Author: mrandmisskybasketball

 

It was 40 years ago when Mr. Kentucky Basketball 1980, Ervin Stepp from Phelps High School scored 75 points in one game, and this was before the 3 point shot was introduced to high school basketball.  Stepp is the only player in the history of Kentucky high school basketball to average more than 50 points a game for an entire season. He also tops the record field goal attempts in one season with 943,  and has the top two records for field goals made with 545 in 1980 and 478 in 1979.  In fact you can find Ervin Stepp’s name 37 times in the KHSAA’s Boys Basketball Record Book.

In 1963, Mike Redd,  was the first African American named Kentucky Mr. Basketball.  As an 8th grader, he scored 25 points in a varsity game, and helped take his Seneca High School team to the regional tournaments in 1961 and 1962.  With his leadership his team won the 1963 KHSAA State Tournament with Redd averaging 26.5 points during the tournament.

Mike Redd played college ball at Kentucky Wesleyan for one year, averaging 20.7 points and 6.8 rebounds. He played a season at Sullivan Business College in Louisville before joining the U.S. Marines, serving during the Vietnam War. Redd also played basketball while in the service and helped his team win two AAU Men’s Basketball Championships: 1969 Armed Forces All-Stars and the 1970 Armed Forces All-Stars.

After his enlistment was completed, Redd remained in Europe and played basketball in France for about a decade, then started a basketball school in Austria. Mike Redd spoke several languages. When he returned to the United States, Redd, a chef, bought restaurants in San Jose, CA and Nashville, TN.

Merry Christmas Eve!  This holiday season, Miss Kentucky Basketball 2016, Erin Boley, may be using her skills to provide gifts to family and friends.  Boley, a junior at Oregon University had the opportunity to study abroad recently which led her to developing her creative skills off the court.

Boley was also named the 2016 Gatorade National Player of the Year following her senior season at Elizabethtown High School where she averaged 20.7 points, 10 rebounds, four steals, three assists and one block per game.

The 39th Annual Chad Gardner Law King of the Bluegrass tipped of yesterday and will once again feature a field loaded with talent from across the Bluegrass state and the country.   Many recipients of the Mr. Kentucky Basketball title have played in this Classic, 26 to be exact.  That’s nearly 50% of the elite group.  Could 2020 Mr. Kentucky Basketball be playing in the Classic this weekend?

 

2018 Trevon Faulkner – Mercer Co.

2017 Taveion Hollingsworth – Paul L. Dunbar

2016 Carson Williams – Owen Co.

2014 Quentin Snyder – Ballard

2013 Dominique Hawkins – Madison Central

2012 Nathan Dieudonne – Trinity

2011 Anthony Hickey – Christian Co.

2009 Jon Hood – Madisonville

2007 Steffphon Pettigrew – Elizabethtown

2005 Domonic Tilford – Jeffersontown

2003 Chris Lofton – Mason Co.

2001 JoshCarrier – Bowling Green

1999 Ricky Jones  -Scott Co.

1998 J.R. VanHoose – Paintsville

1996 Daymeon Fishback – Greenwood

1994 Elton Scott – Marion Co.

1993 Jason Osborne – Male

1992 Tick Rogers – Hart Co.

1991 Jermaine Brown – Fairdale

1990 Dwayne Morton – Central

1989 Allan Houston – Ballard

1987 John Pelphrey – Paintsville

1986 Rex Chapman – Apollo

1985 Tony Kimbro – Seneca

1984 Steve Miller – Henry Clay

1982 Todd May – Virgie

 

It was 41 years ago when Miss Kentucky Basketball 1978, Irene Moore from Breathitt County High School led her team to the 1978 KHSAA State Championship game where they lost to Laurel County, who won the tournament three years in row from 1977-1979.  Moore went on to have an great career at Morehead Stae University, playing alongside 1976 Miss KY Basketball Donna Murphy for a few years.

Moore was recently inducted into the Kentucky High School Basketball Hall of Fame, one of 12 added to the prestigious hall for 2019.

Halls of fame are nothing new to the MVP of the 1978 state basketball tournament, as Moore has also been inducted into Morehead State University’s Hall of Fame, the Mountain Sports Hall of Fame, and the Dawahares/KHSAA Hall of Fame.

It was 31 years ago when Mr. Kentucky Basketball 1989, Allan Houston from Ballard High School led his team to become the 1988 KHSAA State Champions, beating Mr. Kentucky Basketball 1988 Richie Farmer’s Clay County team.  Allan Houston went on to have an excellent career at the University of Tennessee where his jersey is retired and he remains the the 2nd leading scorer in school history.  After college, Houston was drafted in the first round by the Detroit Pistons in the 1993 NBA draft, and averaged 8.5 points per game in his rookie year.

In 1996, after his rookie contract expired, Houston signed as a free agent with the New York Knicks, for whom he played for the next nine seasons.

In 2008, Houston was hired by the New York Knicks as assistant to the president for basketball operations and in 2010, Houston was promoted to the position of assistant general manager.

 

 

It was 40 years ago when Miss Kentucky Basketball 1979, Beth Wilkerson Hammond, was also recognized as a 1st team Parade All-American. She was selected by the state’s sportswriters as Kentucky’s Female Athlete of the Year, a member of the Kentucky-Indiana All-Star Team, and a recipient of the national ‘Hertz #1 Award’. She scored over 1600 career points and was a member of the KHSAA State Tournament Teams of 1977, 1978, and 1979.

 

 

Ten years ago, senior Elisha Justice’s Shelby Valley team kicked off their season with a win over Paul Laurence Dunbar 74-52.  Later in the season Elisha was named 2010 Mr. Kentucky Basketball.  Elisha still holds the state record for the most steals (540) in his four year career at Shelby Valley.  The team went on to win the KHSAA State Tournament in 2010.  After high school, Elisha played for the University of Louisville for two seasons before transferring to Pikeville College to end his college career.  He is now the head coach at Pikeville High School, leading his team to back to back State Tournament appearances in his first two years of coaching.

 

 

On December 3, 1999, Jenni Benningfield’s Assumption team kicked off their season with a huge win over Christian Academy of Louisville 68-22.  Later in the season Jenni was named the 2000 Miss Kentucky Basketball.  In her four seasons at Assumption High School, the basketball team compiled a 118-17 record and she averaged 22.5 points and 12.5 rebounds.   She also was an All-American volleyball player. After a four-year career at Vanderbilt, Benningfield played professionally in the WNBA and in Spain and Australia.