The selection of Lonnie Mason as Logan County High School boys basketball coach completed a remarkable two-pronged piece of history this summer. Consider this:

1) Every head boys coach in the 13^th District is coaching his alma mater.

2) Every head boys coach in the 13^th District is African American.

The African American part is especially unique. Until the fall of 2010, with the exception of Knob City, Franklin Lincoln and other segregated and now defunct high schools, only two black men had served as head basketball coaches in this four-school district. They were Matt Tipton, who was the original coach of the Russellville Lady Panthers, and Phil Todd, who had a great run as the Panther coach from 1991-2004. Then two years ago, Todd Central hired young alum Calvin Head (Class of '06) to direct the Rebels' program. Now in his third season as the Todd bench boss, Head is both the youngest and the longest-serving current13^th District boys coach.

Since the 2012 season, Phil Todd has returned as the coach of the Panthers while Mason was named coach of the Cougars and Dee Spencer of Franklin-Simpson.

Russellville has three African American head coaches. Tipton is beginning his 39^th season as the Lady Panther girls track coach, which may be the longest tenure of any coach in any sport in the state. Dennis Sydnor, who helped the Panthers win a state Class A track championship in 1975, is the boys track coach. Terricka Quarles, one of the program's first stars, is the volleyball coach.

Todd, Quarles and Sydnor all are RHS alumni. So are boys and girls golf coach/athletic director Nathan Thompson, girls and boys tennis coach Sandra Eggleston Brown, and softball coach Greg Meacham.

LCHS has three alumni serving as head coaches. They are Mason, Ethan Meguiar in baseball and boys and girls golf, and Steven Lyne in volleyball.

Mason, however, is in rarified air as an African American head coach, not only at LCHS but also in the entire Logan County system, present or past. The only other possibility I can think of is Dennis Custard, who may have been head track coach at LCHS in the late 90s.

Six of the eight head basketball coaches in the 13^th District are graduates of schools in the district, three of them from Logan. Add to the boys coaches Dedra Adler at RHS and Josh Matthews at Franklin. They both are LCHS alumni. The two girls coaches who aren't homegrown are Scot MacAllister at LCHS and Steve Phillips at Todd Central.

All of this raised questions (at least in my sports trivia-based mind) of how many other graduates of RHS and Logan schools became head basketball coaches at their alma mater. So from my own memory bank and from the book Basketball County, which I wrote 35 years ago, plus with help of friends, I came up with the following list:

Head Coaches at Alma Mater

Adairville: Boys—Ralph Sharp, Bill Davis; Girls—Susan Price

Auburn: Boys—Larry Jordan, Barry Reed

Lewisburg: Boys—Earle Shelton; Girls—John Paul Brady

Olmstead: Boys—Mack Monroe, Robert Piper

Russellville: Boys—B.H. Weaver, Wayne Mullen, Phil Todd (twice)

Logan County: Boys—Lonnie Mason

Head Coaches at Other District Schools

From Adairville: Boys—Jim Young at Lewisburg and Russellville; Jim Thompson at Chandlers; Girls— Jim Thompson at Chandlers

From Auburn: Boys—Butch Garrett at Chandlers, Van Washer at Lewisburg, John McCarley at Russellville, Mickey Meguiar at Russellville (twice), Barry Reed at Logan County, Dennis Pardue at Todd Central and Russellville

From Lewisburg: Boys—Earle Shelton at Olmstead, R.B. 'Bunny' Porter at Chandlers; Gordon Pogue at Chandlers, Jimmy Milam at Olmstead, Gary Shelton at Olmstead, Greg Shelton at Franklin-Simpson; Girls— Gary Shelton at Olmstead, Denny Milam at Olmstead

From Russellville: Girls—Lugene Rogers at Olmstead

From Logan County: Girls—D.K. Basham Adler at Russellville, Josh Matthews at Franklin-Simpson

Head Coaches at Out-of-District Schools

Auburn: Boys—Henry McCarley at Caneyville

Chandlers: Boys—Robert Cox in Virginia; Girls—James Powell at Somerset

Lewisburg: Boys—Jimmy Milam at Hughes-Kirk, Gary Shelton at Allen County-Scottsville, Barry Silvey at Hughes-Kirk; Ricky Smith at Providence; Girls—Mike Brady at Bremen

Olmstead: Boys—Buck Sydnor at Daviess County; Mark White at Central Hardin; Girls—J. Marion Stratton at Oneida Institute; Todd Steward at Warren Central

Russellville: Boys—B.H. Weaver at Caverna; Ray Vencill Jr. at Elizabethtown, Steve Gilliam at Webster County, Nelson Cundiff at West Jessamine; Girls—Nelson Cundiff at Nelson County

Logan County: Girls—Tracy Mason at Clarksville Academy and Clarksville Northeast

No doubt, there are others. Please let The LoJo know who we left out. Remember, we are looking for head basketball coaches in high school.

Thanks to many people who contributed to this article, including Bob Birdwhistell, David Billingsley, Gerald Hildabrand, Bryson Price, Denny Milam, Jane Wells, Tony Stokes, Alan Marksberry, Carolyn Zimmerman, Allison Coleman, Diane Walker, Gary Conlee, Nell McCarley Jordan, Steve McCarley, Steve Thompson, Vicki Costello, Barry Silvey, Tony Chick, Pernell Dennison and Riley Holliday.