History Of The NKY Jack Kaelin Freshman Regional Tournament

[Colonels_Wear_Blue]

Looks like the info I had on the tournament having started in the 1960s isn't quite accurate. It appears it was also held in at least 1959. From the Boone County 1962 yearbook:

 

[Colonels_Wear_Blue]

Jimmy Pangallo? Or was he 1981?

 

You've got me beat there...

[Colonels_Wear_Blue]

1967 - Newport Catholic beat Covington Catholic 54-48 in the 9th Region freshman finals.

[Pete Mitchell]

You've got me beat there...

 

I bring him up because he was mentioned in the tournament program a few years ago as leading his NewCath team to the championship ... so either NewCath won it back to back years, or he played with that group as an 8th grader. That's what I didn't know...

[Pinseeker]

Jimmy Pangallo was 1981. Newcath also won in 1984 finishing with a 25-0 record.

[colonel-fan]

So that is 6 of the last 8 championships to CovCath? And I know they were runner-ups in at least one year they didn't win.

[mexitucky]

Colonels_Wear_Blue said:

Good luck finding the complete listing of champs...I think that job would most likely come down to word of mouth history.

The NKY Freshman Regional Tournament goes back to the 1960s. It moved to Cov Cath in 1970. Mr. Jack Kaelin had his hand in on running the tournament at Cov Cath from the get-go, and ran it virtually single-handedly from the mid-1970s up until 2007. They named the tournament after Mr. Kaelin in 2013.

Here's what I've got for you:

1969 - Covington Holy Cross
1975 - Covington Catholic
1977 - Holmes
1978 - Simon Kenton
1980 - Newport Catholic
1984 - Newport Central Catholic
1986 - Lloyd Memorial
1991 - Covington Catholic
1996 - Highlands
1999 - Covington Catholic
2003 - Covington Catholic
2007 - Covington Catholic
2011 - Covington Catholic
2012 - Covington Catholic
2013 - Simon Kenton
2014 - Covington Catholic
2015 - Covington Catholic
2016 - Covington Holy Cross
2017 - Covington Catholic

 

1995 - Highlands

[Colonels_Wear_Blue]

1963 NewCath defeated CovCath 37-33. Breds were coached by Bob Schneider

1964 New Cath defeated JG Carlisle 49-45. Breds were coached by Bob Schneider.

1965 JG Carlisle defeated New Cath 53-44.

1967 New Cath defeated Cov Cath 54-48. Breds were coached by Jim Callahan.

[Colonels_Wear_Blue]

Here's what I've got at this point:

1959 – Boone County
1962 – Boone County
1963 – Newport Catholic
1964 – Newport Catholic
1965 – John G. Carlisle
1967 – Newport Catholic
1969 – Covington Holy Cross
1972 – Covington Catholic
1973 – Covington Catholic
1975 – Covington Catholic
1977 – Holmes
1978 – Simon Kenton
1980 – Newport Catholic
1981 – Newport Catholic
1983 – Simon Kenton
1984 – Newport Central Catholic
1985 – Highlands
1986 – Lloyd Memorial
1991 – Covington Catholic
1995 – Highlands
1996 – Highlands
1999 – Covington Catholic
2003 – Covington Catholic
2008 – Boone County
2007 – Covington Catholic
2011 – Covington Catholic
2012 – Covington Catholic
2013 – Simon Kenton
2014 – Covington Catholic
2015 – Covington Catholic
2016 – Covington Holy Cross
2017 – Covington Catholic
2018 – Covington Catholic

[Hands & Feet]

Simon Kenton won in 1983.

[Pete Mitchell]

Nicely done, CWB. I'd like to see those gaps filled in, 2008-10 for example, and I think it would be interesting to compare frosh regional winner with the region winner three years later. My sense is that there used to be a closer correlation than there is today, mostly because CovCath has just been so deep for the past 10 years. For example,

1977 Holmes / 1980 Holmes (Dicky Beal teams)

1978 Simon Kenton/1981 Simon Kenton (State champs/Troy McKinley teams)

1981 NewCath/1984 NewCath (No. 1 ranked team in state most the year)

 

The common theme would be when really good freshman (like Beal and McKinley, for example) did not play up, you would see a strong correlation between frosh and +3 year regional champ. No great mystery there.

[kinglouie]

Boone won in 2008. They and the Colonels were both in the top half of the bracket and played in the semi's. Triple OT thriller and Boone won by one I think. Trevan Brown and Jake Thelen had a greate battle. Boone then cruised in the finals, Pretty sure they played Dixie. I also think Cov Cath won in 2009, but not certain. Memory is not what it used to be!

[cowboy90]

CovCath won in 92 and 93

[Colonels_Wear_Blue]

Boone won in 2008. They and the Colonels were both in the top half of the bracket and played in the semi's. Triple OT thriller and Boone won by one I think. Trevan Brown and Jake Thelen had a greate battle. Boone then cruised in the finals, Pretty sure they played Dixie. I also think Cov Cath won in 2009, but not certain. Memory is not what it used to be!

 

2009 was Boone County vs. Dixie Heights in the finals. I'm not sure which team won, though.

[cowboy90]

Pretty sure Michael Grimes, Bondick, Schmergee class at CovCath won their freshman year. THat would have been 2004 or 2005