Gary West

Who hasn’t heard about all of the college athletes that are jumping from one school to another just because the rules now say they can? Before, an athlete would have to sit out a year after transferring to another school. Over the years even high schools have been impacted by transfers. The earliest case I know of involved a basketball player from Inez High School. In 1954, the Martin County school from a town of 500 people won the Kentucky High School Sweet Sixteen in Memorial Coliseum in Lexington. Inez played in the powerful 15th region from the mountains. Their marque player was Billy Ray Cassady, a gifted 6-2 player who would...

The Cadillac pulled into the circle drive that fronted the stately Athens Country Club in Athens, Georgia. The driver was Leonard Postero. You may not recognize the name, but if you are over 40 you might recall the football prognostication radio show “Leonard’s Losers” who went by the name of Leonard Postoasties on his show. It was November 28, 1990, and I was in town to broadcast the Western-Georgia basketball game along with play-by-play legend Wes Strader. We were staying, along with the Hilltopper team, at the Holiday Inn. Paul Just, a legend in his own right, was the Sports Information Director and had gotten to know Leonard Postero over the years. “Leonard...

A friend of mine, sometime back assured me he was an expert on bourbon. Assuming that he had read books, experienced the bourbon trail and talked to master distillers, he quickly said, “None of that.” Then how do you know so much, I asked. “Heck, I ought to know, I’ve been drinking bourbon most of my life,” he laughed. I bet there’s a lot of coffee experts out there, too. For sure he wasn’t an expert. What about the palate, the nose, the burn. He said nothing about fermentation, or yeast pedigree and sugar. What about corn, wheat, barley or rye? My friend knew none of this. Today, bourbon making is a science...

Anytime an athlete or former athlete becomes part of a story in Sports Illustrated Magazine it’s sort of a big deal. For 89-year-old Forest “Frosty” Able it was a long time coming, and a complete surprise regarding several basketball players who had underwhelming careers in the NBA. The magazine peered into the NBA record books and found ten players who had been college stars, drafted into the pro league only to see or speak of playing time... less than one minute of action before being cut from the team and league. Able had been a star at Western Kentucky University for Coach Ed Diddle back in the early 50’s after playing...

I slowly, methodically backed my way into the foul lane dribbling the basketball low to the ground. The defender with hands held high, would be no match in preventing me from scoring. Thousands were watching as I positioned my 10-year-old body for a hook shot I had practiced at least a thousand times. Of course I hit it and the crowd went wild. After all I was for a brief time Bevo Francis the greatest scorer in college basketball in 1953. He was 6-9 and I doubt that I was even 4-9. Still it didn’t stop me from pretending. To be like Bevo was a dream, and I could make...

As crazy as college athletics seems to be today, they will still have to go some to top a zany period at Western Kentucky University back in 1992. Because of drastic budget cuts at the University, the board of regents was pre-paring to vote on eliminating the schools football program as part of a state mandated $6.1 million cut. Football had been a staple at Western since 1913, but always playing second fiddle to basketball. Here it is now 30 years later from when the program was close to being tossed over the cliff. Under Coach Jack Harbaugh and athletic director Lou Marciani, a “Save the Program” campaign was initiated. A $900,000 budget...

Barry Sadler. The first time I heard his name was soon after my arrival for assignment at Ft. Bragg, North Carolina, as the deputy post information officer in 1967. Sadler, while a Special Forces Green Beret, was still officially a soldier stationed at Bragg, and his newly released song, “The Ballad of The Green Berets” was sweeping the nation in 1966. It was the height of the Vietnam War and with a divided country on the war’s merits, Sadler and his song were like a propaganda promotion to literally rally the troops and the nation. The handsome 27-year-old, could easily have been the face on a recruiting poster. The Pentagon even...

Much has been written about the passing of Bill Russell, who many consider among the best basketball players to ever play the game. With high school state championships and two NCAA titles at the University of San Francisco, the Louisiana native, was even better in leading the United States to the 1956 Olympic gold medal in Melbourne. Soon after, Russell was on his way to stardom with the Boston Celtics. And what a thirteen year career. Eleven NBA titles, twelve All-Star teams and five MVP awards, it was no wonder that in 1980 he was voted the NBA’s all-time greatest player. In October 1961, as Russell began to emerge as the...

Golf is big. Even though I haven’t played in more than five years, I still really enjoy watching it. It’s better if Tiger is playing. Where I live backs up to number four tee, and it seems rain or shine, hot or cold someone is always teeing it up. Over the years the game has been a fun part of my life since I began playing in 1963, while in college. In fact, after playing only two weeks, I knocked a hole-in-one at the City Par 3 course in Elizabethtown. The newspaper came out, took my picture and a few days later presented me a small engraved trophy with the unbranded,...

Over my journalistic lifetime I’ve been fortunate to interview hundreds of people for newspaper and magazine stories, as well as books, radio, and yes, even television. Many have been famous celebrities, the majority former sports stars. Among the more memorable is John Y. Brown, Jr. Most Kentuckians know he is a former governor, the 55th, and they probably know his association with Colonel Harland Sanders and Kentucky Fried Chicken. They might even be aware of his marriage to Phyllis George, a former Miss America. How John Y. and Phyllis became acquainted is a story that only a few outside of their circle would know. Brown’s story was just beginning to emerge as he...