I really enjoy hearing some of the great stories of legends past in Kentucky high school basketball.

 

Hoping to start a thread and get some good conversation going...

 

Who has some good stories about great legends like King Kelly Coleman, Todd May, Ervin Stepp, etc. etc.?

I'll share one from an interview I did with Ervin Stepp:

 

Who taught you to shoot?

 

As far as form, Dad would always say, “it takes sixty days of repetition to form a habit.” He taught all of us the correct form and we put it to repetition. Dad was way before his time in basketball knowledge.

 

You know, he was a welder and he had this theory that if he cut the rim down from seventeen to fifteen inches to let us boys shoot on it that we’d go back in the fall and the rims would look huge. And it did, man. We would go back and it was like throwing the ball in a bathtub after playing on that small rim all summer. That really helped our shooting. Looking back on it, he should’ve patented that idea.

I'd suggest reading "King Kelly Coleman" by Gary West. Really interesting.

Ervin Stepp is famous for one thing: somehow finishing ahead of Dicky Beal for Mr Basketball in 1980.

Ervin Stepp is famous for one thing: somehow finishing ahead of Dicky Beal for Mr Basketball in 1980.

 

Didn't Stepp average 50+ points per game without a 3-point line that season?

I love hearing stories about King Kelly and the Wayland Wasps. They say Coleman would walk into the gym half loaded with special soda and still drop 50-plus. Anyone ever see the King play back in the day?

Didn't Stepp average 50+ points per game without a 3-point line that season?

 

Correct (53) and still wasn't as good as Dicky Beal.

Correct (53) and still wasn't as good as Dicky Beal.

 

That was just a tad before my time so you'll have to tell me more. Why you feel Beal was better?

That was just a tad before my time so you'll have to tell me more. Why you feel Beal was better?

 

The guy was a product of shooting a lot of shots. He took 943 shots in one season - 1980. Remember : that doesn't count shots he took where he got fouled. So the guy took well over 1,000 shots in one season.

 

You think Dicky couldn't have showed up at Phelps and put up 50 taking 943 shots in one season? No one could have stopped Dicky from scoring that many.

 

He took 784 his junior year. He took 42 shots in one game.

I'd suggest reading "King Kelly Coleman" by Gary West. Really interesting.

 

I concur...it's a really good book. I have it on a shelf here somewhere.

The guy was a product of shooting a lot of shots. He took 943 shots in one season - 1980. Remember : that doesn't count shots he took where he got fouled. So the guy took well over 1,000 shots in one season.

 

You think Dicky couldn't have showed up at Phelps and put up 50 taking 943 shots in one season? No one could have stopped Dicky from scoring that many.

 

He took 784 his junior year. He took 42 shots in one game.

 

sounds a lot like Chris Harrison

The guy was a product of shooting a lot of shots. He took 943 shots in one season - 1980. Remember : that doesn't count shots he took where he got fouled. So the guy took well over 1,000 shots in one season.

 

You think Dicky couldn't have showed up at Phelps and put up 50 taking 943 shots in one season? No one could have stopped Dicky from scoring that many.

 

He took 784 his junior year. He took 42 shots in one game.

 

Since 943 sounds so far-fetched I looked up Brandon Hatton's stats from last season on KHSAA.org. Brandon is considered to a scorer and averaged 18 PPG. He took about 230 shots for the season. So it would take him about 4 seasons to get the attempts Stepp took in his senior season.

Since 943 sounds so far-fetched I looked up Brandon Hatton's stats from last season on KHSAA.org. Brandon is considered to a scorer and averaged 18 PPG. He took about 230 shots for the season. So it would take him about 4 seasons to get the attempts Stepp took in his senior season.

 

What was Phelps' record during that season?

What was Phelps' record during that season?

 

No clue.