This week in Kentucky high school sports history

1973

Clark County’s Bart Mahan shoots a 74 at Longview Golf Course to take medalist honors in the Mid-State Conference tournament . . . Woodford County basketball star Larry Blackford, who averaged 19 points and 10 rebounds in his senior season, signs with Eastern Kentucky . . . Most of the 1,173 students at Male High School are boycotting classes to protest the suspension of basketball coach Jim Huter. The city schools’ council suspended Huter after reports surfaced that a man indicted on gambling charges had contact with Male basketball players . . . Tates Creek’s baseball team is led by defensive standouts Kevin Foster (second baseman) and John Vandermale (shortstop), centerfielder Butch Schneider, pitcher/outfielder Bob Bunting, and sophomore catcher Chuck Ross.

1983

Lexington has three players make the Kentucky All-Stars’ boys’ basketball team — Gary Butcher and Vince Sanford of Lafayette, and Greg Bates of state champ Henry Clay. Winston Bennett of Male is Mr. Basketball, and Clemette Haskins of Warren Central is Miss Basketball. Three UK Lady Kat signees make the all-star team: Julie Duerring of Boone County, Debbie Miller of Casey County and Melissa Napier of Knox Central . . . Jon Shepard of Henry Clay shoots a 73 to edge Rob McNamara by a shot to win region medalist honors at Longview Golf Course. Jill Mattingly of Lafayette shoots an 86 to win girls’ medalist honors at Woodford Hills . . . Henry Clay’s Mark Ward throws a three-hit shutout to beat Lexington Catholic 3-0 in the opening game of the 40th District baseball tournament. LexCath senior Rodney Martin, who pitched only 4 innings in the regular season, throws a five-hitter in going the distance against Henry Clay. Martin also has 2 of the Knights’ 3 hits.

1993

Former UK star Patty Jo Hedges-Ward is named girls’ basketball coach at Lexington Catholic. Asked about a possible matchup with husband, Steve Ward, who coaches Bryan Station, Hedges-Ward quipped, “I’d probably wind up hollering at him to sit down and fix his tie.” . . . Pineville boys’ basketball coach Marc Dukes, upon leaving to coach at Northwest Mississippi College, says of Kentucky high school hoops: “These kids getting shopped around is not what high school athletics is supposed to be about. There’s no way to stop it unless the KHSAA enforces the rules.” . . . Trinity assistant Dale Anderson is named head football coach at Southwestern, a new school in Pulaski County . . . Raceland pitcher Ryan McKenzie has thrown 42 consecutive scoreless innings, and has 90 strikeouts and 14 walks during the streak . . . Defending state baseball champ and No. 1-rated Lafayette improves to 24-3 with a win over Bryan Station. Rob Hauswald homers for the winners; Darron Ingram homers for the losers. Lafayette hasn’t lost to a city opponent in two years.

LCA avoids boycott by Fayette County schools

Lexington Christian Academy won’t be targeted by Fayette County’s public schools in the “schedule reduction” plan proposed by the Kentucky Association of State Superintendents last week.

After months of talks — talks that began long before the KASS unveiled its plan last week — LCA has agreed to self-impose “Proposition 2,” which means that any student who transfers to LCA from a Lexington public school after the seventh grade is ineligible to play athletics for a year. In turn, Fayette County will impose the same restriction on students transferring from LCA to any of its schools. Don Adkins, athletic director for Fayette County’s public schools, said Bryan Station, Henry Clay, Lafayette, Paul Dunbar and Tates Creek have been told they are free to schedule LCA next school year.

Adkins said that his boss, Fayette County superintendent Stu Silberman, informed the KASS of the agreement with LCA and that it was supportive. At the same time, Adkins said Fayette County is “very supportive” of the KASS’s plan.

“We want to show that we’re willing to work to make sure that what we’re doing is, No. 1, best for the kids, and No. 2, developing a good relationship between everybody involved so we can all sit down and work this out,” Adkins said.

Sayre was already exempted from the scheduling boycott because it has had a good relationship with Lexington’s public schools. Adkins said that if Lexington Catholic agreed to self-impose Prop 2, it could avoid the scheduling boycott. But Lexington Catholic athletic director Dave Bunnell said his administration decided it would “not be in the best interests” of the school to do that.

LCA athletic director Brad Walls said this is a one-year agreement that he hopes will lead to a “long-term resolution” to the public-private sports controversy. “My hope is that the rest of the state will pick up on the fact that here in Lexington we’re trying to work together,” Walls said, “and that this is a starting point for working things out. There’s a lot of fighting going on, and a lot of people don’t really know what they’re fighting about, just that there’s a battle and they’re on one side or the other.”

Walls said that LCA and Lexington Catholic hope to put together a proposal that would tweak Prop 2 that they could take before the KHSAA Delegate Assembly in the fall of 2009.

Just how much effect the schedule-reduction plan has state-wide is unknown. The superintendent of Louisville’s public schools has said it’s not going to change its way of scheduling. Owensboro’s public schools apparently aren’t going to boycott Owensboro Catholic.

Walls said he thinks the scheduling boycott will be felt most in central Kentucky. “I don’t think most places aren’t going to jump on this to a huge degree,” he said.

KHSAA readjusts football playoff format

Just three months before the 2006 football season kicked off, the KHSAA Board of Control called a late audible and changed the post-season format so that teams stayed within their districts for the first two rounds of the playoffs. It was supposed to be a way to cut travel expenses and boost gate receipts.

After two years of mostly negative reviews, however, the KHSAA board has decided to go back to the old (and better) playoff format. The 2008 playoffs will match teams from different districts in the opening round of the playoffs. It is a readjustment that will be applauded by most players, coaches and fans.

Henry Clay Coach Sam Simpson was an outspoken critic of facing a district rival in the first round of the playoffs. “What did you earn by finishing first or second in your district? You turned right around and played the same people again,” he said. “Why they thought that’d generate more of a crowd, I don’t know. I think everybody would rather play somebody different in the playoffs.”

The 2008 playoffs will follow a straight-forward format for classes A through 5A. District 1 will be matched against District 2, District 3 vs. District 4; District 5 vs. District 6; and District 7 vs. District 8. The top seeds from one district will play the fourth seeds from the other district; while the No. 2 and No. 3 seeds will square off.

Class 6A’s districts will be matched up by a randon draw, which is good news for Lexington’s public schools. Since 2000, powerhouse Trinity has beaten a Lexington team in the state semifinals six times, and in the third round twice. But under the 2008 plan, the districts that include Trinity and St. Xavier are in the opposite bracket as Lexington’’s district. That means if a Lexington team advances through the playoffs, it wouldn’t play Trinity of St. X until the state finals.

Lexington’s 6A District 7 (Henry Clay, Lafayette, Paul Dunbar, Tates Creek) will face District 6 (Boone County, Campbell County, Conner, Ryle, Simon Kenton) in first-round games.

Whoever out of that group advances to the 6A semifinals would face the survivor from the District 4 (Bullitt Central, Fern Creek, Male, Southern) vs. District 8 (Clark County, Madison Central, Scott County, Shelby County) matchups.

This week in Kentucky high school sports history

1959

Ralph Kimmell’s Manual High School’s baseball team takes a 15-0 record into a game against UK’s freshman team. Manual starts ace lefthander Bob Marr, who has three no-hitters already this season. UK beats Manual 10-9 . . . Jock Sutherland, who led Gallatin County to the Sweet Sixteen, is given a set of golf clubs at the team’s awards banquet. The guest speaker is Ralph Carlisle, who coached Sutherland at Lafayette . . . Julius Berry of Dunbar is third player named to the Kentucky All-Stars, joining Pat Doyle of North Marshall and Leland Melear of Manual . . . Lafayette’s sports teams are suspended from competition for two weeks because the track team used an ineligible athlete in a meet . . . Roger Huston’s triple in the bottom of the seventh drives in Larry Bass as Lexington Catholic beats Bryan Station 1-0 at Woodland Park . . . Former Cynthiana High School sports star and UK basketball player Joe B. Hall, 30, is named head coach at Regis College in Denver. Herald sports columnist Billy Thompson says of Hall, “He’s a real swell guy, and I’m sure he’ll come through with flying colors.”

1969

Mason County baseball coach Jim Mitchell, whose team has been rained out of several games, schedules a quadruple-header for his Royals on a Saturday, with games against Tollesboro and Deming, and two against Fleming County . . . Flaget all-state football star Kenny King, a 6-foot-5 end, signs with UK. His brother Jerry plays basketball for Louisville . . . Bill Harrell, who led Shelby County to the 1966 state title and went on to become an assistant at the University of Nebraska, is hired as Morehead State’s head coach . . . EKU Coach Guy Strong signs Lily guard Phil Storm, who averaged 27 points as a senior . . . Bryan Station’s baseball team has a 13-3 record. The Defenders are led by Doug Flynn, Pat Byrne, Mike Isaacs, Frank LeMaster, Mike Belcher and Freddie Hillard . . . Lafayette’s track team, led by Larry Foster’s victories in the discus, and high and low hurdles, wins the Fayette County Invitational.

1982

Virgie basketball star Todd May, Mr. Basketball, signs with UK after weeks of waiting. May, who averaged 31 points, 19 rebounds and 6.5 blocked shots in leading Virgie to the Sweet Sixteen semifinals, also considered Vanderbilt and Wake Forest. “He’s a Kentucky boy and he’ll stay a Kentucky boy,” said Virgie Coach Bobby Osborne . . . U of L signee Billy Thompson’s 27 points lead the U.S. All-Stars to a 144-85 rout of the Kentucky-Indiana All-Stars in the Derby Festival. Len Bias has 21 points for the winners. Keith Berry of Bryan Station leads the Kentucky-Indiana team with 16 points . . . Transylvania Coach Don Lane signs Marvin Watts of North Hardin to go with earlier recruits Bobby Storie of Clinton County and Kip Hagan of Henry Clay . . . Trigg County track star Sam Love, who will run for UK, is prepping to win the state 800 and 1,600 for the third year in a row.

Public-private issue now includes scheduling boycott

It is officially called a “schedule reduction plan,” but let’s call it what it is: a boycott of private schools by the public schools when it comes to playing sports.

The Kentucky Association of School Superintendents endorsed a “schedule reduction” plan in a meeting with the Kentucky High School Athletic Association’s Board of Control on Thursday.

In Lexington, the athletic director and coaches at Fayette County’s public schools have already been told not to schedule games against Lexington Catholic or Lexington Christian Academy. Sayre athletic director Bill Hill said his school was “exempt” from the boycott because Sayre has a good relationship with the public schools.

Hill said representatives from Sayre, Lexington Catholic and LCA had met with Fayette County officials and tried to work out an agreement that would avoid a boycott. “Both sides put forth the effort to get something we could live with, but the bottom line was, we couldn’t do it. I think if the superintendents were left out of it, we probably could’ve worked it out. I think the majority of kids in town want to keep playing, but it’s the adults who’ve taken the issue and made it a mess.”

The KASS plan allows for exisiting contracts to be honored, so a lot of the “schedule reduction” won’t happen until the 2009-10 school year.

In Lexington, a boycott will likely affect how district tournaments are seeded. In basketball, for example, Lexington Catholic and LCA are in the 43rd District with Lafayette, Paul Dunbar and Tates Creek. In a district vote to decide whether to play regular-season games to determine tournament seeding, or to have a blind draw to determine seeding, the public schools would have a 3-2 majority if they want to do away with the regular-season games.

Lexington’s public schools had a scheduling boycott against Lexington Catholic for years, but it ended a couple years ago. But the simmering public-private issue has given it new life, not only here but across the state.

Just how this new “schedule reduction” shakes out, we’ll have to see. How many private schools across the state have “good relationships” with the public schools in their area so that they will continue to play each other? Will all the public schools in northern Kentucky boycott Covington Catholic, Covington Holy Cross, Newport Central Catholic and St. Henry? I doubt it. What about Owensboro Catholic? Will it be snubbed by district rivals Apollo, Daviess County and Owensboro in all sports? I would be surprised.

Hans leaving as LexCath girls’ basketball coach

Lexington Catholic is looking for a new girls’ basketball coach. Jeff Hans, who guided the Knights to a 59-9 record and a pair of runner-up finishes in the 11th Region the last two seasons, has accepted the girls’ coaching job at Covington Holy Cross.

Before coming to Lexington Catholic, Hans coached at St. Henry in northern Kentucky. His wife and kids still live in Independence, and Hans has been making the daily commute — about a 75-minute drive one way — for two years. His wife, who works for the state department of transportation, couldn’t get a job closer to Lexington.

“This was entirely a family-based decision,” Hans said. “It’s tough to leave Lexington Catholic because of the relationships we’ve built here with the players and other coaches and the administration.

“I know everybody probably is saying I’m leaving because the talent’s not going to be here next year, but that couldn’t be farther from the truth. And if people think I was forced out for not winning the region, that’s not true, either.”

Hans led LexCath to a 29-5 record and a region runner-up finish to Lexington Christian in his first season. The Knights went 30-5 this year and lost to Henry Clay in the region title game.

Hoops star Hood not leaving Madisonville

Jon Hood, who figures to be a prime contender for Mr. Basketball next season, won’t be leaving Madisonville to go to another school for his senior year. That’s the word from his father, Brian Hood, who has heard the rumors that Jon might transfer to University Heights Academy in Hopkinsville. There was also earlier talk that Jon might go to a high-profile prep school. Brian Hood said he “about laughed” when he heard people speculating about his son switching schools. “Jon’s not going anywhere,” he said.

Jon, a 6-foot-7 swingman who has scholarship offers from UK, Georgia and Tennessee, made first-team All-State this season after averaging 24 points, 8.5 rebounds and 6 assists. He broke his wrist in the district tournament and missed the region tournament. He is back playing AAU ball, although his wrist won’t be fully healed for at least another month. “Trying to keep Jon off the court is like trying to keep a saddle on a wild horse,” his dad said. “It’s hard to hold him back.”

Madisonville will have a new coach next season. James Davis, who had been head coach for 12 years after serving as Don Parson’s assistant for 26 seasons, was recently fired. The Maroons might not have to look far to find a replacement. Marty Cline, the girls’ coach at Madisonville, would seem to be a good fit. Cline was a star on UHA’s 1992 state championship team. He was a boys’ assistant at Madisonville for a while before leaving to become head coach at UHA. He led the Blazers to back-to-back state tournaments in 2004 and 2005, but was unhappy at UHA and left to take the Madisonville girls’ job.

Hood will play summer ball with the Nashville Celtics. He hopes to make a college choice by late summer.

This week in Kentucky high school sports history

1967

Jim Rose of Hazard and Jim McDaniels of Allen County are the high-profile players named to Kentucky’s East-West high school all-star basketball teams . . . Bill Harrell, who guided Shelby County to the 1966 Sweet Sixteen title, resigns to take an assistant’s job at the University of Nebraska . . . Bill Hogg leaves Elizabethtown to become football coach at Bourbon County . . . Derek Bryant’s first inning homer sparks Dunbar’s baseball team to a 24-4 rout of Montgomery County . . . Lafayette gets great pitching from a pair of sophomores and splits a double-header with Manual. Rick Derrickson rings up 15 strikeouts and allows only one hit but the Generals lose 2-1. In the second game, Doug Sprinkle strikes out 16 and throws a three-hitter as Lafayette wins 6-0 . . . Bill Graue and John Farmer hit homers to help Lexington Catholic beat Woodford County.

1977

The KHSAA Delegate Assembly rejects proposals that would make it easier for the first woman to get on the Board of Control. The Delegate Assembly also rejects a proposal that would allow spring football practice . . . UK’s Lady Kats announce the signing of McDowell basketball star Geri Grigsby, who averaged 46 points in her career and totaled a state-record 4,385 points . . . Freddie Cowan, who averaged 24 points and 13 rebounds while leading Union County to the Sweet Sixteen, picks UK over Louisville. Scott Courts of Denver signed with UK a couple weeks earlier . . . A Minneapolis newspaper reports that Jeff Lamp of Kentucky state champion Ballard will choose between Minnesota and Indiana. Three Ballard players — Lamp, Lee Raker and Norman Miller — are named to the Kentucky All-Stars team.

1987

The KHSAA announces that the boys’ Sweet Sixteen set records for attendance (148,266) and revenue ($744,880) . . . The KHSAA Delegate Assembly rejects two proposals that would allow spring football practice. It also rejects a proposal that would require at least two women be on the Board of Control . . . Notre Dame Coach Digger Phelps is scheduled to be in Springfield when Washington County High School retires the jersey of Kevin Ellery, who has signed with the Fighting Irish . . . Henry Clay Coach Al Prewitt will have several UK signees on his Derby Festival team that will play in Freedom Hall. His future Cats include Johnny Pittman, LeRon Ellis, Sean Sutton, Deron Feldhaus and Johnathon Davis . . . Lafayette star Prince Stewart signs with the University of Texas-El Paso, which is coached by Don Haskins . . . Defending state baseball champ Tates Creek is considered a threat to win another title. Coach Ron Cole’s Commodores are led by senior stars Kevin Jarvis and Mike Harris.

Rose Hill’s Jackson now at Scott County

Sophomore basketball standout Chad Jackson (shown at right) has transferred from Rose Hill Christian in Ashland and is now enrolled at Scott County, only a few weeks after news broke that fellow Rose Hill sophomore star Dakotah Euton was going to transfer to Scott County.

Jackson, a 6-foot-4 guard, had a triple-double — 31 points, 10 rebounds, 10 steals — in a 16th Region tournament win over Rowan County. Euton, a 6-8 swingman who has commited to UK, averaged 20 points and 10 rebounds last season. Euton is expected to enroll at Scott County in the next couple weeks.

Ge-lawn Guyn transferred from Henry Clay to Scott County for his sophomore season last year and started for the Cardinals, who lost to Lexington Catholic in the 11th Region semifinals.

Dakotah Euton rated tops in 2008-09

High school basketball recruiting analyst Rick Bolus has released his ratings for the top players in Kentucky for next season. His High Potential newsletter has junior-to-be Dakotah Euton (shown at right) as his top college prospect. The 6-foot-8 Euton, who has already commited to UK, is transferring from Rose Hill Christian to Scott County, where he will be teammates with 6-7 senior-to-be Richie Phares, another of Bolus’ top prospects.

Bolus’ list is sure to generate talk about who he didn’t rank among the best players, including Mason County’s Russ Middleton, Paul Dunbar’s Nick Hudson, Scott County’s Ge-lawn Guyn, Hopkins Central’s Chuck Jones, Corbin’s Josh Crawford and Elliott County’s Evan Faulkner.

Here’s how Bolus rates Kentucky’s 2008-09 players:

Top 12

• Dakotah Euton, 6-8 jr., Scott County
• Jon Hood, 6-7 sr., Madisonville
• Chad Jackson, 6-4 jr., Rose Hill
• Aaron Cosby, 6-2 jr., Jeffersontown
• Jacob Jenkins, 6-4 sr., Manual
• Tony Kimbro, 6-4 so., Manual
• C.J. Penny, 6-5 sr., Anderson County
• Garrison Collins, 6-10 sr., June Buchanan
• Shaquille Wilson, 6-4 jr., Christian County
• Wesley Cox, 5-8 sr., Ballard
• Richie Phares, 6-7 sr., Scott County
• Leonard Macon, 6-6 sr., Taylor County

Top sleeper

• George Fant, 6-6 so., Warren Central

Second 12

• Chris Richard, 6-3 jr., Southern
• Josh Sewell, 6-4 jr., Trinity
• Aaron Watts, 6-0 jr., McCreary Central
• Chase Cox, 6-1 sr., Taylor County
• Darren Ballou, 6-7 sr., Adair County
• James D. Strange, 5-11 sr., Pineville
• Jonathan Ferguson, 6-2 sr., Elliott County
• Ethan Ferguson, 6-2 sr., Elliott County
• LaRod King, 6-6 sr., North Hardin
• Tate Cox, 6-0 jr., Knott Central
• Clint Stepp, 6-0 jr., June Buchanan
• Vee Sanford, 6-3 sr., Lexington Catholic

Second sleeper

• Elijah Pittman, 6-5 jr., Holmes