Sources: Kentucky High School Basketball Encyclopedia 100th Anniversary Edition by Jeff Bridgeman for seasons through 2016-17 and the KHSAA Riherd's Scoreboard for the 2017-18 and 2018-19 seasons.

 

This list includes all records through the 2018-19 seasons:

 

Rank/School Name(s)/Wins-Losses-Ties/Winning Percentage/First Season

1. Manchester/Clay County 2140-799 .728 1922-23

2. Paducah/Paducah Tilghman 2012-811 .713 1908-09

3. Ashland 2005-927-1 .684 1908-09

4. Hazard 1998-862-1 .699 1920-21

5. Morton/Lexington/Henry Clay 1992-915-1 .685 1907-08

6. Owensboro 1990-923 .683 1913-14

7. Clark County/George Rogers Clark 1970-988 .666 1915-16

8. Central 1932-757 .718 1912-13

9. Corbin 1909-853 .691 1920-21

10. Covington/Holmes 1873-844 .689 1917-18

 

Please leave any comments here, but if you have questions, they may be better answered through private message. Enjoy!!

Glad to see that my Covington boys have cracked the Top 10.

No Male?

Ashland is celebrating their 2000th win last week as the first Kentucky high school to make it to 2,000. Either Mr. Bridgeman is in error or Ashland is.

In my opinion it would be hugely difficult to get an accurate win total dating back to the 1920’s for any Kentucky high school. It would be inevitable that there would be sizable discrepancies either over or under the exact number.

I know the school I attended couldn’t come up with a total wins number. I can locate scorebooks back to the late 1970’s but before that no one has a clue to where the scorebooks are. Different head coaches have come and gone over the years and many of them took the scorebooks with them when they left. There were no requirements to turn them into the office or keep any records. It would be a nightmare going back to the ‘30s through the ‘60s to try to gather any information. I suppose other schools are in the same boat but some, particularly the larger and more successful ones, have probably kept better records.

I just looked up the official KHSAA records and Ashland is number 1 with 2,001 wins. Paducah Tilghman was second with around 1,960.

I just looked up the official KHSAA records and Ashland is number 1 with 2,001 wins. Paducah Tilghman was second with around 1,960. I don’t know how accurate these numbers are but it is the “official” state record that the high school governing body recognizes.

No Male?

 

Male was 12th after last season with 1,817 wins.

My questions are:

Are all of the listed schools with hyphenated names the result of consolidation? Are schools with county names the result of consolidation? If the answer is yes, then they would be a new school and their records would begin at their point of creation. Just my thoughts.

My questions are:

Are all of the listed schools with hyphenated names the result of consolidation? Are schools with county names the result of consolidation? If the answer is yes, then they would be a new school and their records would begin at their point of creation. Just my thoughts.

 

Good question and I imagine you are right. Adding wins from consolidated schools could certainly result in the discrepancy between these numbers and the khsaa numbers.

You would have to purchase the book for the explanation. Where there was consolidation/closing of schools, Jeff has documented as such. My best guess is that the schools with multiple names were schools who took over the school records from the former names.

 

As he states at the beginning of the large section of the book with year-by-year win/loss records, "The lack of consistent recordkeeping and availability of archive material makes it difficult to state with certainty when the first prep basketball in the Commonwealth was played, it is clear that by the mid-'20s the sport was thriving." He continues that the data in the book was compiled using a combination of school records (I believe he sent out questionnaires to every school), newspaper accounts, school yearbooks, and other research.

 

I know the information in Jeff's book is not be 100% accurate (he says so much himself), but until it is all corrected through further research, this is what I will be going by. As was said in a previous post, KHSAA has Paducah Tilghman at 1,960 wins. I find it hard to believe that the gap between extensive research and the KHSAA would be 52 wins, maybe a couple here or there, but not 52. I would also like to say that the "official" KHSAA information is/was only as good as what is provided by the school, thus the tremendous gap between the number of wins from say schools 1-10 where schools in Jeff's book aren't even represented in the KHSAA information.

I know this is seemingly becoming a sensitive subject for some because Ashland's honor prompted it. I think it is totally reasonable to look at what the KHSAA has as their official record and to deem that as the standard. So in that light, this honor is Ashland's, and Ashland's alone. I just think that it should be pointed out that a lot of the KHSAA records, if not in fact all of them that took place below the state tournament level, are the result of schools reporting the records. Ashland somewhere along the way likely documented it and reported it. That doesn't definitely mean that no one else has as many wins or that there aren't other teams close, just that they haven't reported it. I'll provide two examples - one logical, one verifiable.

 

Owensboro is not on the official KHSAA list for most wins. The lowest on that list is Augusta with 1,090. Owensboro has played basketball for over 100 years and has made it to the state tournament a record 43 times. Logically, there is no way that Owensboro wouldn't have more wins than that. If I counted the wins they have in the state tournament (47) and the wins it takes to win a region (3) times the years (43), that's 176 wins right there without even trying to do real research. That means if Owensboro averaged just 10 wins a regular season for 100 years of playing basketball, they'd have more wins than Augusta to get on that list. It's obvious. That the KHSAA doesn't have them on it tells you right away it isn't gospel.

 

I have personally verified the score of every Bowling Green game since the 1962/1963 season. Since the start of that year, they're 1,152-530. They won seven region titles before 1962 and played basketball for around 40 years before that time. But even if I ignored all of that, I've got Bowling Green with more wins than two teams on that KHSAA list and I can prove it. They're not on the list - the list is incomplete.

Based on the Encylopedia and I, Augusta is 127th on the victory list, so my vote is for incomplete as well.

I know this is seemingly becoming a sensitive subject for some because Ashland's honor prompted it. I think it is totally reasonable to look at what the KHSAA has as their official record and to deem that as the standard. So in that light, this honor is Ashland's, and Ashland's alone. I just think that it should be pointed out that a lot of the KHSAA records, if not in fact all of them that took place below the state tournament level, are the result of schools reporting the records. Ashland somewhere along the way likely documented it and reported it. That doesn't definitely mean that no one else has as many wins or that there aren't other teams close, just that they haven't reported it. I'll provide two examples - one logical, one verifiable.

 

Owensboro is not on the official KHSAA list for most wins. The lowest on that list is Augusta with 1,090. Owensboro has played basketball for over 100 years and has made it to the state tournament a record 43 times. Logically, there is no way that Owensboro wouldn't have more wins than that. If I counted the wins they have in the state tournament (47) and the wins it takes to win a region (3) times the years (43), that's 176 wins right there without even trying to do real research. That means if Owensboro averaged just 10 wins a regular season for 100 years of playing basketball, they'd have more wins than Augusta to get on that list. It's obvious. That the KHSAA doesn't have them on it tells you right away it isn't gospel.

 

I have personally verified the score of every Bowling Green game since the 1962/1963 season. Since the start of that year, they're 1,152-530. They won seven region titles before 1962 and played basketball for around 40 years before that time. But even if I ignored all of that, I've got Bowling Green with more wins than two teams on that KHSAA list and I can prove it. They're not on the list - the list is incomplete.

 

Schools have to submit a form to the KHSAA to be on the list.