Tuesday, March 15, 2011

Gone With the Wind

Here is a list of high schools that won the state basketball championship but no longer exist. I always wonder what happened to the trophies. Someone could write a good book about Kentucky by visiting these places and learning what happened to them. Since I am very familiar with the history of at least one more school that will be added to this list in a few years, this is all very poignant to me:

1927: Millersburg Military Institute (closed in 2003)
1930: Corinth (consolidated into Grant Co.)
1937: Midway (consolidated into Woodford Co.)
1938: Sharpe (consolidated into N. Marshall, which was later consolidated into Marshall Co.)
1939: Brooksville (consolidated into Bracken Co.)
1940: Hazel Green ("defunct", according to Wikipedia)
1941 & 1954: Inez (consolidated into Sheldon Clark)
1943: Hindman (consolidated into Knott Co. Central)
1946: Breckinridge Training (defunct)
1947: Maysville (absorbed into Mason Co.)
1948: Brewers (consolidated into S. Marshall, which was later consolidated into Marshall Co.)
1952: Cuba (consolidated into Sedalia, which was later consolidated into Graves Co.)
1956: Carr Creek (consolidated into Knott Co. Central)
1959: N. Marshall (consolidated into Marshall Co.)
1960: Lou. Flaget (closed in 1974)
1967: Earlington (consolidated into S. Hopkins, which was later consolidated into Hopkins Co. Cent.)
1982: Laurel Co. (split in 1992 into N. Laurel and S. Laurel)

"Dear GoHeath, I hope you don't mind that I'm simply adding these photographs directly to your interesting and evocative post. It doesn't appear that images can be added in comments, so here are some from a Mexican restaurant that has opened in a bank in Earlington. We most recently visited on the night that Murray State lost in the OVC tournament; we left before the game ended, but you could tell that the Racer fans were already nervous. Anyway, the story was told among customers in the place that night that the restaurant operators were granted the lease only if they agreed to keep intact and publicly accessible a wall signed by various locals (including several members of the '67 state champs) and visiting celebrities (such as Kenny "Sky" Walker). ...eric"











8 comments:

  1. I love Earlington, by the way. My mom's dad, who died before I was born, was from there. He left when he was a teen-ager, hopping a train (with his family's permission and support) and traveling the country taking odd jobs. Mom says her mom didn't like her dad to talk about that much, lest it would encourage Mom's brother to do something similar, but that her dad said something to the effect, "I would hear those trains every night when I was in bed trying to go to sleep, and I just couldn't resist any longer."

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  2. A letter from my mom a few years ago, remembering trips when she was a girl between Evansville, Ind., (where she and her family lived) to Earlington to visit her dad's family:

    "When we would visit in Earlington, it was always on Sunday after Sunday School and church. We always visited Aunt Ethel (Pate’s sister) and uncle Jess and their boys (Tom, Ray, Paul and Bill). They lived in Earlington. Living with Grandma Peyton was Aunt Louise, Uncle Henry Clark, their kids—June and Jim. Also Aunt Rubye lived there in the house by railroad tracks. The house was actually left to all the grandchildren, but we signed it over to Aunt Louise and Uncle Henry years later.

    "Pate always drove, and I guess we all went there. We didn’t stop anywhere going or coming back home. No seat belts—and front seat went all the way from passenger side to driver’s. We always had supper at Grandma Peyton’s—I remember it was a long table full of good stuff.

    "Uncle Jess's last name was Taylor. He became mayor of Earlington. He was always jolly. I liked him and Aunt Ethel—but she died shortly after Paul was born.

    "I’m sure Pate’s family all went to the Baptist church (well, I know they were all Baptist). Pate’s grandfather was a Baptist preacher.

    "Aunt Rubye never married. Sometimes, she lived in Evansville with us, and, sometimes, back in Earlington on Railroad Street."

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