brentbbs

I saw there was a previous post about the oldest gyms in the state and their connection to the Kentucky High School Basketball Hall of Fame's Glory Road/Heritage Games project. The project recognizes historic sites as the previous posts suggests, but it also is meant to recognize and honor those sites where "iconic teams played, great players performed, and communities gathered." https://khsbhf.com/glory-road-heritage-games/ This Friday will recognize the 1976 state championship team from Edmonson County at the Edmonson County gym. I'm making the trip from Atlanta for this one. If any of you are in the area and end up in attendance, please grab me and introduce yourself in person. I'll be easy to find.

This is the final part of a series that posits that the peak of Kentucky high school basketball, the year featuring the most compelling combination of preseason hype, the largest number of powerful teams, top-shelf talent, and competitve intrigue, was fifty years ago, the 1975-76 season. If you haven’t read them yet, you can find them here: Part I -- The Hype Part II -- The Teams Part III -- The Players As for the competitive intrigue, it arrived late. The regular season consisted of the top teams winning almost every night, with the rare exception being when they faced each other and one had to lose. That’s how the regular season played out, and the district tournaments too. Things began to get interesting in the region tournaments. The region upsets were significant but not shocking. Madisonville ended the season in the top 20, very nearly a prerequisite to winning the Sweet 16. In fact, of the state champions dating back to 1947, more than a third had been the top-ranked team in the season-ending Litkenhous ratings; over sixty percent were in the top three; eighty percent of champions had been ranked within the top five, and ninety percent within the top ten. There were a couple of champions ranked between 10 and 20, and only one, Hazard in 1955, with future UK star Johnny Cox leading the way, broke through to win a state title from outside the top 20. And just barely outside at that. When Christian County topped the Maroons in the second region semifinal, it knocked out one of the dark horses to win the state. It would not be the last time Christian County took down a more highly rated team that year. The fifth region boasted only one team in the top 20, Elizabethtown. E’town was favored by over 20 points in a first round game against 18th district runner up Caverna. But the lightly regarded Colonels beat the Panthers easily. Green County eliminated region number two North Hardin and went on to capture its first region championship, but they lurked outside the top 50, a place where no team had ever emerged to win a state title. In the seventh region, Ballard finally toppled its nemesis, top-rated Male. Ballard was not a one in three favorite to take the championship, and indeed the Bruins entered the game as a seven-point underdog to the Bulldogs. But as the number three team in the Litratings, Ballard was not exactly a long shot either. In the ninth region, the only team in the top ten, Newport Catholic, lost in the semifinals to Covington Holmes, a team still in the top 20. A ninth region champion became slightly less likely as a result. The best hope for a dark horse team east of Lexington was the 10th region’s Bath County, ranked 16th in the state. Bath County lost in the region final to Harrison County, which fell outside the top 20, even if only by fractions of a point. The state tournament started off predictably enough, with all the heavy favorites advancing to the quarterfinals. That’s when all hell broke loose. Edmonson County, which had just cracked the top 50 for the first time all season was a double-digit underdog to Harrison County. The upstarts from the fourth region pulled off a surprise 61-57 win. Then Christian County, another ten-point underdog to Louisville Shawnee handed the Indians only their fifth loss of the year, and their first to a team not among the elite Louisville powers. State number two Henry Clay and number seven Shelby County were the presumptive finalists heading into the semifinal games against Christian County and Edmonson County, respectively. Both fell victim to stunning upsets. After all the hype, after the dominating regular seasons the top dogs had compiled, the state final would be between two teams out in the state, neither ranked in the top 20 of the final Litratings. On paper, Christian County was a solid six-point favorite. But by the time the game rolled around, nobody was putting much stock in who the favorite was on paper. The announcers, Hardin McLane and Jock Sutherland rightly surmised that it was anybody’s game for the taking. And for a while it was. But by the end, it was Edmonson County breaking the Christian County press for layups and making free throws to extend a lead that took the air out of any drama. That didn’t make it much less exciting in its own way. After seven years of Lousiville teams putting the final touches on their high rankings, a team had broken through when it seemed least likely. No team had ever come from so far back in the Litratings to win the state tournament. There had been much talk of moving to a size-based class system, but Edmonson County’s championship deflated the momentum. Jock Sutherland said on air that all the small schools in the state could take a lesson from this and get to work. If Edmonson County could do it, a lot of other teams could too. As of the date of this post, the 1976 championship game can be found on YouTube. It’s a good watch, in my opinion, in spite of the sketchy video quality. In addition, for a deeper dive into the magical 1975-76 season, I have just released a book titled Mammoth Miracle. It’s on sale at my website for anyone who is interested in learning more. You can buy Mammoth Miracle at www.brenthouk.com

A big part of why 1976 may well be the highest peak year in Kentucky high school basketball is because of the abundance of great players, players who starred in high school, got recruited to play for some of the nation’s top college teams, and then became stars in college. In the five year period 1974-1978 Kentucky cranked out high Division I players as if from an assembly line. As a sophomore and junior, Male’s Darrell Griffith played against future college stars like Jack Givens, Kenny Higgs, and James Lee. But 1976 seems to have been the absolute peak talent of high school basketball in Kentucky, largely because Griffith was a senior that year. He has to be the first in line when calling the roll of the players who excelled that year. Darrell Griffith High School Mr. Basketball USA Parade All American Feature article in Sports Illustrated (Bundles of Mail for a Male Man) Three-time first team all state 1975 State championship at Male Kentucky Mr. Basketball Inducted into KY HS Basketball Hall of Fame College Wooden National Player of the Year Award 1980 National championship 1980 Final Four Most Outstanding Player Award 1980 Sports Illustrated Cover (The Great Griffith!) NBA Second overall pick in 1976 draft 1977 Rookie of the Year for Utah Jazz Averaged over 20 points per game through first five NBA seasons, before suffering a knee injury that kept him out of the 1985-86 season; returned for five more seasons post-injury but was never the same player, averaging only about half as many points for the remainder of his career as he averaged before the injury In addition to Griffith, the state was otherwise loaded with top talent. In fact, the state could have fielded a whole team of college final four starters and future NBA players from that year and still left out the player most people considered the second best player in the state: Bobby Turner was not merely Darrell Griffith’s sidekick at Male. Madisonville’s legendary coach, Don Parson, said that while Turner may have lacked Griffith’s flashy moves, he was “just as good” as his more heralded running mate. Ballard’s coach, Richard Schmidt, told me that Griffith didn’t hurt the Bruins as much as Turner did: “He was a really tough kid—tough around the basket.” To Ballard’s Mark Snider, as good as Griffith was, Turner was the more intimidating player to face. High School Twice voted first team all state; voted second team all state as sophomore 1975 State championship Inducted into KY HS Basketball Hall of Fame College Started his sophomore and junior seasons at Louisville. Second-leading scorer (behind Griffith) in his junior season. Louisville finished the season ranked 13th in the nation. And that was the end of the road for him as a basketball player. As Earl Cox reported in the Coureir-Journal: “After the 1978-79 basketball season ended with U of L’s loss to Arkansas in the NCAA Midwest Regional at Cincinnati, Turner quit going to class.” Head coach Denny Crum tried to persuade Turner to enroll in summer school and promised that he could play guard “to prepare him for the National Basketball Association.” Crum’s pleas fell on deaf ears. Despite not playing his senior year, Turner was still selected in the 1980 NBA draft, but he did not make a team; his playing days were over. Durand “Rudy” Macklin turned in a 1975-76 season that was likely as strong as any player in any season in Kentucky high school history. If you opened the sports pages of the Courier-Journal that year, more or less at random, you’d read a familiar story: Macklin’s stat line varied a bit from game to game, but it kept to a consistent theme. A sampling of Macklin’s performances reveals such performances as a 25 point, 23 rebound effort against Dayton (Ohio) Dunbar; 35 points and 17 rebounds in a win against Danville; 27 points, 26 rebounds, and 15 blocked shots against top-five rated Newport Catholic; 29 points, 19 rebounds, and 12 blocks against Iroquois; 23 points and 12 rebounds against DeSales; and 30 points, 18 rebounds, and nine blocks against Madisonville. It’s no wonder the Louisville paper called him a one-man wrecking crew. High School First team all state Led Shawnee to the Sixth Region title and a spot in the Sweet 16 Inducted into KY HS Basketball Hall of Fame College Lousiana State University’s all-time career leader in rebounds LSU’s second place in career points (behind NCAA career scoring leader Pete Maravich) Four year starter at LSU (medical redshirt in 1978-79 season) SEC player of the year in 1981 Three time first-team all SEC Second-team All American in 1981 Led LSU to NCAA Final Four in 1981 NBA Played 160 games over three seasons for the Atlanta Hawks and New York Knicks Jeff Lamp: A junior at Seventh Region champion Ballard in 1976, Lamp blossomed into a star as the season progressed. High School First team all state as a senior; Second team all state as junior 1977 Mr. Basketball 1977 State championship Inducted into KY HS Basketball Hall of Fame College Number 3 jersey retired at the University of Virginia Two-time first team all ACC (and two time second team all ACC) Second team All American in 1981 Starred on UVA’s 1981 Final Four team NBA First round draft pick of Portland Trail Blazers; played 291 games over six seasons with the Trail Blazers, Bucks, Spurs and Lakers Lee Raker: Another junior at Ballard in 1976 High School Two time first-team all state selection 1977 state championship Inducted into KY HS Basketball Hall of Fame College Four-year starter at the University of Virginia Started on UVA’s 1981 Final Four team Jerry Eaves: Starting guard for Ballard as a sophomore in 1976 High School Two time first-team all state 1977 state championship Inducted into KY HS Basketball Hall of Fame College Starting guard on 1980 University of Louisville national championship team Three year starter at Louisville NBA Played 168 games over four seasons with Utah Jazz, Atlanta Hawks and Sacramento Kings Doug Schloemer: Second-team all state as a sophomore for Ninth Region champion Covington Holmes in 1976 High School Mr. Basketball in 1978 Two-time first team all state selection Led Holmes to 1978 state final Inducted into KY HS Basketball Hall of Fame College Played four years at University of Cincinnati Tim Stephens: First-team all stater at 12th Region champion McCreary County High School Two time first-team all state Leading scorer in 1976, averaging over 35 points per game Runner-up to Griffith in Mr. Basketball voting in 1976 Inducted into KY HS Basketball Hall of Fame College Played three years at University of Kentucky That makes eight hall of famers who were either seniors or who started on a state tournament team in 1976. Three (Griffith, Lamp and Macklin) became among the best ever to play at their respective universities, and five started on an NCAA Final Four team. Three played on an NCAA championship team (Griffith, Eaves, and Stephens). Four played in the NBA. I haven’t done a systematic review of how this stacks up against other years, but it sure seems like a bar that likely has never been topped in any other season. P.S. In response to a question about why the state doesn’t turn out players at a rate like this anymore—and admitting that I am in no way qualified to answer that question—I would nonetheless propose two contributing factors. First, and probably the more impactful, is that the popularity of basketball in other parts of the country and the world has exploded in the last 50 years. Kentucky’s best athletes have long gravitated to basketball, moreso than in many other corners. In 1976, college basketball was televised on Saturday, with maybe a game on Sunday. The NBA had one nationally televised game a week. There was no ESPN, and, obviously, no internet. That all changed and the prevalence of opportunities to watch likely led to a spike in participation at a higher rate in other states than in Kentucky. Second, six of the eight icons named above are from Louisville, where there used to be a thriving community of highly competitive pick up games that included area high schoolers, former high school stars, collegians, and even some pros. That culture seems to be a relic of the past, replaced by organized summer travel teams that play a national schedule against their peers. I think it is quite possible that something has been lost in the informal transmission of basketball knowledge from one generation to the next, as well as the development of a toughness that young players had to adopt in order to hold their own against older, stronger players. I’m sure there are other, better, theories out there, but these are the two factors that occurred to me. As great as the great teams and great players were, 1976 also stands out for the unexpected results that came down the pike. The lesser teams were still talented enough and well-coached enough to stand toe-to-toe with the guys they’d soon be watching on television. I’ll pick up that thread after the first of the year.

As covered in Part I (https://bluegrasspreps.com/forums/topic/255524-fiftieth-anniversary-of-kentucky-hs-basketballs-peak-season-part-I/), the Louisville Male Bulldogs entered the 1975-76 basketball season as the consensus number one team in the state, and by the lights of one national magazine, the number one team in the country. It was therefore a shock when high school basketball fans turned to the Courier-Journal’s sports page on December 8, 1975, and saw another team atop the paper’s Litkenhous computer ratings. Male had played only one game prior to the ratings, beating one of the state’s other top ranked teams, Louisville Shawnee, by the score of 75-69. But the Litratings calculated Male as the state’s eighth best team—and that rating didn’t account for teams that had not yet played another in-state opponent. The strength of Kentucky high school basketball in 1975-76 was such that not even a team as strong as Male could take the number one rating for granted. Nevertheless, when Lexington Henry Clay’s coach, Al Prewitt, was informed of his team’s top ranking he said, “I’m certainly surprised, and I guess real happy. It’s certainly an honor, even if it is this early, to know that of all the teams in the state, yours is rated No. 1.” He added that, despite his gratification, he thought Male should be rated at the top. By the end of February, Lexington Tates Creek coach Nolan Barger said he thought only five teams had what it took to win the state title: “The state champion will come from either Male, Ballard, Shawnee, Henry Clay, or Shelby County. I don’t think anybody else has enough talent to win it.” Why he left Lexington Bryan Station off the list is somewhat puzzling inasmuch as they had beaten Henry Clay in both of the games they played against each other preceding Barger’s assessment. Even if he had included them, his list would have been too short. But it makes sense to start the catalog of top teams with his most obvious omission: Lexington Bryan Station Defenders: A lot of coaches I have interviewed have said they believe that strong guard play is the key to winning tournament games, and in 1976 the conventional wisdom held that Bryan Station’s backcourt of first-team all stater Anthony Jackson and honorable mention Bruce Coles was the top tandem in the commonwealth. Bryan Station beat Henry Clay again in the 43d District final before facing off against the Blue Devils again in the 11th Region final. Shelby County Rockets: In the first year of the newly merged school (with Shelbyville), Tom Creamer melded two successful 1975 squads into one cohesive team featuring first team all-stater Vince Chambers and his brother Dean. Shelby County won 30 games while playing a schedule consisting largely of nearby Louisville teams. Louisville Shawnee Indians: Shawnee was only three years removed from a state championship in 1976. The Indians played Male in the first game of the 1975-76 season, and Ballard in the second game, losing both. Their masochistic scheduler pitted Shawnee against top-ten Louisville Central in the third game. Only by coming from behind by nine points in the fourth quarter against Central, only going ahead with 11 seconds left in the game, was Shawnee able to avoid an 0-3 start to the season. But behind Rudy Macklin (about whom there is much more to come in Part III), and guards Howard Duncan and Darrell Payne, Shawnee ended the regular season with only three losses, one to Male and one to Ballard to open the season, and a second loss to Ballard in the Louisville Invitational Tournament. Louisville Central Yellowjackets: Barger probably should have included Central on his list too. Bath County coach Julian Cunningham, only two weeks prior to Barger’s comments, had listed Central in his top four, along with Ballard, Male, and Henry Clay. Central, the 1969 and 1974 state champs were not as good as they had been in their championship seasons, but with a third-team all stater in Duncan Hill, and two honorable mention players in Keith Parker and Bruce Little, Central was another team with only a few close losses, all to other top teams. The Yellowjackets followed the close regular season loss to Shawnee with a district tournament win over the Indians. Ballard Bruins: Ballard’s first season of varsity basketball was 1970-71. Between 1972-73 and 1974-75, playing in what was arguably the best region in the state, Ballard won 86 games and lost 9. The roster was stacked with future Division I players, whom we will get to in Part III. It’s enough to say for now that when Mark Snider, the region tournament star and an honorable mention all-state player, is only the fourth best player on the team, you are looking at a pretty strong line-up. Lexington Henry Clay: The Blue Devils frontcourt returned intact from the 1975 squad. They were experienced, tall and, said Prewitt, “they’re leapers too.” All state guard Kenny Elliott was gone from the 1975 state finalists, but Prewitt’s concern lay not so much with the lost performance Elliott took with him as with the leadership void his departure created. Still, Henry Clay had the kind of talent from the top of its roster on down that would have made it the consensus number one in the state in most seasons. In fact, Prewitt considered depth to be his ace in the hole. In a January 12, 1976 with the Courier-Journal’s Bob White, Prewitt said, “I believe the caliber of basketball throughout the state is better than in the last few years.” He considered Male to have the top starting five, but added, “There’s no doubt Griffith and Turner are super players, but there are times when the might get in foul trouble or injuries might pop up.” Prewitt confided to White, “The ingredients you need to win the State Tournament are a team with size and a team with good reserves.” He didn’t say it outright, but there is little doubt that he would describe his own teams in those terms. Male: See Part I Four Louisville teams, two Lexington teams, and one state team that hovered on the outskirts of Louisville—all stacked with a combination of talent and coaching, would have been listed as one of the favorites to win the state championship in any season before or since. A lot of that has to do with the number of individual players from those select squads who went on to play and thrive on high-level Division I NCAA teams, and in the NBA. In Part III, coming before Christmas, I’ll highlight the state’s individual talent. And yet, despite the glitter of the super teams and superstars, the postseason tournament produced upsets at every step along the way. The quality of teams was not simply a result of the urban powers clustered at the top of the ratings. Teams down the rung were also, relative to other seasons, capable of performing at a very high level. Part IV will show how very wrong all of the smart observers were in their predictions of who was capable of winning the Sweet 16.

Thanks for the supportive comments. Completely coincidentally, a friend of mine sent me a link yesterday to a youtube interview of Jeff Lamp, Lee Raker, Terry Gates, and Jeff Jones--labeled the Four Kentuckians. These guys all went to UVA and changed the culture of the program. As Lamp said, the program didn't rise to national prominence until Ralph Sampson arrived, but he believes that he and the other Kentuckians laid the groundwork to make recruiting Ralph to Virginia possible. The first 20 minutes or so are devoted to their high school years. A little slow in spots, but pretty interesting nonetheless.

Was 1975-76, the apex of high school basketball in KY? I'm inclined to think so. The season had a little of everything. I haven't done exhaustive comparative research, but the pieces all fit together to make 1975-76 the most compelling season ever: the preseason hype; the quality of teams; the quality of players; the in-season drama; and the upset-laden tournament. I'll start today with the hype and do a deeper dive of the teams, players, drama, and upsets in coming weeks. Fifty years ago today, on November 23, 1975, the Louisville Courier-Journal published its preseason basketball preview. The paper noted that Male was the top ranked team in the nation by Street & Smith's magazine. It quoted St. Xavier coach Marty Donlan, who said Male "might even be No. 1 on the moon." Male was coming off a state tournament title in 1975, with its top two players--Darrell Griffith and Bobby Turner--returning for their senior seasons. Griffith would soon be profiled by Sports Illustrated as the top recruit in the country. Turner was not far behind in the preseason coaches' poll; between them, Griffith and Turner "received more than twice as many votes as the rest of the state's best players did cumulatively." Despite being tagged as heavy favorites, the state was loaded with good squads. Henry Clay returned eight players off the 1975 state runner-up team and was pegged in second place in the preseason poll; newly consolidated Shelby County was third, Shawnee was fourth, and Male's Seventh Region rival Ballard was in the fifth spot following a 30-2 campaign in 1974-75. Such were the expectations on Male that it was chosen "by a mile" over these other teams, any of which could have been favored to win the Sweet 16 in another season. Furthermore, although it's easier to see in hindsight how strong the field was, that Griffith and Turner would far outpace truly great players like Durand "Rudy" Macklin and Jeff Lamp was due in no small measure to incredible hype. (For those who would like more on Macklin, please refer to this link at my Substack post titled "The Other Rudy" https://brenthouk1.substack.com/p/the-other-rudy?r=11w1ef) The drama and the tournament upsets were, of course, unforeseeable. But the stage was set for a season where interesting story lines abounded. The hype, at least, was as high as it ever been, as high as it could possibly be. I'll go into more detail on the top teams in Part II, coming in December. Brent Houk www.brenthouk.com

He has a whole chapter just about the camp. I attended it in 1978 or 1979, maybe both. We went to WKU's camp in 1980, and maybe 1979 too. Three camps total, two at Transy and one at Western or vice versa. Seems like something I should remember better . . .

Transy's long-time coach Don Lane was selling copies of his new book, The Lane Way: Family, Faith and Fifty Years in Basketball at a booth set up in the Rupp Arena concourse during the tournament. I am acquainted with Coach Lane by virtue of the close proximity of my seat to his for the last 20 or so years, but I don't know him at all outside that context and have no business relationship with him. I bought a copy from the booth and having read significant portions over the last several days I would enthusiastically endorse it to anyone with an interest in coaching/teaching generally or in Kentucky high school basketball. Most of the book is devoted to his college coaching career, but Lane was a fine high school player at Versailles High School and had head coaching stints at Mt. Sterling and Woodford County before moving into the college ranks. Once installed at Transy, he "recruited from within Kentucky, mostly . . . If players were looking at Eastern, Western, Morehead, Murray or any of the other state schools, I went after them." In other words there is plenty in here about Bluegrass preps. I have read enough portions already to recommend it and I will post a link to a full length review when I have finished reading the book in its entirety. The Lane Way is available from Butler Books (no affiliation with them either) -- https://www.butlerbooks.com/the-lane-way.html

Add to that the State Tournament MVP award. Although Perry was statistically dominated by Harlan County's Trent Noah, Perry was the best player on the championship team and his leadership, hustle and control of the game through his ability to dribble with speed and protect the ball combine to make him a worthy recipient in my view. This is no knock on Noah at all. Noah scored roughly 50% more points than Perry (129-88) taking one fewer shot, and made five more three-pointers (19-14) with two fewer attempts. While Perry's shooting was good(42% FG, 39%3FG), Noah's shooting was elite (56% FG, 55%3FG). Perry racked up more assists (19-9), while Noah snared more rebounds (29-9). Noah had a significant edge from the line in both points scored and shooting percentage: Perry (13 points on 81% shooting), Noah (32 points and 88%). Perry had by far his best game in the finals; Noah had by far his best in the quarters, when he scored 48 points in an overtime win. It would have been 50 but Harlan County eschewed an uncontested alley-oop as time expired. Congratulations to Perry on the award and to Lyon County on the championship. -- Brent

Fifty years ago today, on March 16, 1974, the Central Yellowjackets captured their second KHSAA basketball championship, defeating Male 59-54 in the only competitive game they played all tournament. Excluding the final, Central’s average margin of victory in all tournament games was 37.5 points. The championship game capped off a 33-1 season, the lone loss coming at the hands of Bryan Station, 95-82 in the LIT semifinals. Central coach Robert Graves noted that his team played that game short-handed, with star guard Daryl Yarbrough out with a knee injury, defensive ace Carlos Hampton hobbled by a foot injury and five other players sick with the flu. Graves admitted to the Courier Journal’s Bob White, “Maybe Bryan Station would have beaten us anyway, but we weren’t healthy then.” All teams have to deal with injuries and illness, of course, but it seems reasonable to think that if the injuries and flu bug had arrived at another point in the season or if they had not hit quite so many players at the same time, we might very well be observing the anniversary of an undefeated state championship team. Central nearly repeated its state tournament run in 1975, losing only its second game of the year in the state semi-final, a 62-60 defeat at the hands of Henry Clay. The 31-2 state semi-final team in 1975 capped off what could reasonably be characterized as the end of a 50-year dynasty. William Kean became Central’s coach in the Fall of 1922. In his first nine seasons Kean’s Yellowjackets — ineligible to compete by the not yet integrated KHSAA until 1957, and without an alternative post-season tournament to play in — won 182 games against only 13 losses. Two of Kean's teams in that nine-year run were undefeated. An all-Black association, the KHSAL, held its first tournament in 1932. Central won it. The Jackets added four more KHSAL championships, as well as a national Black teams’ tournament title in 1952, before finally being allowed to participate in the KHSAA tournament in 1957. Having lobbied for integration since at least 1953, Kean's first two KHSAA-eligible squads enjoyed tremendous success in 1956-57 (25-2) and 1957-58 (24-3), ending both seasons as the top team in the Litkenhous ratings. The 1958 Yellowjackets drew eventual state champion St. Xavier in the first game of the 25th District tournament, losing by two points in double overtime. It would be Kean's last game. He passed away the following month with a lifetime coaching record of 791-151. Central won the district tournament in each of the two seasons following Kean's death, capturing its first region championship in 1965. Graves took over as head coach the next season. In 1969, Central became the first former KHSAL school to win a KHSAA state basketball championship. The Courier-Journal’s Dave Kindred wrote that Central’s 1969 squad, ranked number one all season, “provoked a rumbling of boos from the nearly 18,000 Freedom Hall patrons with its every appearance.” By any objective measure, the boos did not faze the Jackets in the slightest. Before the final game against Ohio County on March 29, star guard Otto Petty told Kindred, “It doesn’t make any difference if the whole state hollers against us. We have our song. Those nets will be singing.” Sing they did, to the tune of 101 points, a championship game record that still stands. Central would continue to be a state power through the 1981 season and return to the state semi-final game in 1978, but the heights were never quite as high after 1975; Central's first losing season in school history came in 1982 after 70(!) consecutive winning records. Since then it has seen the normal distribution of ups and downs. In wrapping up, here's to the players, coaches and fans of Louisville Central -- congratulations on your achievements through the years. And to the 1969 and 1974 teams particularly, congratulations on the 55th and 50th anniversaries of your state championship seasons. Brent Houk

Folks around here already know all this I would guess, but Barker was a great player too, first team all-state when KY regularly turned out high DI talent. Barker was not high DI, he went to Samford, but on the high school level he was right there with the other first team all staters who did go to a power school: Jerry Eaves (UofL), Vince Taylor (Duke), Charles Hurt (UK), Doug Schloemer (UC), Dirk Minniefield (UK), and Barker's Apollo teammate Jeff Jones (UVA). Apollo was undefeated headed to the Sweet 16 but lost in the first round to 1978 champs Shelby Co. Even playing in a first round loss Barker made the all state tournament team.

That is a good point and I wish I had thought to include it. Part of whether you consider ECHS a Cinderella is whether you think size is an important factor, and if so, how small does the school need to be. ECHS plays 2A football now (same classification as Shelby Valley) and they did in 1976. So if a Cinderella can only come from among the very smallest of schools, no slipper for Edmonson. But 2A is still relatively small and I believe that the proposal under consideration at that time was to divide into two classes, large school and small school and that Edmonson would have fit into the small school class. (If anyone knows where I can track down information about the details of the proposal and the vote that I understand took place in the summer of 1976 please let me know at [email protected]). Reading the contemporary accounts of the tournament and watching the telecast, EC seems to have been considered by most everybody as a small school at the time the tournament was played. For my money, size of school is a factor, but so is size of expectations. Carr Creek (with about half the enrollment of ECHS) ended up 36-3 the year they won the title and they were the top rated team by Litkenhous entering the 1956 tournament. Cuba was more like a third the size of Edmonson County, but they were ranked number 2 out of the teams that made it to the Sweet 16 in 1952, and were state runner up in 1951. Taking both size and expectations into account, Edmonson County was much more in the Cinderella category than Carr Creek or Cuba. As for Paintsville, they lost in the first round of the 1996 All-A to Harlan. Harlan lost in the second round of the All A to University Heights. Both Harlan and Paintsville made the "all classifications" Sweet 16 that year, and Paintsville of course won it all. To me, it would have been a shame for those teams not to have had the chance to compete at Rupp, and for Paintsville not to have hoisted the big trophy, because they were thought too small to have a chance. If Edmonson County hadn't won in 1976, many think that might have been the result.

The game doesn't seem to be any worse off for alternating possession after the opening tip on held balls and the start of other quarters. Surely better off than when there was a jump ball after every made basket. If this is COVID-related it's laughable. Otherwise it just eliminates a ceremony that has no practical impact on the game.

I know this is an old thread, but I am a new member and this is an interesting question. As with so many things, the answer to this is not completely black and white, but I think the Cinderella characterization is a fair one. On the "Not Cinderella" side of the equation: 1. ECHS was coming off three consecutive district championships under Coach David Denton, who left at the end of the 1974-75 season, perhaps not totally by his own choice. 2. By the time of the Fourth Region tournament ECHS was 20-6, and ranked as the second best team in the region tournament by Litkenhous. They had a good team. But not one, I think, that was capable of beating anyone at any time. On the "Cinderella" side: 1. The preseason coaches' poll pegged them as the fifth best team in the region. 2. They were never ranked in or even near the top 20 all year. 3. They lost in the district final to the team ranked 6th out of the eight teams that made the region tournament (albeit ECHS played the district without one of their starters who was sick with the flu). 4.They beat Franklin-Simpson by one point in the region final with F-S missing three shots in the waning seconds (a jumper off a baseline out of bounds under their own basket and two attempted put backs on offensive rebounds). 5. ECHS had never been to a region final in the school's 16 year history, much less the Sweet 16. 6. Coach Bo Davenport, in his first year at ECHS after having been fired at Grayson County the year before, had never been to a region final in his 26-year career, much less the Sweet 16. (In fact, after winning district championships in his first two years at Clarkson High School, 1950-51 and 1951-52, he never won another district title). 7. The state was stacked with great teams in 1975-76. Defending champion Male was ranked number one in the nation in the preseason Street & Smith guide. Male lost to Ballard in an epic Seventh Region final. Ballard won the state championship in 1977 and is considered one of the best teams in Ky high school history (and arguably the best). The nucleus of that Ballard team was at the Sweet 16 in 1976. Henry Clay, Shawnee and Shelby County fielded teams that would be favorites to win it all in many years. Shelby County did win it all in 1978. 8. The draw fell into place for a dark horse to come out of the upper bracket, which ECHS drew into. a. Going by the Litratings, six of the nine single-digit rated teams were in the lower bracket: (1) Ballard, (2) Henry Clay, (4) Shawnee, (6) Holmes, (8) Ashland, and (9) Christian County, along with number (11) Clay County and (13) Hazard. Christian County emerged from the upper bracket after upsetting Ashland (mildly), Shawnee in the quarters and Henry Clay in the semis. (Henry Clay beat Ballard in the quarters.) So, the only game Christian County was favored to win was championship game. b. ECHS was ranked 14th of the Sweet 16 by Litkenhous. ECHS drew the 15th ranked team (Betsy Layne) in the first round. The top two rated upper bracket teams Shelby County (3) and Apollo (5) played in the first round. ECHS's quadrant was number 7 Harrison County, number 15 Betsy Layne, and number 16 Green County. ECHS's wins were over the 15th, 7th, 3d and 9th rated teams in the tournament. 9. ECHS's semifinal win against Litkenhous number 3 Shelby County ended in controversy, with the clock (seemingly) continuing to run for a second or two after a foul call that put Shelby County at the free throw line down three points. It is an unlikely scenario, but it is certainly possible that Shelby County could have made the first and rebounded and scored on a missed second ala UVA against Purdue on their way to the 2019 NCAA championship. 10. The championship game was an upset. Both semifinals were upsets. The quarterfinal games of the champion and the runner-up were upsets. It was a topsy-turvy tournament and a load of fun to watch. All credit to Edmonson County for making the most of the breaks they got. You don't win the state tournament without playing very well and they did that. All they could do was beat the teams in front of them. But they sure did catch a lot of breaks. I think the shoe fits. And they are widely credited with saving the Sweet 16 as we know it.

What a great post. I spoke last week with Coach Creamer from that Shelby County team and he told me that he received 15 or 20 letters enclosing the goaltending photo from folks in Covington. He didn't say he had it framed though. In any event, he probably deserved an officiating break at the State Tournament. His 1973 team lost in the quarterfinals to Hickman County on a foul call as time expired in a tie game, where the Hickman County player admitted he was never touched. And in 1976, many neutral observers think the clock continued to run for several seconds after a foul call at the end of a 53-52 Edmonson County win over Shelby in the semis. Coach Creamer is quick to admit that those calls wouldn't have necessarily made the difference in the outcome but the same can be said about the impact of the goaltending non-call in the early part of OT in the 1978 championship game. One other note: Doug Schloemer got another tough break at his induction ceremony into the KHS Basketball Hall of Fame. Inductees don't give speeches but the Hall plays a tribute video for each individual. Schloemer was the last inductee to be introduced that year, and a technical malfunction meant that his tribute video didn't run, the only time that has happened since the first class was inducted in 2012. It was an unfortunate mishap that he handled very graciously. Also in his induction class, posthumously -- Charles Hurt.