I don't know whether you might be interested in reading about this or not. For years I had heard stories about the great Kelly Coleman. It was almost like the fishing stories you hear; they got bigger every time you heard the story. One day I decided to go through microfilm and read the actual accounts from 1956. Those stories I printed off and will be sharing some numbers from those actual newspapers accounts. Charlie Osborne is high on the list of all-time state scorers. Kelly Coleman is definitely number 1. Here are some numbers from the 15th Region during that 1956 season. There may be mistakes; I didn't check the newspaper's math. Some were dim and printed poorly. Hope someone enjoys the glory days of coal camps and mountain basketball.

 

Coleman Wayland 29 Games 1363 Points 47.0 Average

Hughes P-burg 20 Games 811 Points 40.5 Average

Adams Van Lear 21 Games 728 Points 35.1Average

Osborne Flat Gap 28 Games 930 Points 32.8 Average

Horn Inez 23 Games 604 Points 26.2 Average

Thompson Martin 29 Games 700 Points 24.1 Average

 

As far as the teams were concerned:

Wayland 29 Games 2543 Points 87.6 Average

Flat Gap 29 Games 2379 Points 82.0 Average

Feds Creek 19 Games 1558 Points 82.0 Average

Wheelwright 29 Games 2337 Points 80.5 Average

Betsy Layne 25 Games 1924 Points 77.0 Average

Having done quite a bit of research, I enjoy reading numbers and about personalities from days gone by. Thanks for posting!

Good read on Kelly Coleman.

 

 

 

http://www.amazon.com/Coleman-Kentuckys-greatest-basketball-legend/dp/0977319806

Let's see those defensive numbers. 85 plus per game is getting it done. I'd love to be able to go back in time to see a game from the late 50's.

One of the articles I located was about how Kelly was treated in the state tournament. It's pretty long and very biased, probably because it was written by someone in Floyd County who felt he had been mistreated. I'd be willing to type it if there was anyone who expresses a desire to read it.

Kelly was very upset about the way he was treated. After college, he moved to Michigan and didn't come back until the late 1980's. Someone talked him into coming to the state tournament. He was very quiet; tried to stay out of the way.

 

Eddie Ford found him and talked him into doing an interview on our state tournament network between games one session. Wish I had had a couple of days notice to prepare: would have been a lot easier. As it was, I knew I was walking on eggs--trying to welcome him back, speak in generalities of his phenomenal career, and to not mention his last trip to the Sweet 16 in 1956.

 

Since then he has opened up considerably, a book has been written in the last few years about him; and though he is not a "talker" by nature, he will speak to anyone who wants a conversation.

 

Would loved to have seen him play.

Anybody know which Hughes was lighting it up at Prestonsburg?

I will do some digging, ask my uncle Elmond.