I think if Coach Thacker had stayed at Somerset and Townsend hadn't followed him to Rowan. Then Gover and the other kid may have stayed and not moved over to Pulaski. If all of that had happened I really think Somerset may have won region in the last 4 years.

Question? In the early years were there Class A and Class B Regional Champions? I seem to have read that, years ago and may have seen a trophy showing a Class B Region Champ. If this is true, does anyone know how they were classified?

From 1927 through 1933, schools were designated A (larger) and B (smaller) schools at tournament time.

 

Each district was set up for A schools to play in one bracket and B in the other. On Saturday afternoon, each class had a "champion." Those two teams then played Saturday night for the overall championship, and both advanced to the region.

 

The same set-up was used at the region and state tournaments: A's in one bracket; B's in the other.

 

From 1927 through 1931, both A and B region tourney winners advanced to the state. Starting in 1932, when Kentucky first had 16 regions, only the overall champion went to state.

Thanks for the good information broadcaster. I'm sure others might have had similar questions.

For those that may not know, Moreland and Highland were both schools in Lincoln County.

Where in the county was Highland? I lived out by William Whitley House and drove all over the county, but its escaping me where Highland was located.

Where in the county was Highland? I lived out by William Whitley House and drove all over the county, but its escaping me where Highland was located.

 

Just south of Halls Gap. Highland merged with Waynesburg to form Memorial High School. Before that, Kings Mountain High School had closed, sending some students to Highland and some to Waynesburg. King Mountain remained an elementary school. Memorial High School opened in 1951-52 and was consolidated with Stanford, Crab Orchard, Hustonville and McKinney to form Lincoln County High School in 1974.

Edited March 5, 201412 yr by Mr.Network

Would have never guessed that Somerset was third on that list and only 1 back of the leaders. Of course there hasn't been one in FOREVER!

 

I think Somerset may have been State Runner up the first state playoff, maybe the first two. That was our high water mark in basketball!

 

Somerset dominated in the early years. They hosted the tournament A LOT. They hosted every year between 1948 and 1963 and won it 5 times during that stretch.

I still consider South Laurel and Laurel Co. as the same school. It's just the name changed. Pulaski Co went through the same situation when Southwestern was opened but didn't change the name of the exising school so when (if) they win another regional title it will count to Pulaski Co's total instead of whatever it would have been renamed too.

50 years ago, McCreary County beat Hustonville 67-61 to win the 12th Region. Hustonville's best player was Nelson Graves, who only played his senior year at Hustonville. Prior to that, he had been at the segregated Lincoln High School in Stanford. Most of the Lincoln High players integrated at Stanford but Nelson Graves went to Hustonville.

 

1963-64 was the first year of integration in Lincoln County and prior to 1957-58 the African American schools played in the Kentucky High School Athletic League (KHSAL). They joined the KHSAA in 57-58. Only two segregated schools in the 12th Region made the tournament from that time forward:

 

1960- Danville Bate was runner-up of the 45th District and lost in first round to Lily.

1962- Lincoln High won the 46th District and lost to Lily in the first round

1963- Lincoln High won the 46th District, beat Danville in the first round and then lost to Somerset in the semi-finals

1963- Danville Bate was winner of the 45th District and lost in the first round to Liberty

1964- Danville Bate was winner of the 45th District and lost to Hustonville in the first round

 

In 1962, Lincoln High may have had the best team in the Region. They were beaten by Lily High School but there were allegations of favoritism by the officials and unsportsmanlike conduct. Some written correspondence makes me think it was much more than sour grapes.

 

The following letter was written by John Fitzwater, a reporter for the Somerset Journal, to Lincoln High:

 

March 2, 1962

 

Dear Sirs:

 

I hope this letter will serve as an apology from the people of Somerset for the way your team was treated in our city Wednesday night in the 12th Region Tournament.

 

I was covering the game for the Somerset Journal and because of that I feel I was watching the game as closely as anyone in the gymnasium. Also my seat was close enough to the floor that I heard many of the comments made by both teams and was very disturbed by the sportsmanship that was exhibited.

 

I honestly felt that your Lincoln team was as good a team as we had the tournament and was honestly sorry to see them treated as they were.

 

I want to wish you the very best of luck in coming seasons and certainly hope that you never have to play basketball under such conditions again.

 

John Fitzwater

 

The Somerset Journal

 

Lee Thomas Mills, the Principal at Stanford High School (the "white" school) at that time, and who would later become the KHSAA Commissioner, wrote a very strongly worded letter to the KHSAA, calling out the game officials by name and saying "The people of our town and region deserved better than they received at this game. They paid their money to see a good game of basketball and not to see two officials discriminate against a team due to the color of their skin. I have coached and watched many ball games but I must say this was the poorest excuse for officiating..."

 

KHSAA Commission Theo Sanford responded, in part, that "It is very difficult to prove bias on the part of an official, of course. We have some 1,200 registered officials, and I am sure that many of them are poor ones. I also know that even good officials have their bad nights." He went on to say that the officials were chosen by the teams in the tournament and he recited the officials ratings.

 

This is a sad, yet fascinating, look back at a different era.

 

Oh, by the way, Stanford High School's football team was about to disband in the early 1960s due to low numbers. After receiving the Lincoln High students, they were 6-3-1 the first year and 9-1 the second year. The Lincoln Lions had been playing football against other segregated schools and they made an immediate impact at SHS.

I still consider South Laurel and Laurel Co. as the same school. It's just the name changed. Pulaski Co went through the same situation when Southwestern was opened but didn't change the name of the exising school so when (if) they win another regional title it will count to Pulaski Co's total instead of whatever it would have been renamed too.

 

That's true. I see your point about that. That would give Laurel County the lead at 10 titles. Splitting is very different than merging or consolidating. It is a greater feat to keep winning after splitting.

Mr. Network, I appreciated your post about Danville Bate and Stanford Lincoln. We have talked. That's the kind of story many people seemed to know about, but was seldom reported. When I started broadcasting the state tournament, being new in Kentucky, I found some of those stories hard to believe. But it became obvious that many were true.

 

We've come a long way. Fortunately.

That's true. I see your point about that. That would give Laurel County the lead at 10 titles. Splitting is very different than merging or consolidating. It is a greater feat to keep winning after splitting.

 

I don't have time right now, but when I do I will give numbers, but you can pretty well assume that the schools that merged and then split STILL have larger high schools than all the other schools in the region. I would guess that North Laurel, South Laurel, Pulaski County & Southwestern are among the biggest high schools in Region 12.

 

And "keeping the same name"? That's a bit of a stretch. Did the school district remain the same? No, in fact EVERYTHING changes except for the name, mascot & school colors. There is one superintendent & school board for both schools - then each school has their own gym, coach, staff and student body.

After splitting Laurel County in 1993:

 

-South Laurel (the original Laurel County) has three 12th Region championships and two runners-up

-North Laurel has zero 12th Region championships and two runners-up

-That's a total of 7 finals appearances from the schools that split from Laurel County.

-Twice, after splitting in 1993, South Laurel and North Laurel met in the 12th Region Championship (2001 and 2005).

-They moved to the 13th Region beginning in 2006.

 

After splitting Pulaski County in 1993:

 

-Pulaski County has zero 12th Region championships and two runners-up

-Southwestern has one 12th Region championship and three runners-up

-That's a total of 6 finals appearances for the schools that split from PC. Three of those came after the Laurel County schools left.

I don't have time right now, but when I do I will give numbers, but you can pretty well assume that the schools that merged and then split STILL have larger high schools than all the other schools in the region. I would guess that North Laurel, South Laurel, Pulaski County & Southwestern are among the biggest high schools in Region 12.

 

And "keeping the same name"? That's a bit of a stretch. Did the school district remain the same? No, in fact EVERYTHING changes except for the name, mascot & school colors. There is one superintendent & school board for both schools - then each school has their own gym, coach, staff and student body.

 

What follows is the average enrollment of the current 12th Region schools for the two years preceding this year (Wayne County & Monticello have been added together for purposes of this list):

 

North Laurel................. 1,393.0 13th Region

South Laurel................. 1,285.0 13th Region

Southwestern................ 1,194.0 #1

Lincoln County............... 1,101.0 #2

Pulaski County............... 1,091.5 #3

West Jessamine............. 1,090.5 #4

East Jessamine.............. 1,060.0 #5

Wayne County.................. 949.0 #6

Mercer County.................. 914.5 #7

Boyle County.................... 857.5 #8

Rockcastle County............. 832.5 #9

McCreary Central.............. 786.5 #10

Garrard County................ 705.5 #11

Casey County.................. 674.5 #12

Danville.......................... 539.0 #13

Somerset........................ 482.5 #14

Burgin............................ 127.0 #16

Ky School for the Deaf........ 44.5 #17

 

As you can see, the “splitting” of the merged Laurel County and Pulaski County school systems hardly placed a hardship on any of them in regards to keeping numbers that would allow them to maintaining an edge competitively in either the 12th or 13th Region.

After splitting Laurel County in 1993:

 

-South Laurel (the original Laurel County) has three 12th Region championships and two runners-up

-North Laurel has zero 12th Region championships and two runners-up

-That's a total of 7 finals appearances from the schools that split from Laurel County.

-Twice, after splitting in 1993, South Laurel and North Laurel met in the 12th Region Championship (2001 and 2005).

-They moved to the 13th Region beginning in 2006.

 

After splitting Pulaski County in 1993:

 

-Pulaski County has zero 12th Region championships and two runners-up

-Southwestern has one 12th Region championship and three runners-up

-That's a total of 6 finals appearances for the schools that split from PC. Three of those came after the Laurel County schools left.

 

So since 1993:

 

Laurel County + South Laurel + North Laurel had (thru 2004-05 season):

 

(3) 12th Region Championships

(4) 12th Region Runners-Up

 

Pulaski County + Southwestern had:

 

(1) 12th Region Championship

(5) 12th Region Runners-Up

 

Wayne County had:

 

(7) 12th Region Championships

(1) 12th Region Runner-Up

 

And Wayne County did it with anywhere from 64.1% to 50.2% as many students than any of the four "split schools", much less Laurel County & Pulaski County BEFORE they split when they were among the largest high schools in the state. Prior to when either Laurel & Pulaski split each had close to 3X as many students as Wayne did.

 

Average Enrollment for 2011-12 & 2012-13:

North Laurel................. 1,393.0

South Laurel................. 1,285.0

Southwestern............... 1,194.0

Pulaski County.............. 1,091.5

*Wayne County............... 700.5

 

*Does not include Monticello enrollment numbers because they weren’t merged until the 2013-14 school year.