Don Estep

I just finished reading a book titled “BILLY.”  It is a story about Kentucky’s All-Time winningest high school basketball coach with over 1,000 wins, Billy Hicks, written by a friend, Dr. John Wiley Bryson. Hicks became the head coach at Corbin High School in 1987 and in his eight years at the helm, his teams won 212 games. They dominated the 50th district with six straight district titles and they did something that had not been accomplished at Corbin High School in 39 years. That is, they won the 13th Region tournament and advanced to the state tournament. As the author of the book pointed out, everybody liked Coach Hicks. I...

Changes have been made this year when you enter Gilliam Gymnasium at Corbin High School for a basketball game. Originally, an intended entrance to the gymnasium was built on the front of the school facing Synder Street. It was used for a short while, but after finding it insufficient a decision was made to close it years ago. This year the school has reopened it and is using what was deemed a poor way to enter then. During the many years of broadcasting Corbin Redhound basketball and attending the games, I have been in every gym in the 13th Region and many in the 12th Region, plus others throughout the state....

Changes have been made this year when you enter Gilliam Gymnasium at Corbin High School for a basketball game. Originally, an intended entrance to the gymnasium was built on the front of the school facing Synder Street. It was used for a short while, but after finding it insufficient a decision was made to close it years ago. This year the school has reopened it and is using what was deemed a poor way to enter then. During the many years of broadcasting Corbin Redhound basketball and attending the games, I have been in every gym in the 13th Region and many in the 12th Region, plus others throughout the state....

Merry Christmas! That is my greeting in this space for the 38th consecutive year. Although I retired from this newspaper at the beginning of the year, I still write an occasional column and the one at Christmas is special to me. Over the years, I’ve covered almost every aspect of my Christmas stories. I’ll begin this one commenting on Christmas music. As far back as I can remember, very little has changed with the artists and the songs played. You’ll often hear, “I’ve had all of that music I can take,” from some people. I’ll agree to that in a way. Back in the 1960s, when I was a radio DJ,...

A few days ago, News Journal Publisher Trevor Sherman sent me a text which read, “I just heard that KY and Main streets will be paved in 2026.” A few minutes later, News Journal News Editor Mark White sent me an e-mail which read, “I thought you might be interested, I heard KY and Main streets will be paved next year.” Later that evening, while attending the local football game, a fan next to me said, “Have you heard that they are going to pave Kentucky Street next year?” If you have been keeping score, you’ll know why everyone was so eager to inform me about the paving. For the...

With football games every week and now basketball ready to start, baseball can be overlooked at this time of the year. But starting this week the World Series will begin. When I was young the World Series was what made the headlines. Big games that every sports fan talked about. I loved every minute of it. The games between the Brooklyn Dodgers with Pee Wee Reese (from Louisville) against the Yankees made for real excitement. Then there was Bobby Thompson winning the Series for the Giants with his famous home run with a Corbin relative, Russ Hodges, announcing the game and some of the greatest players, of which we all knew,...

I don’t have to tell those in charge of the Corbin Arena about the parking disaster caused by two sellout crowds to the Leanne Morgan show Saturday night. They are already aware of what happened. Never again should two big events be booked so close together at the Arena. Because of the mammoth problem of getting vehicles exiting after the 4 o’clock show and trying to get those into the 7 o’clock show, never has the Arena been assaulted with so many negative comments from people all over eastern Kentucky, and perhaps further, on the Internet. I saw comments from people in Georgetown, Lexington, and Somerset, that said, “Never go...

Opinions! Everybody has opinions. This column I’m writing is my opinion, which is placed on the opinion page, in this newspaper. This is the only page where staff writers’ and submitted guests’ opinions are permitted. In over 38 years, I have written hundreds of opinion columns. All other pages in the newspaper are based on facts obtained from events and proper sources. This differs from social media, in which apps like Facebook are mostly opinions of writers based on very few facts and false articles are often included. This causes problems, because many believe what they have seen to be the truth. Prior to becoming publisher of this newspaper in 1987,...

Impressed! All fans who attend the Pigskin Classic football contests this weekend at Campbell Field and Denes Stadium in Corbin will be totally impressed with the completed Redhound Complex. For over 65 years I have attended high school football games at stadiums throughout the state. The completed facility at the Redhound Complex is the most impressive high school football facility I have ever seen. It wasn’t always this way, as I remember starting my broadcasting career in 1961 inside the small press box at Denes Stadium. After 30 years, of broadcasting Corbin Redhound football games, and being a fan another 35 years, I’ve seen many improvements. In my first year of doing...

The first Nibroc. I remember it well. I was two weeks shy of my 13th birthday and the carnival rides were what interested me most. The first carnival, much smaller by today’s standards, was located at the corner of 7th and Main streets. The big question that year was what to name the festival. The Chamber of Commerce ran a contest for naming it and Nibroc, Corbin spelled backwards, was chosen. This was puzzling to many people, and still is to some, but the name of the festival has survived for 73 years. The festival started as a community affair and stayed that way until businesses started vacating the area and...