Forty years later: Edmonson County's stunning state title

[tcjkbt]

That is correct. Meanwhile, LSU's Dale Brown hired Shawnee's Ron Abernathy as an assistant to join all-stater Durand Macklin in Baton Rogue. It went on back then, too!

And, later, if I remember correctly, Tennessee hired Wade Houston off Crum's staff as head coach in order to get Wade's son, Allen, at UT..

[OldhamOldie]

And, later, if I remember correctly, Tennessee hired Wade Houston off Crum's staff as head coach in order to get Wade's son, Allen, at UT..

 

Yes to this as well. Tennessee was fine until Allen Houston turned pro. That's when things went downhill for Wade.

 

As for Ron Abernathy, I do not recall if he ever got a head coaching job after leaving as LSU's top assistant. I know Macklin led LSU to the Final Four in 1981, but I can't remember how much longer Abernathy remained on the LSU staff. Abernathy had many talented players at Louisville Shawnee, but Macklin was the best.

[broadcaster240]

Abernathy was head coach at Shawnee just that one year: 1976. He replaced James Gordon, who had been head man for the 5 years before that.

[broadcaster240]

At the state tournament, John Tong also loved to page the two guys who kept the official scorebooks: Charles Nelson (Charlie) Ruter and Richard (Rozie) Rozelle.

 

And, associated with that 1976 tournament, "Big Six" Henderson (from Bowling Green I believe) ran the game clock for his last time. He was on the clock for the semi-final between Edmonson County and Shelby County...when about six seconds inexplicably ran off the clock at the end of the game with Shelby County at the free throw line and a three point deficit. They made both free throws, but had no chance to foul on an in-bounds pass...and all the protestations to the contrary, no time was put back on the clock. There was no rule in place to allow such a change.

 

I think I have notes on the back of my scoresheet from that game detailing all that. If any of you remember it differently, I'll go look it up to see if we agree.

[OldhamOldie]

At the state tournament, John Tong also loved to page the two guys who kept the official scorebooks: Charles Nelson (Charlie) Ruter and Richard (Rozie) Rozelle.

 

And, associated with that 1976 tournament, "Big Six" Henderson (from Bowling Green I believe) ran the game clock for his last time. He was on the clock for the semi-final between Edmonson County and Shelby County...when about six seconds inexplicably ran off the clock at the end of the game with Shelby County at the free throw line and a three point deficit. They made both free throws, but had no chance to foul on an in-bounds pass...and all the protestations to the contrary, no time was put back on the clock. There was no rule in place to allow such a change.

 

I think I have notes on the back of my scoresheet from that game detailing all that. If any of you remember it differently, I'll go look it up to see if we agree.

 

I did not recall this about the clock. I do remember two years later the Charles Hurt hand through the rim block of a Holmes player helping Shelby County win the state title in 1978. Maybe that was karma? I was in Oregon in grad school at Portland State in 1978 and missed the state tournament. I wish I could have seen the supposed goal tend on Charles Hurt with the Holmes player.

[broadcaster240]

Oldham, regarding the 1978 final: I saw a picture of the player's hand that had gone up the net and was touching the ball. It had been published in one of the newspapers...though which paper and which edition has long since escaped me. And I don't remember if the block was at the end of regulation or at the end of overtime. Some of that info is also packed away with my scoresheets in the attic.

 

You guys keep coming up with this historical stuff, and Mama is going to have to put up with me hauling a bunch of those boxes back downstairs to sit next to my computer.

[OldhamOldie]

Oldham, regarding the 1978 final: I saw a picture of the player's hand that had gone up the net and was touching the ball. It had been published in one of the newspapers...though which paper and which edition has long since escaped me. And I don't remember if the block was at the end of regulation or at the end of overtime. Some of that info is also packed away with my scoresheets in the attic.

 

You guys keep coming up with this historical stuff, and Mama is going to have to put up with me hauling a bunch of those boxes back downstairs to sit next to my computer.

 

If you have that photo somewhere in a old paper, I would love to see it! I have heard the legends of the Hurt block/goaltend with Holmes, but never saw a video or pic. Some of my old buddies were at the game and said the refs missed an obvious call on that one, and I take their words for it. Would love to see the pic. Tell Mama you are gonna make a special trip to that historical attic and look through those boxes, please!

[Yellow Card]

Thanks to Mustang, no need for a trip to the attic.

 

CharlesHurttGoaltending1978StateChampionshipGame

[brentbbs]

On 2/12/2016 at 3:16 PM, BigVMan23 said:

So, how good was Edmonson County that year? Were they truly Cinderella, a team that shouldn't have been there but pulled upset after upset, or where they really good and capable of beating anyone anytime and actually a top team in the state, just not from a traditional power area like Louisville? For comparison sake, lets say Lawrence Co won the sweet 16 this year. Some might would call that Cinderella, small school, small community...I don't know that I would because they are good, considered a top team in the state with some very good players and capable of beating anyone in the state any time. I'm just trying to get a feel of who Edmonson County was, because I truly do not know and am not familiar with this story.

 

 

I know this is an old thread, but I am a new member and this is an interesting question.  As with so many things, the answer to this is not completely black and white, but I think the Cinderella characterization is a fair one.  

On the "Not Cinderella" side of the equation:

1. ECHS was coming off three consecutive district championships under Coach David Denton, who left at the end of the 1974-75 season, perhaps not totally by his own choice.

2. By the time of the Fourth Region tournament ECHS was 20-6, and ranked as the second best team in the region tournament by Litkenhous. They had a good team.  But not one, I think, that was capable of beating anyone at any time.  

 

On the "Cinderella" side:

1.  The preseason coaches' poll pegged them as the fifth best team in the region.

2.  They were never ranked in or even near the top 20 all year.

3.  They lost in the district final to the team ranked 6th out of the eight teams that made the region tournament (albeit ECHS played the district without one of their starters who was sick with the flu).  

4.They beat Franklin-Simpson by one point in the region final with F-S missing three shots in the waning seconds (a jumper off a baseline out of bounds under their own basket and two attempted put backs on offensive rebounds).

5.  ECHS had never been to a region final in the school's 16 year history, much less the Sweet 16.

6.  Coach Bo Davenport, in his first year at ECHS after having been fired at Grayson County the year before, had never been to a region final in his 26-year career, much less the Sweet 16. (In fact, after winning district championships in his first two years at Clarkson High School, 1950-51 and 1951-52, he never won another district title).

7.  The state was stacked with great teams in 1975-76.  Defending champion Male was ranked number one in the nation in the preseason Street & Smith guide.  Male lost to Ballard in an epic Seventh Region final.  Ballard won the state championship in 1977 and is considered one of the best teams in Ky high school history (and arguably the best).  The nucleus of that Ballard team was at the Sweet 16 in 1976.  Henry Clay, Shawnee and Shelby County fielded teams that would be favorites to win it all in many years.  Shelby County did win it all in 1978.

8.  The draw fell into place for a dark horse to come out of the upper bracket, which ECHS drew into.  

a. Going by the Litratings, six of the nine single-digit rated teams were in the lower bracket: (1) Ballard, (2) Henry Clay, (4) Shawnee, (6) Holmes, (8) Ashland, and (9) Christian County,  along with number (11) Clay County and (13) Hazard.  Christian County emerged from the upper bracket after upsetting Ashland (mildly), Shawnee in the  quarters and Henry Clay in the semis.  (Henry Clay beat Ballard in the quarters.)  So, the only game Christian County was favored to win was championship game.  

b. ECHS was ranked 14th of the Sweet 16 by Litkenhous.  ECHS drew the 15th ranked team (Betsy Layne) in the first round. The top two rated upper bracket teams Shelby County (3) and Apollo (5) played in the first round.  ECHS's quadrant was number 7 Harrison County, number 15 Betsy Layne, and number 16 Green County.  ECHS's wins were over the 15th, 7th, 3d and 9th rated teams in the tournament.

9.  ECHS's semifinal win against Litkenhous number 3 Shelby County ended in controversy, with the clock (seemingly) continuing to run for a second or two after a foul call that put Shelby County at the free throw line down three points.  It is an unlikely scenario, but it is certainly possible that Shelby County could have made the first and rebounded and scored on a missed second ala UVA against Purdue on their way to the 2019 NCAA championship.

10.  The championship game was an upset.  Both semifinals were upsets.  The quarterfinal games of the champion and the runner-up were upsets.  It was a topsy-turvy tournament and a load of fun to watch.

 

All credit to Edmonson County for making the most of the breaks they got.  You don't win the state tournament without playing very well and they did that.  All they could do was beat the teams in front of them.  But they sure did catch a lot of breaks.  I think the shoe fits.  And they are widely credited with saving the Sweet 16 as we know it.

[16thBBall Fan]

Nice post! Thanks for sharing and welcome to BGP!

[sweet16]

Great post. 

[The Professor]

I know the ‘76 state title won by Edmonson County has been viewed as a Cinderella story, and it was in that the state was stacked with great teams that year and Edmonson came out of nowhere to cut down the nets and take the hardware back to their community. But Edmonson is not a small school in the order of former champs Cuba, Carr Creek, or even Paintsville. I don’t know what their enrollment was in ‘76 but I’d say it hasn’t changed much in the last 45 years. Last year the school’s 9-12 enrollment was 570. That’s about the same size as Shelby Valley who won the title in the last decade. 
However, with that said, what the team and coaching staff accomplished that basketball season was absolutely amazing. I remember it very well. 

[brentbbs]

On 9/13/2020 at 11:16 PM, The Professor said:

I know the ‘76 state title won by Edmonson County has been viewed as a Cinderella story, and it was in that the state was stacked with great teams that year and Edmonson came out of nowhere to cut down the nets and take the hardware back to their community. But Edmonson is not a small school in the order of former champs Cuba, Carr Creek, or even Paintsville. I don’t know what their enrollment was in ‘76 but I’d say it hasn’t changed much in the last 45 years. Last year the school’s 9-12 enrollment was 570. That’s about the same size as Shelby Valley who won the title in the last decade. 
However, with that said, what the team and coaching staff accomplished that basketball season was absolutely amazing. I remember it very well. 

That is a good point and I wish I had thought to include it.  Part of whether you consider ECHS a Cinderella is whether you think size is an important factor, and if so, how small does the school need to be.  ECHS plays 2A football now (same classification as Shelby Valley) and they did in 1976.  So if a Cinderella can only come from among the very smallest of schools, no slipper for Edmonson.

But 2A is still relatively small and I believe that the proposal under consideration at that time was to divide into two classes, large school and small school and that Edmonson would have fit into the small school class.  (If anyone knows where I can track down information about the details of the proposal and the vote that I understand took place in the summer of 1976 please let me know at brent@thebasketballstories.com).  Reading the contemporary accounts of the tournament and watching the telecast, EC seems to have been considered by most everybody as a small school at the time the tournament was played.

For my money, size of school is a factor, but so is size of expectations.  Carr Creek (with about half the enrollment of ECHS) ended up 36-3 the year they won the title and they were the top rated team by Litkenhous entering the 1956 tournament.  Cuba was more like a third the size of Edmonson County, but they were ranked number 2 out of the teams that made it to the Sweet 16 in 1952, and were state runner up in 1951.   Taking both size and expectations into account, Edmonson County was much more in the Cinderella category than Carr Creek or Cuba.  

As for Paintsville, they lost in the first round of the 1996 All-A to Harlan.  Harlan lost in the second round of the All A to University Heights.  Both Harlan and Paintsville made the "all classifications" Sweet 16 that year, and Paintsville of course won it all.  To me, it would have been a shame for those teams not to have had the chance to compete at Rupp, and for Paintsville not to have hoisted the big trophy, because they were thought too small to have a chance.  If Edmonson County hadn't won in 1976, many think that might have been the result.