There were several important developments in the world of local sports this past week. Let’s take a look at a few of those now…
First of all, this past Saturday was a big day for the Corbin High School varsity baseball program. The Redhounds hosted Cooper and Estill County in the CHS Classic, defeating Estill, 10-2, and going toe-to-toe with Cooper before falling, 10-8. In addition to the great competition, several names were recognized for their past and present contributions to the team.
Those names include Ben Lankster, Bill Branaman, Jeff Miller, Tom Horvath, Steve Lawson, CE Brittain, Denny Jones, Chad Estep, BJ Foley, Brian Engle, Lucas Henson, Brandon Hedrick, Jake Mahan and Chase Estep, all of whom were recognized as former players. Don House, Gerald Foley, Darrell Tremaine, Randall Sawyers, Willard Farris and Jeff Garmon were all recognized as former coaches, and Charles Estep and Casey Carr were recognized as contributors to the program.
I was not able to be there for Saturday’s proceedings at Don House Field, but all of these names are now proudly displayed on a special banner that can be seen as soon as you enter through the gate. This is certainly a deserving list, and I would like to congratulate each honoree for their many combined accomplishments.
Next, as most of you likely know by now, Anthony Hibbard has announced his resignation as the head boys basketball coach at Williamsburg High School. The announcement was made public last Friday afternoon, and since that time many Yellow Jacket supporters have taken to social media to wish him well in his future endeavors.
I would also like to wish Coach Hibbard well in the future, and also thank him for always being willing to share information with me when I needed it. In all, he coached at Williamsburg for three seasons. The team broke even at 15-15 in 2022-23, they went 17-14 and won an All “A” regional championship title in 2023-24, and this past season they finished at 17-10.
Hibbard found himself in some difficult situations during his tenure in the Burg, as three of his top four leading scorers from his initial season ended up moving to other school systems. These departures no doubt played a major role in the team struggling to achieve its full potential over the past couple of years. However, the senior-dominated squad that took the court last winter played with a lot of pride and represented the school well, even if they did fall short against the competition in the 50th District.
Whoever follows in Hibbard’s footsteps as the head coach of the Yellow Jackets will have their work cut out for them, as the team will definitely be entering rebuild mode this offseason. Best of luck to Athletic Director Jerry Herron and others who will be involved in naming a replacement. I eagerly await that announcement, and look forward to sharing the news with our readers when the time comes.
Finally, I wanted to comment briefly on… cricket. Yes, cricket. The sport, not the insect.
In recent years, I have been sort of fascinated by the sport of cricket, which is a HUGE deal in other parts of the world. I have looked up information on the history of the game and how it’s played online, but I have never watched an entire match or had the opportunity to watch anyone play it live.
I bring this up now, because I recently saw a post on Facebook by the University of the Cumberlands sharing information about some “executive students” who competed in an inaugural cricket competition that was put on by an organization called University HUB. The event was held in Texas, I believe. The post contained a couple of photos of cricket players in jerseys that displayed the University of the Cumberlands logo. I have asked around for more info, but haven’t had much luck.
I hope to have the chance to learn more about cricket in the near future, and maybe even learn how I can watch a competition in-person. If it gets played anywhere in our region, I have no idea where that would be. I hear there is a facility in Louisville, though, so if I’m ever over in that area maybe I can check it out then.
In the meantime, if you know about cricket, or have an interest in learning more, feel free to reach out to me with any useful or interesting info.
