EZ Living

I totally agree the Holy Cross win over Holmes in 96 deserves mention as one of the biggest in recent NKY memory. :thumb:

 

Just to clarify the bolded though, Boone beating Lloyd in the finals wasn't an upset. The Rebels were 4-0 against Lloyd that season, including the 33rd district finals just a week before. Also, I think the kid you are talking about was junior guard T.J. Evans, and I'm not sure he was the MVP. Boone had a senior who's last name was Hall and he was clearly their best player.

I believe his name was Doug Hall.

To be honest 68 was my senior year, but I really don't remember going to Holmes to play in that gym. We did play football in our first year of varsity football at Holmes but that gym.... sorry...

1967 was my senior year, what a change it was going to the new gym that seats roughly 2500. I believe the old gym might have held 500 people?? You could literally hang over the balcony on each end and alter a shot that caromed a little high off the rim. I will say this that it was a great view of play under the basket. I don't remember any others like it.

I personally think that so much emphasis is put on the three pointer that free throw shooting gets lost in the shuffle.

Amen!! IMO this is what is ruining good high school basketball. A player will penetrate and kick it out to the 3 line and you hardly ever see big men post a man up. They all want to shoot the 3.

As I stated in another thread Beechwood beat Cov Holmes in the first round (and first 34th district game played at Cov Holmes) in 1968. Beechwood then went on to upset Cov Holy Cross before being blown out of the gym by CovCath. CovCath then went on to win the Ninth Region at the new Holmes gym by beating Campbell County by 31pts.

 

BTW just a small history lesson; CovCath in 1967 beat Cov Holmes in the Campbell County gym for their first of five straight Ninth Regions Championship games.

Do you remember the battles between CovCath and Holmes in the old gym before 1968? You had to get there right after school to get a seat or hang over the basket to watch from the balcony.

Larry Miller strapped Beechwood on his back and carried them through those two games.

It was an incredible two game run. There may have been bigger upsets, but I never remember two in a row that were this big.

The same guy who coached SK to the championship in 1981?

In 1968 Beechwood defeated Cov Holmes in the brand new Cov Holmes gym, then Beechwood went on to beat Cov Holy Cross, before getting blown out by CovCath. It indeed was the first round game of the then 34th District and the first time Cov Holmes gym was used for the 34th District Tourney as well as the Ninth Region Tournament. That year CovCaht beat Campbell County by 31pts for their second of five straight trips to the Sweet Sixteen....

I can't believe it was that long ago but you are right that was the first year in the fieldhouse. I believe that Holmes team had Bob Burns, Ralph Simpson and Leo Foster all juniors if I recall, maybe Burns was a senior. I know it was a huge upset.

The biggest one that I remember is directly related to the topic in this thread... It was a Holy Cross victory over Holmes in the '96 9th Region opening round. Holmes was undefeated against the 9th region (16-0 coming in, I believe) that season and had already claimed 3 blowout victories over Holy Cross that year. Holmes was the overwhelming favorite not only to win that game, but to win the 9th. However, Clay Eifert had something else in mind... He had his Indian squad convinced that they would beat Holmes. With a beautiful gameplan that put his center Donny Geotz at the point... HC was able to control tempo and virtually eliminate Holmes' press. Holmes top scorers Joe Rice, Jim Humphrey and Bernard were all held to single digits. In fact, the leading scorer for Holmes that game was Tim Sullivan (Cooper Head Coach) with 12 points. Tim was a distributor and defensive point guard, but he gave Holmes a chance to come back in the late minutes. However, it was not to be and there was a collective thud heard all across the Commonwealth. Holmes finished around 26-5 and would have been a legitimate contender down state.

 

In case you were wondering... Boone County went on to defeat Lloyd in the 9th Region Final. A sophomore guard named T.C or T.K....or something like that.....came out of nowhere to be the MVP of the tournament. This was another big uspet because Lloyd had Charles Sheffield and Jefferson that year. They were supposed to be Holmes biggest threat.

I remember that, wasn't it a very low scoring game?

One of many nice things about having the CovCath Internet Radio Network (besides listening to the games live) is the ability to go back to those games and re listen to them via the archives. In listening to the game, DJ came back into the game in the second quarter with around six minutes still to play. So ETA, from not playing at all, to not playing the entire first half to the the truth being that DJ play all but the first quarter.

 

CovCath Colonels Varsity Basketball vs. Holmes Bulldogs (35th District Finals) (KY)

Covington Catholic Colonels Varsity Basketball vs. Holmes Bulldogs live from Park Hills, Kentucky for the Finals of the 35th District Tournament

Boy the weather must be really bad in NKy today! I guess that and the fact that the golf @ Pebble Beach was postponed today makes for some real boredom, unless you're a Nascar fan.

Sorry I missed this thread, Tiger1 should know and have alot to talk about on this thread. If I might get off the subject a little bit for 2 things. First I watched the Ballard/EC game last night and people was bursting out the doors there was so many people. But the size of the gym was about the size of the top section at the feildhouse at Holmes. Take the bottom section out and bring the top section of Holmes gym down thats the size of EC. Not a blast on EC at all. But 80% of the games from 1975 - 80 thats how filled Holmes gym would be. You had to park as far away as Meiken Feild and north to Wallace Ave. Thousands of people. Not even as close now days. 2nd - Doug Schloemer was the 2nd best shooter I have seen but Dicky Beal was the most exciting. The most underated and best shooter I have ever seen was Holmes assistant coach John Wimzie!!! :thumb: If Doug was not there John would have taken all the honors. The master of dunks was Elliot Simpson from Holmes, you did not want to try to block his dunks :eek: :isurrender:. Reynold's Flynn :idunno: if he had this team. :isurrender: Are you tired out there :confused: No sir :eyeonyou: You must not be running hard enough. None, I do mean none of this slow down play worked for him.

I was looking for you to help us on the biggest upset thread. What year did Holmes get upset in the districs by Beechwood? I thought it was around 79 but someone said Highlands beat Holmes that year in the regional finals.

My memory is very foggy about this, but didn't Dayton very unexpectedly beat Holmes in about 1980 when the Green Devils were about the last team anyone would expect would take down the mighty Bulldogs??? Maybe someone can help me out here on this one. The memory is vague, but it seems like something like that happened. :idunno:

You might have to ask Stan Steidel about that one. I don't remember it. The 1980 Holmes team only lost 3 games and one was to Owensboro in the semis of state.

1978 Holy Cross team had a 12-13 point lead on Holmes in the district quarter final game and Coach Flynn put in Dicky Beal and Holmes started pressing and eventually won a great game. The Holy Cross players you listed were not part of that team. It was John Kennedy & Randy Ives at guard for HC, Barry Buntin, Rick Eckerle, Tom Corman, etc were the other players. Lenihan, Eifert, and Niehaus were starters for HC when they lost to Highlands in the 1980 regional semi-final. Holmes went on to crush Highlands by 25+ in the 1980 regional finals.

Thanks like I said it is hard to remember the exact years the farther removed you are from them. Did I have the part right that Holmes beat holy Cross 4 times that year?

With the tournaments starting up in a few weeks I thought it might be fun to reminisce about past 9th regional champions. There have been some really good players and champions in the 9th but it might be fun for some of the younger readers to hear stories about some of the older teams and their accomplishments. Most of us know about Troy McKinley and the 1981 state championship team that defeated Mason Co. in the finals before a capacity crowd at Rupp. How about Doug Schloemer, John Wimzie and Dicky Beal on the 1978 Holmes team that had their championship stolen by a non-call. How about Dicky Beal and the 1980 Holmes team and Jack Jennings and the 1988 Holmes team. If we want to go back to the 60s even CovCath had some great teams under Mote Hils. NewCath in the 70s. Kenny Shields won 5 regionals and I think 2 with Scott Draud pulling the trigger. What do you say let's hear all the stories as you remember them.

 

:dancingpa

Do some research on the 1978 Holy Cross team. I think they won close to 30 games that year but couldn't beat Holmes who went 34-2 and beat Holy Cross 4 times, all pretty close games as I recall. They had Dan Lenihan, Clay Eifert, Dan Niehaus and Gary Bamberger. They had Holmes down in the district by I believe 8 or 9 late in the game and went into a delay game. Dickie Beal went crazy with steals late and Holmes pulled it out. Another thought that comes to mind was the 1966 championship game at Campbell County, the first of the so called big gyms to host a regional in the 9th. NewCath played Holmes and I have to beleive Holmes was favored to win but a big red head named Dave Cowens put on a show. He was only about 6'5" at the time but he was unstoppable that night. Holmes had a star named Lou Herndon who was about 6'3", had a left-handed fadeaway shot that couldn't be blocked. NewCath won by maybe 30 that night. Dave went on to play at Florida State probably because of his performance that night and getting exposure in the state tournament. He later starred in the NBA and the rest is history. No one ever believed he would become the star he was.

I think there is plenty of truth to that. Northern Kentucky has so many schools, and many are either "big" or "private." Because of that, there is a large number of schools that can win the regional title. A good family comes through and a school is set for a few years. Another family goes to another place and they have a run. And on down the line. Finally, the family of group A starts having kids and several years later, group A has another run.

 

It's like that in most regions, actually. The biggest difference being that northern Kentucky involves several schools in the rotation, while most regions only have two or three! Very interesting.

The Pangallo family comes to mind and the Sandfoss family a few years back.

If I remember correctly he averaged over 35ppg on 73% FG and about 80% FT. Very impressive. Scored 68 against NC. Would be interesting to see his game with the dogs of today. Jack wasn't the best leaper in the world!

Jack couldn't jump that high but he was the Charles Barkley of the 9th region in that when he got position on someone he never gave it up. He played at Western Ky and later in Europe for quite a few years. He could rebound and post people up as good as anyone I have ever seen. He was still doing this a couple of years ago in the summer leagues in Cincinnati against the best.

For what it's worth, here is a list of past 9th region champions, stretching all the way back to 1939. It might help jog some memories about past dates!

 

1939 - Covington

1940 - Newport

1941 - Dayton

1942 - Walton

1943 - Dayton

1944 - Dayton

1945 - Covington

1946 - Campbell County

1947 - Dixie Heights

1948 - Holmes

1949 - Bellevue

1950 - Newport

1951 - Holmes

1952 - Newport

1953 - Newport Central Catholic

1954 - Newport

1955 - Newport

1956 - Boone County

1957 - Dixie Heights

1958 - Grant

1959 - Grant

1960 - Campbell County

1961 - Grant

1962 - Newport

1963 - Newport Central Catholic

1964 - Grant

1965 - Covington Holy Cross

1966 - Newport Central Catholic

1967 - Covington Catholic

1968 - Covington Catholic

1969 - Covington Catholic

1970 - Covington Catholic

1971 - Covington Catholic

1972 - Covington Holy Cross

1973 - Newport Central Catholic

1974 - Newport Central Catholic

1975 - Newport Central Catholic

1976 - Holmes

1977 - Holmes

1978 - Holmes

1979 - Highlands

1980 - Holmes

1981 - Simon Kenton

1982 - Highlands

1983 - Highlands

1984 - Newport Central Catholic

1985 - Boone County

1986 - Highlands

1987 - Highlands

1988 - Holmes

1989 - Scott

1990 - Holmes

1991 - Covington Holy Cross

1992 - Covington Catholic

1993 - Conner

1994 - Covington Holy Cross

1995 - Simon Kenton

1996 - Boone County

1997 - Highlands

1998 - Highlands

1999 - Highlands

2000 - Newport Central Catholic

2001 - Highlands

2002 - Ryle

2003 - St. Henry

2004 - Covington Catholic

2005 - Holmes

2006 - Covington Catholic

2007 - Holmes

2008 - Holmes

Thank you I was looking for this. Very helpful in remembering dates. I guess I was wrong about Holmes losing in 1977 in the districts to Beechwood.

Who is the greastest 9th region player of all time ?

Dicky Beal gets my vote. He was amazing with the ball. He could dribble the length of the court faster than most players could run it. He was so much fun to watch and when they said he wasn't a scorer he dropped 50 on Holy Cross with a lot of shots that would have been 3s today. A lot of people don't know about his leaping ability either. I have a newspaper picture of him dunking in a scrimmage at Holmes over Dexter Bailey (Summit Country Day / Xavier). Dexter had one of the best verticals around, was about 6'3" and Dickie was all of 5'9". I believe Dickie had at least a dozen dunks that season of 1980. Never got to see Tom Thacker in high school but he was a great college player who got a pretty good taste of the NBA as well. Also never got to see Dick Maile play but he was a good player at CovCath and LSU, I believe All-American there. Some of the old-timers will tell you about George Stone @ Covington Lincoln Grant. He was a legend in Covington but a little bit early for me. Maybe someone out there can elaborate on him.

Yes I do.....:cry::cry::cry::cry::cry::cry::cry:

Still hard to forget isn't it? That was pretty hard to take.

I was fortunate enough to have been on 1980 Holmes team with Dicky Beal, Ricky Walton, Elliott Simpson, and bunch of other great players. We felt we had a great chance to win the state that year, but we went into double overtime with Ashland friday night and didn't get back into bed until around 2:30am. We had to then get back up early on Saturday morning for our game against Owensboro and we didn't have the stamina to stay with them. Owensboro had a great team and went on to win the state championship by beating Lou. Doss 57-56. I have some great memories that will last a life time from playing in those three games in Freedom Hall.

I was there and I remember it all too well. The double OT win on Friday night was a great game in it's own but that and the traffic from a wreck you had to sit in until early in the morning cost you a chance to give Owensboro your best. I remember all the players had huge bags under their eyes coming out of the locker room and tried their best but in the end you couldn't press and do the things that got you 33 wins. Disappointing that you never got the chance to play them on a level playing floor. I bet it would have been a great game of two equal styles of teams.

With the tournaments starting up in a few weeks I thought it might be fun to reminisce about past 9th regional champions. There have been some really good players and champions in the 9th but it might be fun for some of the younger readers to hear stories about some of the older teams and their accomplishments. Most of us know about Troy McKinley and the 1981 state championship team that defeated Mason Co. in the finals before a capacity crowd at Rupp. How about Doug Schloemer, John Wimzie and Dicky Beal on the 1978 Holmes team that had their championship stolen by a non-call. How about Dicky Beal and the 1980 Holmes team and Jack Jennings and the 1988 Holmes team. If we want to go back to the 60s even CovCath had some great teams under Mote Hils. NewCath in the 70s. Kenny Shields won 5 regionals and I think 2 with Scott Draud pulling the trigger. What do you say let's hear all the stories as you remember them.

 

:dancingpa

Everybody has heard about the 78 state championship that was stolen from Holmes with the non-call on goaltending but does anybody remember the longest 3 seconds in CovCath basketball history when Earlington defeated them in the championship in 1967?

Something's wrong here. Highlands beat Holmes in a classic 9th region final at Holmes in 79. It was Beal's jr year, so you did get that right.....

The more I think about this it might have been 1977 when Holmes was upset in the district by Beechwood. Surely someone out there remembers this. I know Holmes won in 1976, 1978 and 1980.

It was 1981, and everyone remebers them. I'm reading Pioneer Spirit right now. So far it has been excellent! I remember watching the Jack Jennings Holmes team (my 1st trip to the Sweet 16).

Sorry that was a typo that I have since edited. Wasn't it 1988 when Jack Jennings and Allen Houston locked up in a state semi-final matchup between Louisville Ballard and Holmes? I believe the score ended up 92-88 or something close to that. Ballard went on to win the championship that year.

With the tournaments starting up in a few weeks I thought it might be fun to reminisce about past 9th regional champions. There have been some really good players and champions in the 9th but it might be fun for some of the younger readers to hear stories about some of the older teams and their accomplishments. Most of us know about Troy McKinley and the 1981 state championship team that defeated Mason Co. in the finals before a capacity crowd at Rupp. How about Doug Schloemer, John Wimzie and Dicky Beal on the 1978 Holmes team that had their championship stolen by a non-call. How about Dicky Beal and the 1980 Holmes team and Jack Jennings and the 1988 Holmes team. If we want to go back to the 60s even CovCath had some great teams under Mote Hils. NewCath in the 70s. Kenny Shields won 5 regionals and I think 2 with Scott Draud pulling the trigger. What do you say let's hear all the stories as you remember them.

:dancingpa

Something's wrong here. Highlands beat Holmes in a classic 9th region final at Holmes in 79. It was Beal's jr year, so you did get that right.....

I have trouble remembering the correct years. I know Holmes won the regional in 1976, 1978 and 1980 but the years tend to run together. I knew that Highlands was in there but I thought it was 1977. Maybe someone else can help us here. I think a good thread for discussion which a lot of the younger readers might enjoy would be going through the years and discussing all the good regional teams. I know I have trouble remembering the 1980s myself since Holmes had some dry years until Jack Jennings in 1988. You real sportsfans out there give us some help. Maybe I'll open a thread myself to start the discussion.

2 years in a row for Boone winning the frosh tourney.

This brings up an interesting topic. How many kids in the Boone Co. feeder system will be required to go to Cooper high school or is this already established?

How about Brian Romes, what if he would have stayed at CovCath?:eek:

That question can start a new thread of it's own. What if?