Dean Manning

In just a few days, high school football across Kentucky will take a big step forward as the players put on the pads and the hitting begins. We are now under a month until the season kicks off with the first games scheduled for Friday, Aug. 20. Whitley County will travel to Perry County Central for Coach Zeke Eier’s first game as head coach, looking to turn things around for a program that won two games last year. Over at Lynn Camp, new Coach Mark Huddleston will also be looking to get the Wildcats back on the winning track after taking over for Allen Harris. The measuring stick many of the Lynn Camp...

If you look at older photos of downtown Corbin, businesses up and down Main Street have signs extending out from the building extending over the sidewalks. Many of these signs were lighted so the businesses were visible day or night. Florsheim shoes, Dyche Drugs, Corbin Deposit Bank, and the Hippodrome Theater were among those visible in the pictures I saw. When downtown Corbin died, the signs had mostly disappeared. With the resurgence of downtown, Andy Salmons remodeled the former Cottongim Pharmacy location at the corner of Third and Main, turning it into You and Me, Coffee and Tea. One opportunity that Salmons took advantage of with the location was that the Cottongim Pharmacy...

In addition to Corbin Bass Fishing headed off to the national and world tournament, you will find the first look at the 2021 high school football schedules, college signings by Williamsburg’s Navaeh Warren and Mikkah Siler to play at The University of the Cumberlands, and a story about the process to become an official in the sports overseen by the Kentucky High School Athletic Association. It is a story I have had on my mind for a while, and with a slow period in sports, it seems the appropriate time. I have to admit to being conflicted when it comes to the officials. As a Major League Baseball fan from the time...

With the crowning of state champions in baseball and softball, the high school sports season has come to an end. It is time to take a look back at the 2020-21 season that had a number of highs and a few lows. In football, Corbin and Williamsburg were typical Corbin and Williamsburg. The Jackets reached the final four of the Class A playoffs, despite beginning the season 0-2 in between three game cancelled because of COVID–19. Up in Corbin, the Redhounds had loaded up their schedule, kicking off the season with Class 2A power Beechwood. Corbin narrowly lost, 20-14, but was unstoppable from that point, winning its next eight games to reach the elite...

The crowds at high school baseball and softball at Corbin, Whitley County and Williamsburg are good sized, but will not be confused with what the schools draw for football or basketball. And while baseball play-by-play people can find themselves relying on stories of their experiences covering the sport to fill airtime, it is time that the Hounds, Colonels and Jackets were on the radio. I realize that for the area radio stations, the big question is whether they could sell sufficient advertising to at least cover the cost of the broadcast. And, to be honest, will the average listener stick around to hear those spots when their team is on either side...

For years I have considered the clank of a metal bat hitting a baseball to be sacrilegious. Baseball should involve the crack of the ball coming off of a wooden bat. As a baseball fan since I could get in to watch the Cincinnati Reds for free because I could walk under the turnstile and sit on my dad’s lap during the game, it has been so. But, as country music star Patty Loveless once sang, “Life’s about changing…” Baseball, at least at Major League Baseball, changed when the 2020 season finally got underway in August. One of the things fans most enjoy about baseball is the traditions. The seventh inning stretch, the peanut...

Among ESPN host Chris Berman’s famous catchphrases is, “That’s why they play the game!” Berman would use it when preparing the audience for highlights of an upset. While the Knox Central Basketball faithful may not agree, to the rest of the 13th Region world, the Panthers’ 78-63 win over North Laurel in the 13th Region Championship Saturday night was exactly why they play the game. On paper, the 25-2 Jaguars, who were undefeated against 13th Region opponents this season, should have already had hotel reservations in Lexington and been working up a game plan for the first–round state tournament game against the winner of the 16th Region on Thursday. Knox Central had lost...

I will admit to being new to being the person responsible for in-depth coverage of postseason basketball. That being said, there has got to be an easier way to determine the region bracket than what I experienced Sunday at The Arena. The coaches/representatives from each of the 16 participating teams were brought into an area on the upper level of The Arena and seated in nice, neat rows. After some introductory remarks, the coach/reps of the district champions were called forward to begin the drawing process. This required each representative to make their way from their seat, usually worming their way through several other people and coming up to where the brackets and...

High school basketball fans in Whitley County will have at least one more week of local basketball as the Corbin Redhounds and Whitley County Lady Colonels both qualified for the 13th Region Tournament with their respective wins in the first round of the 50th District Tournament on Saturday. Coach Tony Pietrowski preached patience at the beginning of the season as sophomore Hayden Llewellyn appeared to be the one constant on the Redhounds’ squad. “This group continues to put in the work in practice and shows improvement, literally daily,” Pietrowski said as Corbin had opened the season with a 2-3 record noting that the experience gained throughout the season would mean a...

COVID–19 has changed the way a number of things work from voting to high school basketball. Because of the pandemic, early and absentee voting was made more widely available. It proved so popular, with voter turnout increasing exponentially in both the 2020 primary and general election, that the state legislature has taken steps to make some of the changes permanent. Another change was the beginning of the high school basketball season was pushed back to early January as opposed to early December. The Kentucky High School Athletic Association follow the legislature’s lead on voting and make the change to the basketball season permanent. With every participating high school making the high school football playoffs,...