9th Region Greatest of all time?

[madman]

Grant County, Pendleton County, Walton-Verona, Campbell County, Brossart, Calvary Christian, Scott, Silver Grove all can have claims on being in NKY but not the 9th region.

 

Thread called for greatest players of all time in the 9th region.

Another thread can call for the greatest players of all time in NKY.

Two different subjects even though admittingly some of the names will be the same.

 

I believe that Walton had been in the 9th Region for many, many years before moving to the 8th Region in the 90's. None of the other schools mentioned have been in the 9th so I think they can be included in this discussion. I believe one of the Demousey boys from Walton played on a UK championship team many years ago.

[NEERFAN]

Justin Doellman was the best all around player in the region their senior year ('03). Brock was more athletic than Neltner, and an argument could be made that Brock was actually the better HS player than Neltner. I'll take Doellman over both of them.

 

I always love the Brock, Neltner, Doellman discussions. Hard to believe it will be eight years since they played, and I'd take: 1)Brock, 2)JD, 3)Neltner.

[Voice of Reason]

Agreed. Another Latin grad, Jeff Stowers. Gotta remember, these guys were two years younger than everyone else. Not sure on this, but did David Justice play bball?

 

Justice led N. Ky. in scoring his senior year and maybe did in his junior year also. He could shoot. He went to Thomas More to play basketball. The story I have heard is he played baseball at TMC because he hated basketball conditioning and wanted to get out of the running. And the rest, as they say, is history.

[History]

The situation with Cowens is always how the question is formed. If it is who had the greatest career in hoops that played in the 9th region, then the answer is clearly Dave Cowens. If it is who was the best player while PLAYING in the 9th region, then Draud, Beal, etc come into play.

[ladiesbballcoach]

I have yet to see any player mentioned that played on a team that wasn't in the 9th region. So why did you post the obvious?

Pendleton County has never played in the 9th region and I mentioned three.

[Qryche11]

Justice led N. Ky. in scoring his senior year and maybe did in his junior year also. He could shoot. He went to Thomas More to play basketball. The story I have heard is he played baseball at TMC because he hated basketball conditioning and wanted to get out of the running. And the rest, as they say, is history.

 

Not hard to lead NKY in scoring playing for Latin lol. I am sure they probably avg 45 pts a game and he had 30 of them.

[Waldo]

None could shoot from outside as well as Dickie Vories. I played against him in high school and in college. After college we became close friends and he even refereed some games our school played in northern Ky. He wasn't very fast but man he could shoot from outside. I remember later he played with the Reds basketball off season basketball team because they needed a scorer. Great shot!

[The Observer]

Between Holmes, Covington Catholic, and Holy Cross, and Grant this is going to have strong Covington representation.

[BigCountryBoy]

Outside of Beal, Ralph Parton was the most exciting player I saw growing up. Great success story.

I agree with you on that! Parton was very quick and to this day is one of only a handful of players that could draw a charge in the backcourt as a team was bringing the ball up the floor in transition. Great memories of him playing.

[BigCountryBoy]

A few names from Conner's past....

 

Tony Faher (sp) played in the 70's

Rick Hicks played in the 70's

Scott Thomas played in the early 80's.... as good a ball handler as there ever was. IMO.

[remmac]

The three definites for me would be Beal, Schloemer & Draud........after that it gets tougher. The Mr. Basketball Award for Neltner would definitely put him in top ten (although Brock & Doellman were equally accomplished). Can't go back past mid-seventies but more recent candidates would be Ricardo Johnson, Derek Smith (their accomplishments in State Tourneys say enough) & Jack Jennings for sure. After that.....too close to call for me.

 

Couple of thoughts....for the Derek Smith neysayers think about the idea that he was Mr. Basketball runner-up after finishing a football season as the Mr. Football runner-up! IMO if 9th region is being compared with statewide...Draud, Beal and maybe Neltner would have a chance.

[EZ Living]

One player I haven't seen mentioned here was a legend in Covington from his play in the early 60s at the old Lincoln Grant before they moved the kids to Holmes, George Stone. I don't know a whole lot about him only what I have heard and the little I have read but I believe he played against Wesley Unseld in the high school state tournament when I believe Unseld was @ Seneca. Unseld then went on to star @ Louisville and with the NBA Washington Bullets. Story has it that Stone more than held his own against Unseld and others in the state tournament. He may have even played some with Thacker but not sure of the dates. I can't recall where and how much he played beyond high school. A few other names that come to mind are Lou Herndon from Holmes during Dave Cowens era and Leo Foster and Bob Burns from Holmes in the late 60s. Leo went on to play baseball and bounced around for a few years in the majors. I'll see if I can dig something up on these guys. One note on Dave Cowens, his coming out was the 9th region championship game versus Holmes out at Campbell Co. in 1966. Cowens was a beast that night and it probably jump started his career. I believe they upset Holmes by about 30 pts. that night and he got a scholly to Fla. State and the rest is history. He also grew considerably after high school which didn't hurt him any.

[Theoldguy]

One player I haven't seen mentioned here was a legend in Covington from his play in the early 60s at the old Lincoln Grant before they moved the kids to Holmes, George Stone. I don't know a whole lot about him only what I have heard and the little I have read but I believe he played against Wesley Unseld in the high school state tournament when I believe Unseld was @ Seneca. Unseld then went on to star @ Louisville and with the NBA Washington Bullets. Story has it that Stone more than held his own against Unseld and others in the state tournament. He may have even played some with Thacker but not sure of the dates. I can't recall where and how much he played beyond high school. A few other names that come to mind are Lou Herndon from Holmes during Dave Cowens era and Leo Foster and Bob Burns from Holmes in the late 60s. Leo went on to play baseball and bounced around for a few years in the majors. I'll see if I can dig something up on these guys. One note on Dave Cowens, his coming out was the 9th region championship game versus Holmes out at Campbell Co. in 1966. Cowens was a beast that night and it probably jump started his career. I believe they upset Holmes by about 30 pts. that night and he got a scholly to Fla. State and the rest is history. He also grew considerably after high school which didn't hurt him any.

 

Leo was a much better baseball player than baseketball player but indeed he was good! Bob Burns, now there was a different kind of kid and a memory from the past. Pretty good basketball player but from speaking to him and seeing him play first hand, how do you say without being mean, as dumb as the Louisville Trinity HS nickname!

[EZ Living]

I found this on george Stone.

 

Stone, George E.

Birth Year : 1946

Stone was born in Murray, KY. A 6'7" forward, he played basketball at William Grant High School in Covington, KY. He was an outstanding player who earned a scholarship in 1964 to Marshall University in Huntington, WV. In 1967 the Marshall team defeated Nebraska in the second round of the NIT; George Stone scored 46 points, a record for most individual points in an NIT game in Madison Square Garden. He was the school's 9th all-time leading rebounder. In 1999, Stone was inducted into the Marshall University Athletics Hall of Fame and named to the 1st team of the All-Century Marshall University Basketball Team. Stone's professional basketball career began in 1968 with the Los Angeles Stars, an ABA team, for whom he played in 74 games, leading the team in scoring for the season with 1,328 points. His playing career ended in 1972 with the Utah Stars, also an ABA team. In total, Stone played in 259 games and scored 3,530 points in the ABA. For more see "Here is the Daily Mail's list of Marshall University's 10 biggest," Charleston Daily Mail, 07/08/1999; "Cleaning the boards," Charleston Daily Mail, 01/17/2000; and George Stone in Basketball-Reference.com.

Subjects: Basketball

Geographic Region: Murray, Calloway County, Kentucky

 

 

I went back and found this link to George Stone. Actually it was called William Grant High School and George went on to star @ Marshall and played several seasons in the old ABA.

 

http://www.basketball-reference.com/players/s/stonege01.html

[dshoe40]

How about Tom Laskey (sp) from Newport also in that era Bob Burns from Holmes