What Logan County athletes and coaches did in the early years of Cougar and Logan Cougar sports is remarkable. The girls basketball team went to the regional finals the first year the school was in existence. The boys basketball team won the state championship the second year. The baseball team won the district every year of the 80s.
But the football team was the biggest overachiever. In only its third year of varsity football in 1986, after starting 2-2, LCHS won six straight games and finished with an 8-2 record. This was done by a team that included many boys who played in the first football game they had ever seen in person. The five schools which merged into LCHS all had boys and girls basketball plus baseball teams. No one had fielded a football team. The coaches not only taught them how to play the game but also how to win.
That was 40 years ago. Two of the standout backs on that team—Lee Proctor and Michael ‘Pooh’ Elliott—are on the coaching staff of the latest edition of Coach Todd Adler’s state-ranked Cougar teams which will play host to Russellville Friday night in the annual Clash of the Cats. The ’86 Cougar team will be honored before the 7:30 opening kickoff.
The 1980s were near the end of the dominance of small family farms that were long the backbone of the Logan County economy. The News-Democrat had for decades carried headlines talking about “King Tobacco.” The sale prices at local tobacco auctions had been front page news. Often in Logan County homes, even though one or both parents worked in factories, the family raised tobacco as an income supplement, even if it was only on a half-acre base. Their children worked in the tobacco fields and barns also.
The late Coach Steve Eans, a Logan Hall of Famer who was the founding father of Cougar football, said one of his toughest decisions in those days was how many missed practices because of cutting tobacco to excuse. Even during evening practices, players often were late because of tobacco harvesting.
Also, the program had no equipment to bring from the former schools, no uniforms, no cleats, no weights suitable for football training, no … nothing! That even includes footballs. Someone in control of funds decided to go to Walmart or a similar store and buy a few balls which were not of prescribed size or quality.
The plan was to study the game in classrooms or the gym in the fall of 1982 and then play junior varsity games for a few years after that. But the upperclassmen who had been learning the game were disappointed that they would never be a varsity football player. Their voices were heard, and by the school’s third year, 1984-85, Cougar Varsity Football was a reality.
One other thing worth remembering: LCHS football had a practice field behind the school but not a playing field. Superintendent Merle Johnson, Principal Howard Gorrell, Athletic Director Bob Birdwhistell and Eans were able to work out an arrangement with Russellville Superintendent Jim Young and Coach Ken Barrett for the Cougars to play their home games at Russellville’s Rhea Stadium when the Panthers were on the road. Sadly, none of these men is living today, following Mr. Gorrell’s death this week.
When the 1986 team to be honored tonight won its seventh straight game 32-6 over South Hopkins in late October, ‘home’ was Rhea Stadium, not Cougar Field. And a torrential rain limited greatly the size of the crowd at Rhea who witnessed the win and Krista Beasley being crowned homecoming queen.
Fifteen senior players were recognized on what was also Senior Night. They were senior class president George Fugate, Lee Proctor, Ron Sams, Chris Penrod, Joey Todd, Wayne Baird, Michael ‘Pooh’ Elliott, Scott Johnson, John Barry, Steve White, David Woodall, Joseph Rose, Doyce Lagone, Shane Neely and Eddie Edge.
Also recognized were senior cheerleaders Stacey Coots, LeAnn Meguiar and Lou Ann Page along with mascots Edgar Head and Tina Watkins.
In that game, the Cougars scored 26 in a hurry with Sams turning a 14-yard pass from Tyrone Babb into a 56-yard touchdown; Babb ran for a 20-yard TD after Woodall partially blocked a punt; Todd scored on a 5-yard run after Fugate recovered a fumble; Proctor scored on an 11-yard run; and to start the second half, Babb ran 83 yards for a touchdown Rose kicked the extra points. Babb, a junior, finished with almost 300 yards total offense.
Fugate recovered another fumble, and the coach let the big lineman—a three-year starter on both sides of the line, run the ball on three consecutive snaps. He gained four yards.
Among Eans’ assistants were the legendary Stumpy Baker, Mike Harreld and David Beckner.
Proctor, Sams and Doug Gloyd became teammates on the Campbellsville University team with their quarterback a guy named John Myers, who later became the long-time Russellville coach. Babb was recruited by Division I football teams to play defense, but he chose to play college basketball instead.
No one who saw Dr. David Woodall play defense should be surprised that he is willing to care for the medical needs of big animals, even if he has to wrestle them in the process. Chris Penrod put together a distinguished military career. Fugate is a leader in Logan County agricultural business. And the list goes on.
Proctor has been involved in more Cougar football games than anyone else as a player, head coach and assistant coach. He and Babb are members of the Logan County High School Athletic Association Hall of Fame as are coaches Eans and Beckner.
Among those no longer living include young standouts Sonny Gloyd, Alan Woodward and Eric Reeves along with coaches Eans and Baker.