After experiencing the greatest softball season in team history, the University of Kentucky is turning to a North Logan legacy in preparation to do more of the same next year.
Griffin Joiner , the star of a great Christian County High School softball team, has signed to play for the Cats. She is the granddaughter of two Lewisburg High School graduates, Dixie Shelton Dennis, who is an administrator at Austin Peay State University, and Glenn Smith, who is now living in Florida. She is the daughter of Suzanne Smith Joiner. That makes her the great-granddaughter of one of the greatest names in Logan County basketball history, Earle Shelton, who led the Lewisburg Rangers to the state tournament as a player, was a key member of a Western Kentucky team which reached the NIT finals at Madison Square Garden, and coached Olmstead to the greatest upset in local basketball history, upsetting Coach Jim Young’sLewisburg team, which had beaten the Ramblers 90-28 during the season.
Griffin, a catcher, is the nephew of legendary Coon Ranger Eddie Shelton and the cousin of state champion baseball coachGreg Shelton at Franklin-Simpson and of former Allen County-Scottsville basketball coaches Scott Shelton and his late father,Gary Shelton. She also is a cousin of Bowling Green sophomore Tori Dillard and Greenwood freshman Aeron Smith, both of whom were all 4^th Region in softball.
David Joiner , Griffin’s dad, played basketball for Vanderbilt and then professional baseball. He was also her softball coach at CCHS. The Lady Colonels finished 31-4.
In a 4-0 Lady Colonels win over AC-S on May 9, Griffin got three of Christian County’s four hits off Lady Patriot star pitcher Kelsi Perdue. AC-S had won 24 of its last 26 games after winning the 4^th Region title again. Perdue didn’t give up a run in the regional tournament, but Joiner was able to hit her.
Coach Rachel Lawson led UK to a 50-16 record. The Lady Cats came within one game of reaching the College World Series. Starting catcher and leadoff hitter Mega Yocke was a senior.
The LoJo
Former Russellville resident, Logan County High School teacher/coach, and Northeast Logan pastor R.B. Mays received his doctorate during commencement exercises at Western Kentucky University this spring. He is one of the last graduates of a joint doctoral program between WKU and the University of Louisville.
Mays was at LCHS from 1998-2000, teaching math and helping coach basketball and baseball. He ;lived in Russellville until 2004 while teaching and coaching one year at Warren East and three at Todd Central where he led the Rebels to their only district championship in decades.

He earned his Rank I at WKU in 1999 and finished the coursework on his doctorate in the summer of 2004, before returning to his alma mater, Graves County High School. His work on his dissertation was postponed because of the illness and death of his mother and all four of his grandparents during a 13-month span. Since that time his administrative duties have greatly multiplied, so it took a while to get going again. But now it’s “Dr. Mays” with his degree in K-12 Educational Leadership.

He was interim pastor of Bald Knob and Gasper River Cumberland Presbyterian Churches from the winter of 2001 to the spring of 2003. Then, he served as interim pastor of Mt. Olivet Church in Bowling Green for a year until he returned to Mayfield.

Mays was assistant principal and dean of students at Graves County for three years, was assistant principal and athletic director for two years, and has just finished his second year as principal.

The LoJo
Russellville High School appears to be losing its best all-round returning athlete. Kesi Neblett, a 6-0 rising junior, is the school’s best volleyball player, was the nucleus of what had the potential of being a very competitive basketball team, and reached the regional quarterfinals in tennis.
She has been chosen to be a part of the prestigious Carol Martin Gatton Academy of Mathematics and Science in Kentucky at WKU, which has been named to The Washington Post’s list of top-performing schools with elite students. Usually students who finish two years at the Gatten Academy are college juniors by the time they are 18.
In addition to receiving a diploma from the Gatten Academy, students also graduate from their original high schools, according to recent Gatten graduate Andrew Kenady, son of former RHS teacher Kevin Kenady. Kesi’s dad, Civil Rights Movement legendCharles Neblett, says some Gatten students have tried to play sports for their high schools but that it has proven to be difficult with all of their labs and intensive studies.
“Kesi can play club volleyball while she’s there, and Western has shown interest in her playing for them when she is a college student, even if she doesn’t continue playing in high school,” Charles says. “She can also keep playing tennis whenever she has time, but her basketball is most likely over.”
“I’ve always told them that academics come first,” says RHS basketball coach Dedra Adler.
The LoJo
Nelson Cundiff, who was on the boys’ basketball coaching staff at Franklin-Simpson last season, was honored by Russellville High School when the Cats came calling at Jim Young Gymnasium. The text of his honor session follows:
“Tonight, Russellville High School welcomes home one of its own. One of the greatest Panther basketball players ever, Nelson Cundiff is now an assistant basketball coach for our guests, the Franklin-Simpson Wildcats. Coach Cundiff was a three-sport athlete at RHS, winning championships in track, starting in the baseball infield, and leading Panther basketball to two district championships. In the 1987 tournament he scored 29 points in each of the district games, taking RHS to a double overtime win over Logan County just three years after they had won the state. He averaged 18 points and 9.6 rebounds as a senior and was named most valuable player of the 4^th Region, being the choice of 14 of 15 coaches who cast votes. He went on to become the first basketball star of Lindsey Wilson College after it became a four-year school. He has been a successful coach at several schools. We wish him continued success as long as he isn’t playing his alma mater.”
The LoJo
Jim Pickens , sports editor of the Owensboro Messenger Inquirer, has a new book which is foreign to what most sports editors would write. The son of the late Bowling Green High School football coach and WKU baseball coach of the same name, he is now a published poet.
Here’s what he had to say about it: “My book "Rockets To the Moon," a collection of poems/songs over the past 30-plus years, is completed and will soon go to press.I am now accepting PRE-ORDERS of the book for those who want it signed. Please send $23.98 by check or money order to: Jim Pickens, 1503 Springdale Dr., Owensboro, KY 42301. Book is soft-cover, 158 pages, and includes beautiful cover art by my daughter, Katie.”
That was for pre-orders. If you want a book, I’m sure Pick will sign it and send it to you. If the price has gone up, I’m sure he’ll let you know.