard coach.

“We’ll have a ‘Meet and Greet’ after the formal ceremony,” said Rick Walters, a Hall of Fame board member. “It will give those in attendance a chance to talk to and get a photo with the inductees. The Hall of Fame Museum is located across the street from the Historic State Theater and features a rare collection of Kentucky basketball memorabilia and film clips from days gone by.

Tickets for the Hall of Fame ceremony are $25 and can be purchased at the museum, and at the door on August 12.

Elizabethtown is in the eastern time zone, so for those traveling from the Western part of the state will be able to gain the extra hour on their return home.

There’s no excuse, get up, get out and get going! Gary P. West can be reached at westgarypdeb@gmail.com.