I bet it was hard to find minutes on that team with Beal, Walton, Kordenbrock, Mike McCullough, Wendell Allen, Charlie Bledsoe, Brett Lovell, .....

 

Greg Kordenbrock sounds familiar. Taylor Mill guy?

Greg Kordenbrock sounds familiar. Taylor Mill guy?

 

Prolific 30+ ppg scorer (maybe even 35) at Calvary Christian... should have gone to Holmes and graduated with Beal, Walton, Simpson, Elmer, Whatley.... and yes, Taylor Mill, his father was Afton Kordenbrock, strong player at Holmes late 40s and later mayor of Taylor Mill...

Prolific 30+ ppg scorer (maybe even 35) at Calvary Christian... should have gone to Holmes and graduated with Beal, Walton, Simpson, Elmer, Whatley.... and yes, Taylor Mill, his father was Afton Kordenbrock, strong player at Holmes late 40s and later mayor of Taylor Mill...

 

Blast from the past. He was our stud player on my D league Knothole team Connelly Brothers Funeral Home. He mashed.

Prolific 30+ ppg scorer (maybe even 35) at Calvary Christian... should have gone to Holmes and graduated with Beal, Walton, Simpson, Elmer, Whatley.... and yes, Taylor Mill, his father was Afton Kordenbrock, strong player at Holmes late 40s and later mayor of Taylor Mill...

 

I lived down the street from Greg in Taylor Mill. Great athlete. His late father was a task master and drove Greg to be a good player. Hanging out with Greg one day and his dad asks if I want to go with Greg to play at the boys club for Coach Hurst. Greg dominated most guys in that league averaging double-double easy. I dominated cracking jokes on the end of the bench and barely reached double figures for the year. My fellow bench warmers and I did get to play a lot as there were many a blow out wins for "da club".

Didn't Beal really make a name for himself playing Junior Pro Basketball in Newport where he was a teammate of Bill Blasingame? Also had Phil Davis and Ricky Walton among others. I will take those teams against any and all takers as they were very special indeed. I saw many of Beal's games back in those days as a youth and saw them score 70 to 80 points with no problem at all. Ended up winning several National Junior Pro titles. Best basketball in Northern Kentucky was played at the Boy's Club back in the day IMO.

 

I suppose I'm late to the game here. I hope that reviving this 1 year old thread doesn't distract you guys. Anyway, wanted to put my spin on the subject. My brother Bill played with and against Dicky for the better part of 8-10 years. I was a very impressionable kid at the time but I still can remember in great detail all of those great years of them playing in Newport and the Covington Turners. These teams (and individual players) were some of the best collection of talent that Northern Kentucky has ever assembled. I have a special place in my heart for these times and wish kids today could experience what I did so long ago.

Turned on Ihigh today and saw Mr. Bolden for the first time. Very impressive sophomore but I have to say I'd take Dicky at this point, Hard to say how much better Bolden will be with 2 more years. Seems like he always wants to go left where Dicky could go left, right , forward and backwards from about age 8. I was 11th man on the junior varsity team you mentioned and for life me can't remember a Blasingame. Starting five were Beal, walton, and Davis from Holmes. David Bedford from Newport and Rich Dees from Highlands. Vaguely remember a Mcgurn, Uehlien, and Wrobleski as well. Having had the fun of guarding or more like chasing Beal as a senior, after one viewing of Bolden today, I'd rather chase him even at age 51. Maybe if Dicky was a young 17, guess he could of played junior pro another year with a Blasingame playing on that team?

 

My brother played up in age. Remember, there were multiple teams that Dicky and several others including my brother would play on. It was a collection of talent that in my mind was probably the best Northern Kentucky has ever seen at the Junior Pro level. Now, my Dad would probably argue for some of the teams that I played on later could have had an impact against these guys. Our teams were also a collection of great talent that would go on to win a Junior Pro championship and win countless tournaments through the years. I don't think we could have beat those guys. Dicky was the one player that we would not have been able to guard.

I am old enough to have watched Beal.He was the best to come out of N.Ky period.Bolden is awesome but Beal was better.Bolden could develop into something special.Beals best game ever was against Summit Country day.They had a stud named Dexter Bailey BEAL Dunked over him not once but twice.The best player in Ky not to be named Mr. Basketball I think Winston Bennett from Male got it Beals sr year.I would take Beal over Bolden.

 

I would agree with this. IMHO Dicky was the best all around player I ever played against or saw. However, the absolute best Offensive player to ever play in Northern Kentucky is without a doubt, Scott Draud. I have been fortunate enough to have played against both Draud and Beal. I played with Scott for 2 years in high school and played against Dicky when he came back from UK and in some later years when he would stop out at NKU and play against us in open gym. I could write a book about these times... So much fun.

I would agree with this. IMHO Dicky was the best all around player I ever played against or saw. However, the absolute best Offensive player to ever play in Northern Kentucky is without a doubt, Scott Draud. I have been fortunate enough to have played against both Draud and Beal. I played with Scott for 2 years in high school and played against Dicky when he came back from UK and in some later years when he would stop out at NKU and play against us in open gym. I could write a book about these times... So much fun.

 

I've probably said it in this thread already but I'll say it again. Dicky was the most exciting player I've ever watched in NKY. The only criticism about his game was his jumper. My aging memory tells me it wasn't as good as Bolden's.

My brother played up in age. Remember, there were multiple teams that Dicky and several others including my brother would play on. It was a collection of talent that in my mind was probably the best Northern Kentucky has ever seen at the Junior Pro level. Now, my Dad would probably argue for some of the teams that I played on later could have had an impact against these guys. Our teams were also a collection of great talent that would go on to win a Junior Pro championship and win countless tournaments through the years. I don't think we could have beat those guys. Dicky was the one player that we would not have been able to guard.

 

I would agree with you 100% that your teams could not compete with those teams. While your teams were special in their own right, those teams were simply SPECIAL. The rule of thumb back in those days was if you had not played basketball at the Newport Boys Club, you were perhaps not going to make your high school team. Can remember many high school coaches coming to games down there to see what they had coming up in the near future. Sometimes the practices were even more competitive than some of the games.

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At the risk of sabotaging this thread with talk of Cottage A.C. ... Volpenhein, Shumate, and Blasingame were all 1982 graduates (Kevin and Rick of CovCath, and Bill of Ludlow in a year I believe that he took 9th Region Player of the Year). Beal of course graduated in 1980, but with him being a young graduate, when we faced him as youngsters, he would've been in his 2nd year of C-League at NKCC in the season that ended in 1975 when most of us were in our 1st year of C.

 

Just for kicks I've provided C.A.C team photos from seasons ending in 1974 and 1976, however neither of these were taken in the year that we faced Beal.

 

The 1974 photo was taken at John G. Carlisle. My memory is a bit as foggy as the photo, but I think that we took runner-up trophy in the 2-and-out elimination tournament against I believe "Turners Green" that featured the dynamite guard play of Danny Trame.

 

Standing 2nd from the left would be Kevin Volpenhein, 4th is Bill Blasingame, and 5th standing is Rick Shumate. 3rd kneeling is Mark Wehry.

 

The 1976 photo taken at Covington Turners after completing our 23-0 season, of course as champs, with a season that also featured us as champs of the Covington Turners 2-and-out holiday tournament where we faced off twice with the tough invitee team "Yellow Cab" from Newport in packed house, smoke filled, alcohol drenched barn burners. The good ol days... LOL!

 

In this photo sitting 1st would be Volpenhein, 5th is Shumate, and 6th is Blasingame. Head coach standing 2nd from the left is Jim Shumate and as an extra bit of trivia, standing big kid number 41 is Eric Herald who went on to star at Newport.

 

I could go on in both photos and be more complete with "who's who"... as there are a few other notables... and not on your life will I be confirming which one is me. I never made it past intramural ball in high school, so who cares anyhow?

 

This photo coincidentally was taken on the Saturday morning of the 1976 Regional Final between Covington Holmes vs. Holy Cross @ Conner. How do I know this? I just remember being high on a cloud and capping off a great day of basketball with my first ever high school regional final. To me it felt big time like I was witnessing an NBA game.

Holmes incidentally won that game 79-52.

 

You know BB Fan it doesn't matter if you reveal or not. I surely don't care if you never played basketball after these pictures were taken. My old man on the right. Man he looks young. Funny I'm only 6 years old at the time but I remember this like it was yesterday. If I can find the photos I will share with you some of the Newport All Stars teams with Dicky, my brother, Walton, etc... Great memories is what it's all about. Times have changed so much. The nostalgia of playing basketball in these environments was absolute great theatre.

I've probably said it in this thread already but I'll say it again. Dicky was the most exciting player I've ever watched in NKY. The only criticism about his game was his jumper. My aging memory tells me it wasn't as good as Bolden's.

 

I agree and everyone knew it. Didn't matter though. He would find a way to get around you and score or dish. Haven't seen the new kid play. Must be pretty good.

I agree and everyone knew it. Didn't matter though. He would find a way to get around you and score or dish. Haven't seen the new kid play. Must be pretty good.

 

James can play. Might have a better handle overall than Dicky as well. Great elevation on his J. Finishes really well in the lane and in traffic.

 

Not as strong or as thick as Dicky. Dicky had slightly better hops.

 

Kid is legit in a long line of legit Holmes players.

I would agree with you 100% that your teams could not compete with those teams. While your teams were special in their own right, those teams were simply SPECIAL. The rule of thumb back in those days was if you had not played basketball at the Newport Boys Club, you were perhaps not going to make your high school team. Can remember many high school coaches coming to games down there to see what they had coming up in the near future. Sometimes the practices were even more competitive than some of the games.

 

Well if anyone knows my dad they knew that practices were going to be an all out get after. My dad would purposely have my brother guard Dicky at all times. And because Dicky was about a year and half older it made for some frustrating times for Bill. I can tell you this though. My brother will flat out tell you that Dicky was the one that made him the player that he became. Great experiences and great memories. Wouldn't it be fun to find all of the fellas and get together?

I agree and everyone knew it. Didn't matter though. He would find a way to get around you and score or dish. Haven't seen the new kid play. Must be pretty good.

 

Great info Deron, and just wanted to say welcome to BGP. Sounds like you have lots of info to share. If you have any questions about anything, just ask me our one of the other guides, we would be glad to help.

James can play. Might have a better handle overall than Dicky as well. Great elevation on his J. Finishes really well in the lane and in traffic.

 

Not as strong or as thick as Dicky. Dicky had slightly better hops.

 

Kid is legit in a long line of legit Holmes players.

 

I would like to see the kid play for sure. My dad's report on him is dead on yours.