Choreographing Mr. and Miss Hoops

In the immortal words of Monty Python’s Flying circus — “And now for something completely different.” The Kentucky Lions Eye Foundation has come up with a new way to announce the winners of Kentucky’s Mr. and Miss Basketball. Next Tuesday (April 5) the Lions will hold (what they hope is) a pep rally/recognition ceremony at Miss Basketball’s high school, wherever that may be. Five days later (April 10), the Lions will do the same for Mr. Basketball at his high school.. The media will receive some advance notice so they know where to send their cameras.

Over the years, the Mr. and Miss Basketball announcements have come in many forms in many locales, none of which created much buzz. As best I can remember, Mr. and Miss Hoops have always been announced together, whether it’s been in Louisville, Lexington, Fort Mitchell (during a sports editors meeting) or Frankfort (where the stuffiest ceremonies were held in the Capitol Rotunda). The most awkward format was at the Campbell House here in Lexington in the mid-1990s when somebody thought it’d be a good idea to have a Heisman Trophy-type set-up. The top three vote-getters for Mr. and Miss Basketball were invited to the press conference, and the runners-up had to sit there looking at their shoes when somebody else won.

Last year, after Walt Allen and Arnika Brown (shown in photo with their trophies) were named the honorees at a press conference in Frankfort. Allen then headed back to South Laurel where he received a hero’s welcome at the school. That went so well that the Lions Eye Foundation decided this year to make the official announcements at the high schools of the winners, hoping for a festive atmosphere. Whether or not this will make for better media attention, we’ll see. But you can’t blame the Lions Eye Foundation folks for trying something to make it more of an event. (It wasn’t that long ago that Mr. and Miss Basketball didn’t even get a trophy.)

But you never know what might happen to take the spotlight off the winners. What if UK announces its new basketball coach on April 5 or 10, thus bumping Miss or Mr. Basketball off the sportscape? Don’t say it can’t happen. I’ll never forget the happenings in mid-April, 1988, when Richie Farmer was named Mr. Basketball. He had signed with UK earlier in the week, the day after which news broke that a package, containing $1,000, had popped open on its way to UK recruit Chris Mills. That set off a chain of events that would ultimately torpedo the Cats’ basketball program. At the press conference for Mr. and Miss Basketball, Farmer said signing with UK was one of happiest moments of his life. Asked if he would’ve delayed his college choice if the Chris Mills story had broken before he signed, Farmer famously said: “I don’t think so because I don’t think anything will come of it.”