Good to see the community bond together to give these kids one more chance to play under the lights.

Bellevue police helping high school football team put on one last game after season cut short (msn.com)

A tip of the cap to Chief John McClain for thinking outside the box!

1 hour ago, CincySportsFan said:

Good to see the community bond together to give these kids one more chance to play under the lights.

Bellevue police helping high school football team put on one last game after season cut short (msn.com)

A tip of the cap to Chief John McClain for thinking outside the box!

I read about that last week.  Hoping they have a great turnout.  

On 10/12/2022 at 2:26 PM, futurecoach said:

I hate hearing this for Bellevue. They have a great history and I hate to see them down like this. I truly believe they will eventually bounce back from this. 
 

I personally went through something similar first hand when I was in high school at another little river school at Ludlow. 
 

From the start of 2000 my freshman year, to 2003 we had a 33 game losing streak. During that losing streak we weren’t even close in any game and usually had running clocks on us until 2003. In 2002 we completely hit a low point and had a game down at Raceland where we only had 13 healthy players, and one player somehow forgot his helmet so we only had 12 that could play that game lol. We finished that year with 15 total players on the roster. So we legit was at the lowest of lows as a program. 
 

Luckily we had a new head coach come in 2003 in Steve Hensley who really helped re energize the program and got kids to come out and just really start to believe. We also had two really good assistant coaches at the time that stuck it out with us all those losing  years in Randy Borchers and Mark Childress and stayed when Hensley took over. We were able to break the losing streak that year and even earned ourselves a playoff spot that year back when it was just four classes and we had 6 teams in our district. 
 

Ludlow obviously has been pretty steady as a program since that time and doing well. So it can be done, and I hope those young players for Bellevue stick around and start to believe because they can turn it around over the next few years. It sucks going through it, but it can be done. Keep grinding this off season, talk friends into playing, because they definitely can turn this around and get back to being a good proud program they have always been. 

 

On 10/12/2022 at 8:01 PM, The Raven said:

I hate to see this for the kids and the community.  For the past 2+ decades, I have had a fondness for Bellevue football.

I am a 1990 grad of Covington Catholic.  Brian Williams was my classmate, teammate and friend.  When he passed in the WTC attack on 9/11, it added a mark of sadness to the fear most of us felt on that day and the subsequent weeks.

That Friday, 9/14, Bellevue was one of the few teams that decided to help people get back to normal and held their game (vs Danville.). As part of my job at the time, I was sent to cover that game.  The coach of the Tigers at the time was Bill Arnzen.  As he was on the field, readying his team for the game, he passed and asked how I was doing.  I told him I was scared like a lot of people and upset because of Willie.  Arnzen said he was sorry and then just said, "Tell me about him."

Here was a man trying to do his job and get ready for a game, but he took time out of that to talk to a guy going through some stuff at the time.  We spent a good 10 minutes talking about Brian and eventually the upcoming game.

He didn't have to do that, but that was the kind of guy he was and the kind of coaches and teachers Bellevue could be proud of.

Danville won the game, 58-0, but that didn't really matter.  I became a Bellevue "fan" for what happened before the game, not during.

I hate most of the content of this thread as Bellevue was once (and will again) an incredibly strong and proud football program for the state, but those names bolded.... you talk about some guys who have changed lives in NKY, even beyond the field. Awesome, awesome guys. 

On 10/14/2022 at 7:31 AM, bulldog77 said:

The enrollment number at the Middle/High School is actually 362.  And remember, that is grades 6 through 12.  There are only 640 kids in the ENTIRE school District.  Now I don't say that as an excuse or as a negative, it's just that there has been so much false and incomplete information (both innocently and by some with other agendas) spread about this situation.  Despite the clear problems this decision has caused for many involved parties, it was absolutely the correct decision for the kids at Bellevue.  Nobody involved in the decision process, and it WAS a process, was happy with the outcome, but it WAS the correct decision.  It will be a tough road back to regain where the program once was, but you can be certain that the people involved with Bellevue athletics are committed to pursuing that goal.  The consolidation issue is one for the administrations of those districts to wrangle.  Right here, right now, the aim is to re-establish a proud and historically strong program.  Whatever and however long it takes.

I have no doubt that Bellevue has the right kind of commitment to get things going well again. There are so many people dedicated to the school/kids in that tiny town that the bigger towns (with bigger populations, more money, more resources) should just look in awe at what Bellevue does with less. 

Dedicated guys through the vets with Rick Buckler and others, Rob Sanders, Tommy Sorrell, Jim Hicks, Dave Pelgen, etc. in the school system. Those are people INVESTED in those kids. That's without even mentioning Dave Brausch, who may want it back more than anyone. It'll be back. 

1 hour ago, ChickenWyngz said:

I have no doubt that Bellevue has the right kind of commitment to get things going well again. There are so many people dedicated to the school/kids in that tiny town that the bigger towns (with bigger populations, more money, more resources) should just look in awe at what Bellevue does with less. 

Dedicated guys through the vets with Rick Buckler and others, Rob Sanders, Tommy Sorrell, Jim Hicks, Dave Pelgen, etc. in the school system. Those are people INVESTED in those kids. That's without even mentioning Dave Brausch, who may want it back more than anyone. It'll be back. 

I don’t have doubt that it will be back, especially with all people you mentioned. They are just going through a very rough and unfortunate patch right now, they will be back.