A bittersweet memory was revived on the Kentucky High School Athletic Association’s website Nov. 26. Kentucky high school sports’ revered journalist Mike Fields wrote about Dayton’s 6-2 upset of the Russellville Panthers in the state Class 1A championship 50 years ago that day.
Fields, who is rivaled only by long-time Courier-Journal sportswriter Bob White as an expert on prep sports in the Commonwealth, retired in 2015 after 35 years writing for the Lexington Herald-Leader. He now writes for khsaa.org.
Here’s what Mike wrote about the game:
“It was 50 years ago today — Nov. 26, 1966 — that Dayton High School stunned Russellville 6-2 to win the Class A football title at UK’s Stoll Field.
“Dayton hadn’t been to the state finals before, and it hasn’t been there since.
“Russellville came into the championship game undefeated (11-0) and a solid favorite to handle the Greendevils (9-3). One big reason: Russellville’s linemen outweighed Dayton’s by an average of more than 30 pounds.
“The Panthers’ Henry Noe and Donnie Bagget blocked a Dayton punt out of the end zone midway through the second quarter to give Russellville a 2-0 lead.
“Ironically, Coach Ray King’s Greendevils wound up winning the game on the same kind of play.
“Early in the fourth quarter Dayton’s Jerry Brooks blocked a Russellville punt — his fifth block of the season — and teammate John Fowee picked up the loose ball and returned it 8 yards for a TD.
“It was the second-lowest scoring game in Class A title game history. Bellevue, Dayton’s arch-rival, beat Madison 7-0 in the 1979 finals.”
That 1966 team has been on the minds of long-time Panther fans this fall. Team members were honored during a game at Rhea Stadium early in the season. Then the 2016 team was flirting with an undefeated regular season before losing to Franklin-Simpson in the finale.
The LoJo
If it seems like something is missing from the week between Christmas and New Years this year, your’re right. The First Southern National Bank’s Christmas Classic was not played this week after being an important part of the winter basketball scene for 11 years.
FSNB President Rusty Clark was the guiding force behind founding the tournament, which in its last years included a girls division. All four local teams planned their schedules around it. WRUS was a sponsor for several years, as was Roy’s Bar-B-Q. Chris McGinnis and Roy Morgan represented their companies well, as they always do.
Not only did FSNB provide financial support for the Christmas Classic, but employees and their families manned the gates and worked to make sure everything went smoothly.
The person who did the most was Tournament Manager Holli Brown, a graduate of LCHS who has held responsible positions at the bank for many years. She invited the teams, lined up housing and some of the food for them, and was the person the coaches and school administrators came to depend on.
Holli tells The LoJo that the tournament is not necessarily gone forever: “We (First Southern) are still willing to provide financial support, but it will be up to the schools if they want it continue. If they are willing to provide the people to make it happen, we will be there for them.”
Without the home holiday tournament, the local teams went on the road during the break. Coach Phil Todd took advantage of the break with his Panthers playing seven games in ten days in Lexington. Although Bowling Green High is a heavy favorite to win the region again and maybe the state, Russellville is a contender with six very athletic seniors, including one of the most talented Panthers ever in Pedro Bradshaw. Going against top-flight teams in the city where the state tournament is played was great experience for the team and also gave some of the people who do the voting for all-state and Mr. Basketball a close-up look at Belmont-signee Bradshaw.
Meanwhile Holli Brown had an eventful holiday herself. She announced on Facebook last week that she and her long-time boyfriend, Chris Black, are engaged. Congratulations, Holli and Chris.
Along that line, Russellville girls soccer coach Jonathan White is on a winning streak in many ways. He is coaching the sport at his alma mater in which he was most successful in high school. He is youth minister at a church he loves, First Baptist at Sixth and Main in Russellville. His beloved WKU Hilltoppers have become what is arguably the top football program in non-Power Five conferences, winning their third straight bowl and their second straight Conference-USA championship this fall. They were the only team from Kentucky not only to win a bowl game but also to look good in a bowl,
White, who is good-naturedly known as ‘Woody’ because of his resemblance to the Toy Story character, got his biggest win this fall when lovely RHS and UK grad Breanna Shelton said ‘yes’ to his marriage proposal.
I’ve jokingly told him that I’ve been having trouble believing his Facebook posts about his being “in a relationship” with one of the sharpest girls to come out of RHS in recent years. But Breanna announced the engagement herself on Facebook during Christmas, so we’ve got to believe it.
Congratulations to both of them on making a great catch.
The LoJo
One of the inductees into the Western Kentucky University Athletic Hall of Fame this year was Todd Central graduate Mike Wells. He is the son of Charles Wells, who played for the late Coach Gerald Sinclair at Auburn High School. Mike is the brother of RHS and Austin Peay Hall of Famer Bubba Wells.
Mike had an outstanding career under Coach Dennis Pardue at Todd Central and then an even better one at WKU, where he was named Sun Belt Conference Player of the Year in 2004.
The LoJo
*Former Cougar lineman Joe McGinnis has been named Vice President for Recruitment on the Interfraternity Council at WKU. A junior, he’s a member of Sigma Phi Epsilon.
*RHS Athletic Hall of Famer Nikki Koller, who won the state golf tournament at RHS and had an excellent golfing career at the University of Arizona, has been a leader of an interesting sports experiment in Bowling Green recently.
She is project manager for Bowling Green Parks and Recreation, and her pet project recently has been the construction and opening of an outdoor ice rink in the city. It is located in the parking lot behind SKYPAC and adjacent to Bowling Green Ballpark where the SOKY Marketplace farmers’ market is hold much of the year. It has a large roof over it but no walls.
The experiment has been well received with widespread participation. It has more than paid for itself.
*Roger Daniel retired last week after working almost three decades for Russellville’s Parks & Recreation. Roger is best known for his coaching of youth league teams, which won football and basketball championships regularly. He also has been assistant to several coaches of Lady Panther basketball, getting to help coach his daughters, Rachea and Nakia Daniel.
In a touching tribute to Roger, who successfully won over cancer in 2016, Rachea wrote, “My dad is everyone’s dad.”
*The officiating career of Barry Bilyeu of Auburn continues to grow. He has been working some of the biggest high school games and tournaments in the region recently. The new head of officials for the Fourth Region, Troy Winders, calls on him more and more for games of significance.
*A member of new WKU football coach Mike Sanford’s coaching staff has Logan County roots. Jami DeBerry is the new safeties coach and recruiting coordinator. He has been on the coaching staff at Indiana State the past four years, working under head coach Mike Sanford Sr., who also is joining his son’s staff along with a familiar name, Steve Spurrier Jr.
DeBerry was an outstanding quarterback at Franklin-Simpson and a great baseball player for Coach Greg Shelton. He was a starting linebacker on Coach Jack Harbaugh’s FCS national championship team on The Hill. He also played for Coach David Elson at WKU. Elson hired him for his coaching staff as soon as his playing days ended. Jami also coached with Sanford Jr. on Willie Taggart’s first Hilltopper team.
Always proud of Jami were his grandparents, Nadine and James DeBerry, who were part of the staff at Logan County High School.
*Two players with Logan roots are integral parts of Coach Dave Loos’ Austin Peay Governors men’s basketball team. They are both sophomores from Warren Central.
Chris Porter-Bunton is a redshirt sophomore after sitting out his first season with an injury. He is the son of Cheryl and Kenneth Bunton. Kenneth led Coach Larry Jordan’s Auburn Tigers to the regional finals as a sophomore in 1977. He was named Player of the Decade for the 70s in local basketball and went on to play four years of college basketball, two in Texas and two in Washington.
Jared Savage, who played well in a loss at WKU Wednesday night, is the son of Valerie and Jermaine Savage. Jermaine was a star of the Franklin-Simpson team which beat RHS in the 1992 regional finals. He and Bubba Wells then teamed for Hall of Fame careers at APSU. Jermaine Savage served as a volunteer assistant coach for the Lady Panthers in the 2013-14 season, working with Coach Justin McClellan.
Porter-Bunton and Savage helped APSU upset Belmont for the OVC championship and a berth in the NCAA tournament last March.
The LoJo
Death struck the local sports community in 2016.
We lost two more members of the great 1970 Russellville football team which was coached by Jim Gladden. Barry Parrish died this year, not many months following the death of his brother, Ralph Parrish. They were a likable and talented pair.
Then late in the year, cancer claimed Bob Flowers, a defensive end on that team. I taught him in school, coached him in tennis, and covered him in an honorable mention all-state football career. He was one of the toughest good guys I’ve ever known. He and I always laughed about how I would have to apologize to tennis coaches around the region, since Bob and his doubles partner, Billy ‘Otis’ Jayne, usually were on the verge of fist fighting their opponents. I always wanted Bob Flowers to be on my side in a street fight. He fought cancer with the same determination.
The RHS Class of 1964 lost two of its key football players. Ray Perry died in the last few days in Florida. He was co-captain along with the late Jimmy O’Dell. Joe Billy Flippin, who was the fastest sprinter in the state, passed away last winter. He had won the state 100-yard championship the year before for Franklin Lincoln High School before transferring to RHS.
Also from football, we lost one of the greatest assistant coaches ever around here with the death of Maurice ‘Buddy’ Linton. He and the late Howard Wren were the rocks head coach Ken Barrett relied on during that great 11-season stretch in which the Panthers reached four state championship games, winning three.
Coach Linton also was the architect of RHS golf. He built the team which won the state in 1970 but had to relinquish the coaching title to the late Ron Beckham when Buddy became an administrator. He never tried to steal any of the glory from either Barrett or Beckham. Like those coaches, superintendents Bob Stevenson & Jim Young—former basketball coaches themselves—always knew they could count on Buddy to do his job well without fanfare.
Ronnie Simpson, who was an outstanding football and basketball Panther in the RHS class of 1963, died this year. When he was at the 2015 Tobacco & Heritage Festival, we talked about his career. He gave journalist Al Smith credit for guiding him wisely toward a career in law. Simp became a respected prosecuting attorney in Indiana.
Janite Snell Erwin was also a victim of cancer. Janite and her Chandlers teammate and classmate, ReJeana Green, were among the earliest stars when girls basketball resumed here in the mid-70s. They were huge factors in the district by the time they were seventh graders.
Cancer claimed the life of David Corbin after a lengthy and often successful battle. David took on the monumental task of succeeding the legendary Hazel Carver as RHS band director, and he handled it well, leading the Marching Panthers into the Competition Era. He was in charge of a variety of music activities for RHS and RMS before his retirement.
He also coached Panther tennis. He had to choose when he was young whether to pursue a career as a professional tennis player or as a music director. The scariest thing I ever did in tennis was stand at the net in doubles matches with David Corbin returning serves. He had a vicious forehand that would have made Nolan Ryan jealous. David also served a number of churches as music director, and spent his last years as a member of the Russellville Board of Education, bringing a unique perspective to that group as a former teacher.
Tommy Jefferson died this year. Highly popular with his peers, he was a member of Coach Dick Webb’s 1993 regional finalist Logan County Cougars basketball team.
George Page was honored in 2014 as part of the first RHS football team to play at Rhea Stadium in 1939. George was a retired businessman and a good guy.
Virginia Lloyd died this week. She and I probably were the only ones who knew the role she played in local sports. Gin was the proofreader for Al Smith Communications when we put together five newspapers a week. She would read many thousands of words a day to make sure everything was spelled correctly and made sense.
Her role in sports was to be my conscience as far as girls sports were concerned. Girls basketball had recently been mandated, and my coverage as sports editor doubled from six varsity basketball teams in the county to twelve. Gin made sure that I gave the girls equal coverage. If she thought I was neglecting them, she pointed it out to me. She was such a wonderful person, I was not about to let her down, and as a result the girls got their due, too.
The memory remains alive of a former semi-professional football player whose name can be found at the football field at Auburn. Matt Rzepka was the team’s quarterback when the Blitz went to the league championship game. The Blitz played their home games at Auburn’s McCutchen-Coke Park.
The seven recipients of the Cumberland Trace Incentive-Matt Rzepka Memorial Scholarship Fund were announced Dec. 12 during the morning assembly at Cumberland Trace Elementary School. Each student will receive $2,000 toward his or her college education.
Sam and Tina Rzepka established the Cumberland Trace Incentive-Matt Rzepka Memorial Scholarship Fund at the College Heights Foundation to honor their son Matt who tragically passed away in 2002 at the age of 22. Matt was a talented athlete and an avid lover of football and golf. He also had a passion for children, which led him to look into a career in special education and working in the after-school program at Cumberland Trace.
The Cumberland Trace Incentive-Matt Rzepka Memorial Scholarship Fund is unique in that it is awarded to 5th and 6th graders at Cumberland Trace. It becomes redeemable as the students pursue their college education. Applicants must submit an essay to the selection committee on how a college scholarship will benefit their lives. Jessica Carver of WKU says, “Matt wanted to make a difference in the lives of children, and this scholarship, in his memory, is doing just that in perpetuity.”
To date this fund been presented to 84 students awarding more than $100,000 in scholarships. Proceeds for the scholarship fund are raised annually through the Matt Rzepka Memorial Golf Tournament.