We are familiar with the perpetual puzzle “Where’s Waldo?”, but this afternoon I’m wondering “Where’s Whitmer?” I have to admit, I don’t know the answer. I forgot to ask Patrick Whitmer before he left his Owensboro home for the site of his choice.
The 1988 Russellville High School valedictorian, Patrick has two of the best announcing jobs in sports. He has been the Voice of Kentucky Basketball as the public address announcer at Rupp Arena for at least a decade, and now he has added being the new stadium host/public address announcer for the Cincinnati Bengals.
“They’ve revamped their whole game day presentation. A lot of promos, fan interaction, contests, etc. It’s a fun experience,” Patrick told me about the Bengals early in the season.
The Cats were sensational at Rupp today against Tennessee (107-79) on ESPN, and the Bengals play their first NFL playoff game in six years while looking for their first playoff win in 31 years at 3:30 p.m. at Cincy’s Paul Brown Stadium on NBC.
The announcements at Rupp today were special, since they have included a tribute to Joe B. Hall, the first UK head coach at Rupp Arena. The Commonwealth is saddened today by the death this morning of the beloved 93-year-old Coach Hall.
Meanwhile, this has been a marvelous season in Cincy with the Bengals winning their division behind the quarterbacking of Joe Burrow, who was leading LSU to a national college championship just two years ago. Their opponent is the Las Vegas Raiders, who didn’t qualify for the playoffs until kicking a Sunday night overtime field goal. The winner of this game could well be the Tennessee Titans, unless the spirit of the late Bob Birdwhistelll can help Pittsburgh pull a monumental upset of the Kansas City Chiefs tomorrow night or Patriots’ Coach Bill Belichick can work his playoff magic at Buffalo.
UK vs. UT at Rupp or an NFL playoff game in Cincinnati. Tough choice for Patrick where to unleash The Voice, right? I suspect contract language made his decision for him.
Patrick Whitmer, who started his broadcasting career on Russellville’s WRUS, is a graduate of Transylvania University with a masters degree from UK. He worked in banking in Cincinnati for almost five years and has ben Risk Management Officer at Independence Bank in Owensboro since late 2014.
One answer for Where’s Whitmer is often “On the Road Again.” We’ll find out later which road he took today.
The LoJo
Logan County High School has announced its football schedule for the 2022 season. It’s almost identical to the Cougars’ historic season last fall.
Nine of the 10 opponents are the same as last year. The change is in the season opener. The Cougars will play Allen County-Scottsville Aug. 19 instead of Warren East, but the game is at East again, likely part of a doubleheader.
All of the other locations are reversed. This fall’s home games will be on the road this time around. That leaves only four home games for the defending Class 4A regional champions, and one of them is the Clash of the Cats with Russellville.
Cougar Field was the site of two extra home games in 2021 with Logan being the home team in the first two rounds of the playoffs.
There’s a strong likelihood for more playing dates at Cougar Field in ’22, since Logan only loses five seniors from the 10-4 state semifinalists. It’s likely, however, that a new place kicker will be needed to replace the highly productive junior Mattia Giubilato, who is here as an exchange student from another country. Giubilato has said he wants to be here another year, but Logan Athletic Director Greg Howard says he’s not aware of any situation in which the Kentucky High School Athletic Association would grant an exchange student a second year of sports eligibility. Howard is a member of the KHSAA Board of Controls.
Speaking of the KHSAA, I can’t understand why it still lists the Cougars’ 2021 record at 10-5. They’re including what they are calling a 1-0 forfeit to Russellville on Sept. 13 because of COVID-19.
That just doesn’t make sense for these three reasons: 1) the game was played later in the season with RHS winning, 2) the Panthers played a different opponent that night, beating Todd Central, and 3) it doesn’t count as a win on the RHS schedule.
I’m always going to list Logan’s 2021 record as 10-4.
The LoJo
One big difference next year for the Cougars will be a new coaching opponent when the Cougars entertain district archrival Hopkinsville. Coach Craig Clayton has announced his retirement again from Hopkinsville football.
That means what probably was his final game as a head high school football coach ended in a 39-37 loss at Cougar Field in the Class 4A, Region I, District 1 championship contest. It marked a 2-0 season sweep of the Tigers for Coach Todd Adler’s team.
That game ended with the Tigers just inches away from the goal line on a last-minute two-point conversion attempt by Clayton’s team.
Craig Clayton has put together a remarkable coaching career. He has been a head coach 38 years, recording his 300th win this season over his alma mater, Caldwell County, where he played under the coaching of his legendary dad, Fred Clayton. He finishes with a 307-162 record.
His first head coaching job was at Todd Central, where he went 17-6 in two seasons in the mid-80s. He spent 23 years as the Hopkinsville head coach and finished with a 186-112 record there. His teams reached the state finals twice when the Tigers were competing among the biggest schools in the state.
In between his two stints at Hoptown (the last from 2017-21), he coached Franklin (Tennessee) High seven seasons to a 65-22 record and a Class 6A runner-up finish and Nashville Hillsboro High School for five seasons from 2012-2016, with a record of 43-21 and a Class 5A runner-up finish in 2014.
I’ve known Craig for over 50 years. He was a teammate of several Russellvillians at Western Kentucky University, and one of his best friends still is fellow Topper Brad Watson, an RHS graduate. Brad and I were close, and I began sportswriting while they were playing for Coach Jimmy Feix on The Hill. Many of Brad’s friends on the team were my friends, too, including Clayton, who was the starting center.
So Craig Clayton learned his football from his coaching-great dad, and from coaches Butch Gilbert, Robbie Franklin and Feix at WKU. He had piled up 32 years and over 250 wins coaching experience before Todd Adler became a head coach. Todd played high school football under Coach Lee Proctor at LCHS, didn’t play college ball, and had only been a middle school head coach when Greg Howard and other administrators decided to take a chance on him while Cougar football was bogged down in the state’s longest losing streak.
In return, Adler has rewarded them by stopping the streak, putting together a 12-game winning streak in his second season, and coaching the Cougars to five straight winning seasons and a berth in the Class 4A Final Four.
As icing on the proverbial cake, Adler finishes with a 5-4 record against the great Craig Clayton.