Redhounds rule series

I noticed in an article reported in our competitors paper that bleeds South Laurel red, that the bi-line to the reporters headline was that the Cardinals had won their third straight football game over the Redhounds which seemed to gleefully tickle the chuckles of his Laurel County heart.
As Paul Harvey might say, here is the rest of the story. South Laurel High School, a 4A school, after over 30 years of competition won for a third time over a school approximately one third in size. The article never mentioned that in over 45 years in competition with Laurel County schools, London, Lily, Hazel Green, Laurel County High School, North Laurel and South Laurel in football, Corbin has lost only THREE games. So before the other reporter gets too giddy, perhaps he should remember the rest of the story.
The current Redhounds are showing improvement with Clint Cashen back in the lineup. Clint adds much needed experience even though he is only a sophomore, he has a successful year experience from last year’s outstanding squad.
Eric Blackwood continues to show flashes of brilliance, and as the season wears on, will be a key to the Redhounds success.
At the risk of leaving someone out, this past week of the Bird celebration, many great running backs from the past came to mind from the Redhound football history.
Willis Campbell, a very good friend of mine, always brings up Rusty Peace from the undefeated Corbin team of 1939. Willis says Rusty Peace and Lynn Camp’s Jack Martin were the best broken field runners he ever saw. I did not see Peace, or Martin play, but I trust Willis’ judgment.
Other great running backs from even farther in the past and spoken about to me by the late Dr. Keith Smith, and other Redhound faithful of the past are Wes Tayor, Blondie Hendrickson, S.T. “Bitsy” Holman, Bonnie Hodge and the great Jimmy Cummins.
From the years that I have personally witnessed great running backs of course you have Calvin, Billy, Rodger, and Steve Bird, but there have been many others who in their own way were outstanding as well. Harold Queary, David Miller, Bill Howard, Jimmy Spicer, Greg Taylor, Bobby Croley, Barry Brooks, David Hannah and more recently Jarod Lawson.
There are many more outstanding running backs in the Redhounds history, and I ask you to please send me other names who are deserving to be on this list.
If our heads seem to be drooping a bit over our 0-3 start to the 2005 Redhound football season, take heart, it was only a year ago that we lost by one point in the semi-finals of the state AA playoffs. The last two games of last year were among the finest I have ever seen played at Campbell Field. We lost 16 seniors and it was very difficult to replenish on the high school level.
What concerns me is that I feel we have athletes in our enrollment that are transferring to other schools or choosing not to become part of our football program.
I look back to years in the past (as I often do) and I see Frank Selvy, Jerry Bird, Robert Barton, Roy Kidd, Bobby Terrell, Edd Selvy, Tom Horvath and many more who applied their athletic prowess to football and basketball and yet several others to baseball and track as well.
We are a small high school, and we need all of our good athletes to help in each sport.
I saw coach Tony Pietrowski and his wife and several of his players at the celebration for the Bird family and the 1955 state champion football team. That was a great experience for his players to get a glimpse of what’s “Pride and Tradition” is all about. It means more than just words on a wall.
Well, the Fad Pool Room has closed, and now the Dixie Restaurant, what will a man do for a good hot dog? I can tell you that the Fresh Mart’s hot dogs are great as well as the Root Beer Stand.