The induction of the second class of the Cougar Athletic Association Hall of Fame will be held between games of a girl-boy doubleheader Friday with Logan County hosting Todd Central.
The nine inductees are as follows:
As a player, Earle Shelton led Lewisburg to Logan County’s first-ever non-classified regional basketball championship in 1938. He was all-region, all-district four years, and all-county twice. Shelton became a key player for Coach Ed Diddle’s Western Kentucky Hilltoppers, which were among the nation’s best collegiate teams. He started in the NIT finals at Madison Square Garden when the NIT was the nation’s major tournament.
Earle returned home to coach Lewisburg. His 1949 team made it to the regional finals. He later became the Olmstead coach and won three district championships with the Ramblers.. He was coaching OHS when its new $125,000 gym opened. He ended 17 years coaching in the county after the 1963 season.
As a player, Buck Sydnor led Olmstead High School to the regional championship and the state quarterfinals in 1939. From there, he played four years for Coach Diddle at Western. He was All-Kentucky Intercollegiate Athletic Conference, All -South Intercollegiate Athletic Conference Team and helped lead the Hilltoppers to two appearances in the National Invitational Tournament, including the Championship Game in 1942. He was the leading scorer on that 1942 team. After that he played on the All Star Service Team-Pacific during and after World War II, and played for the Chicago Stags of the NBA.
Buck coached Daviess County High School from 1949-62. His teams had a record of 248-113 and went to the state tournament three times. The ‘58 team finished as state runner-up, and he was named the 1958 Kentucky High School Coach of Year.
He became assistant coach at Western Kentucky University from 1964 to 1971 under Coach Johnny Oldham. The ’71 team reached the NCAA Final Four In 1996 he was elected to the Western Kentucky University Hall of Fame.
Jimmie Nuckols played varsity ball for Auburn High School from 1947-1951. He was credited with being the first in the area to shoot the jump shot. He averaged 23 points a game. The 1951 Tigers won the regional, and went to the state tournament. They won their first game at Memorial Coliseum, but lost the second game. He made all district, all regional, and all state.
Nuckols was offered a scholarship to Western by Coach Diddle, but turned it down. He chose to go to Lindsey Wilson College. While there he was named Mr. Basketball. Lindsey Wilson was a two-year college then. He got a full scholarship to Pfeiffer College in North Carolina. He and three other ballplayers from Lindsey Wilson went to Pfeiffer where they were called the “Blueboys” from Kentucky. He was the leading scorer his two years at Pfeiffer and was given the title “Jumpshot Nuckols” from fans and teammates. He was known as Mr. Basketball in the conference.
Gerald Sinclair was head coach of more Logan County schools than anyone else has ever been. He coached Adairville in the late sixties, Auburn from 1972-76, and then Chandlers until consolidation in 1982. Then he was named the first head coach of the Logan County Cougars.
Despite tremendous pressure, Sinclair coached the Cougars to the 1984 state championship. Their 37 wins were the most in state history with the only three losses coming in the King of the Bluegrass, the Louisville Invitational Tournament and the Ashland Invitational.
Logan County High School was and still is the newest school ever to win the Sweet Sixteen.
Sinclair was named Kentucky Coach of the Year, in a vote which was taken before the postseason began.
Stacey Mason had been starting at Adairville High School before consolidation sent him to LCHS for his junior and senior years. With All-State center Fred Tisdale (a charter member of this Hall of Fame) injured at the start of the season, Mason played the post on the first Cougar team. He and guard Tim Viers were the unquestioned leaders of the team. When Tisdale was able to play again, Mason moved into his shadows but consistently added double-doubles in scoring and rebounding.
Stacey helped the 1984 team reach the finals of the King of the Bluegrass Tournament and berths in the LIT and the Ashland Invitational. The highlights were winning the regional and state tournaments. He was named to the All-State Tournament team as the Cougars finished 37-3.
Mason then played for Trevecca Nazarene College in Nashville and led that school to its first-ever appearance in the NAIA national tournament. He has remained a loyal supporter of Cougar athletics while working for many years at Logan Aluminum.
Diana Grinter Hunter was an outstanding basketball player and track star at Olmstead High School. The Ramblerettes never lost a district game while she was playing. She was named All District five straight seasons, beginning as an eighth grader. Diana also won the state 110-yard hurdles as a junior in the 1978 track meet.
She was recruited to play basketball by Kentucky Wesleyan College, and she added softball her freshman year. Her last two years at WKC she played four sports—adding volleyball and tennis, making her a 12-letter winner in college.
As an adult, she has been a teacher, counselor and coach. During 29 years as an educator in Owensboro, she has coached girls basketball, volleyball, boys and girls tennis, and boys and girls track. She is now girls tennis coach at Kentucky Wesleyan.
Regina Robey Lanier grew up in Adairville but spent her early high school years in Germany where her step-father was stationed with the U.S. Army. They returned home in June 1983, and she immediately made a huge impact on the Lady Cougar track team. At the Barren River Conference track meet in May 1984, she finished first in the 100, second in the long jump, and first and third in relay events along with Theresa Flowers, Melissa Martin, Tracy Mason and Janice Sydnor. A month later, she won state championships in the 100 meter dash and (with the others) the 400 meter relay.
Regina lives in Madison, Tenn. She holds three associate degrees, has worked for a title guaranty company for over 11 years, and is a legal assistant.
Lora Spencer was a dominant center for the early Lady Cougar teams. She was the centerpiece of Logan’s most talented front line ever flanked by Tracy Mason and Cindy Huffines. All three of them played NCAA Division I basketball. Lora was named Honorable Mention All-American by USA Today.
Spencer holds the distinction of being the only athlete from Logan County or Russellville ever to play basketball for the University of Kentucky. More than that, she became a starter for the Lady Cats.
After a career as a professional fashion model, including living in France, she returned to college and is now a lawyer. Not long ago, she sat in on a session of the U.S. Supreme Court. She has also had another life-changing
Howard Gorrell was a huge success as basketball coach of Auburn High School. His Tigers won seven straight district championships from 1964-70. No other coach in Logan County history can match that record of consecutive district championships. His Tigers reached the regional finals twice—in 1967 and 1969.
Gorrell served as Auburn principal from 1971 until consolidation in 1982. After that he was named the first principal at LCHS and was in that role when the Cougars became state champion. A couple of years later, he left Logan to become superintendent of his native Todd County.
He became one of the state’s top high school basketball officials and officiated college basketball nine years, working two NCAA tournaments.
He scored over 2,000 points as a high school player, averaging 25 points per game his junior year and 27 as a senior
Howard was a star player for Austin Peay. He was all-conference regular season and all-conference tournament twice each and finished fifth in the nation in free throw shooting at 91 percent. He was named Austin Peay’s top athlete as a senior and was the 10th basketball play named to the Austin Peay Hall of Fame.