Kentucky High School Basketball Historical Questions and Answers
From Jeff Bridgeman, Author of the Kentucky High School Basketball Encyclopedia
Schools
What school had 17 boys head basketball coaches in 17 years?
Melber
What schools program started with the father and ended with his son?
Camargo (Julian B. and Julian R. Cunningham)
Name either of the first 3 all black schools to win a region title and they were in the same year?
Covington Grant, Lexington Dunbar, and Bowling Green High Street in 1958
Who is the smallest boys school to win multiple state titles?
Hazard (324)
Who is the smallest girls school to win multiple state titles?
West Louisville (68)
What boys team had the smallest enrollment for a state title winner?
Millersburg Military Institute (38)
What girls team had the smallest enrollment for a state title winner?
West Louisville (68)
What school has had the most Mr. Basketball winners?
Male (5)
What school has had the most Miss Basketball winners?
Sacred Heart Academy (3)
What school has had the most Ted Sanford Award winners?
Wayne County (4)
What school has had the most J.B. Mansfield award winners?
Marshall County (3)
What school captured the first state title played at the Louisville Armory, Freedom Hall and Rupp Arena?
Lafayette — 1942, 1957, and 1979
What school was the first to win a basketball and football championship in the same year?
Louisville Trinity in 2012
Who are the three schools whose name contains four letters who have won state titles?
Male, Cuba, and Inez
What is the last school to win a state title that is no longer in existence?
Flaget, 1960
Boys Teams
Only team to have 7 all-staters in the same year?
Lafayette (1950)
What team finished undefeated and didn’t win a district title?
Benham (1936 – spinal meningitis outbreak)
Only teams to have 3 First Team all-staters in the same year?
Ballard 1977, Fairdale 1991, Lexington Catholic 2004, Louisville Trinity 2012
What school was a defending champ for 43 years?
Woodburn girls 1932, girls basketball dropped until 1975
Name any boys team that has won back-to-back titles?
Lexington 1918–20, Ashland 1933–34, Seneca 1963–64, Male 1970–71, Fairdale 1990–91
What boys teams have won the most state titles?
Henry Clay and Lafayette (6 each)
What boys team has the highest all-time winning percentage?
Ballard 1380–381 (78.61%)
What boys team has the most region titles?
Owensboro (44)
What boys team has the most district titles?
Clay County (71)
What boys team has the most all-time all-state players?
Male (165)
Who was the first boys state champion?
Henderson (1916)
What boys team has finished first in the Litratings the most times?
Central (7)
What boys team is the all-time wins leader?
Clay County (2,199)
Who was the first boys All A Classic state champion?
Covington Holy Cross (1980)
What boys team has the most All A Classic state championships?
University Heights (8)
How many undefeated boys champions have there been?
3 — Henderson 1916, Ashland 1928, Brewers 1948
Who was the first black league (KHSAL) champion?
Louisville Central (1932)
Who has won the most KHSAL titles?
Louisville Central (5)
What boys team had 8 players foul out in a regional title game loss finishing with 4 players?
Pikeville — lost to Wayland in 1956 15th Region Finals
What teams played in the last state tournament consolation game and what year?
Wheelwright beat Breathitt County 72–56 (1961)
What boys team has been region runner-up the most times?
Ashland (20)
What boys team has been region runner-up the most times but never won the region?
Butler County (6)
Girls Teams
Name any girls team that has won back-to-back titles?
Ashland 1921–22, Ashland 1928–29, Woodburn 1931–32, Laurel County 1977–79, Sacred Heart 2002–04, Lexington Catholic 2005–06, Sacred Heart 2021–25
What girls teams have won the most state titles?
Sacred Heart (8)
What teams finished undefeated and girls state champions?
Ashland 1921, 1922, 1929; West Louisville 1927; Woodburn 1931, 1932; Laurel County 1979; Marshall County 1984; Marion County 2013
What girls team has the highest all-time winning percentage?
Laurel County 483–83 (85.34%)
What girls team has the most region titles?
Marshall County (24), Ashland (24)
What girls team has the most district titles?
Russell (40)
What girls team has the most all-time all-state players?
Sacred Heart (109)
Who was the first girls state champion?
Paris (1920)
Who is the only girls team to have a shutout in the state title game?
Georgetown 1925 (40–0)
What girls team has finished first in the Litratings the most times?
Sacred Heart (5)
What girls team is the all-time wins leader?
Ashland (1,315)
Who was the first girls All A Classic state champion?
Cumberland (1991)
What girls team has the most All A Classic state titles?
Monroe County and Lexington Christian (3 each)
What girls team has been region runner-up the most times?
Bullitt East and Mercy Academy (12 each)
What girls team has been region runner-up the most times but never won the region?
Ballard (8)
What girls team won 74 consecutive games for the state record?
Laurel County (1978–80)
Coaches
What future NFL head coach got his beginnings as Paris head coach?
Blanton Collier
Who is the winningest coach in boys basketball?
Billy Hicks — 1,022 wins
Who’s the winningest coach in girls basketball?
Randy Napier — 886 wins
Who was the first boys coach of the year?
Bobby Laughlin, Breckinridge Training (1946)
Name either of the three multiple coach of the years with 3 wins (boys)?
Letcher Norton (Clark County), Bobby Keith (Clay County), Danny Haney (Lexington Catholic)
Who was the first girls coach of the year?
Bunny Daugherty, Sacred Heart Academy (1975)
Name either of the three multiple coach of the years with 3 wins (girls)?
Roy Bowling (Laurel County), Howard Beth (Marshall County), Donna Moir (Sacred Heart Academy)
What girls coach has the highest winning percentage?
Howard Beth, Marshall County — 794–147 (84.378%)
What boys coach has the highest winning percentage?
Bobby Keith, Clay County — 771–124 (86.145%)
What future hall of fame coach made the winning basket in the 1932 state championship and coached one?
Morton Combs
Who is the only coach to win a boys and girls state title?
Pat Payne — Hazard boys (1932), Hazard girls (1930)
What coach was an assistant coach on a Boys Sweet 16 championship team and a head coach on two different girls state championship teams?
Bob Tripure — assistant boys coach at Henry Clay and head girls coach at Henry Clay and Lexington Catholic
First coach to win state championships as both a player and a coach?
Paul Jenkins — DuPont Manual (1923 player), Ashland (1933 coach)
Only coach to win a state championship as a player and as a coach at the same school?
Rod Drake, Owensboro
Who was the first black coach to win a state title?
Robert Graves, Central (1969)
Name any of the three boys coaches to win 3 state titles?
Neal Arntsen (DuPont Manual 1923, 1925, 1931), Paul Jenkins (Ashland 1933, 1934, Male 1945), Ralph Carlisle (Lafayette 1950, 1953, 1957)
Boys Players
Who is the all-time boys scoring leader?
Travis Perry, Lyon County — 5,481 points
Who was the first Mister Basketball?
Vernon Hatton, Lafayette (1954)
Name any boys players that were first team all-staters 3 times?
Darrell Griffith (Male), Manuel Forrest (Moore), Tony Kimbro (Seneca), Jason Osborne (Male), Charles Thomas (Harlan), Quentin Snider (Ballard), James Bolden (Covington Holmes), Camron Justice (Knott County Central), Reed Shepherd (North Laurel), Travis Perry (Lyon County)
What Covington Grant star went on to star on two College National Championship teams?
Tom Thacker
Name either of the 2 Horse Cave Colored stars who went on to play for the Harlem Globetrotters?
Carl Helem and Clarence Wilson
Who was the first Ted Sanford Award winner?
Ricky Weatherspoon, Hickman County (1973)
What boy has the most career rebounds?
Ben Franklin, OBI — 2,215 rebounds
What boy has the most career points in the state tournament?
Richie Farmer, Clay County — 317 points
What boy scored the most points in a single regular season game?
Wayne Oakley, Hanson — 114 points
What boy has the highest single season scoring average?
Ervin Stepp, Phelps — 53.7 (1980)
Johnny Cox led Hazard to a state title in 1955. How many points and rebounds did he average his junior year?
0 — he was ruled ineligible after transferring from Fleming-Neon
What Kentucky high school star became the first in NBA history to score 1,000 career points?
Joe Fulks (Birmingham and then Kuttawa)
Who hit the desperation shot from beyond midcourt that won the 1982 state championship?
Paul Andrews, Laurel County
What year did “King” Kelly Coleman set single-game and tournament scoring records at the Sweet 16?
1956
Richie Farmer set the championship game scoring mark with 51 points. Whose record did he break?
Ron King, Central (1969 – 44 points)
How many rebounds did Wes Unseld have in his 8 state tourney games (1963–64)?
160 rebounds
Name either of the 2 players to win a state title, earn Mr. Basketball, and win an NCAA championship?
Darrell Griffith (Male), Darius Miller (Mason County)
Only player in Kentucky basketball history to score over 100 points in a game?
Wayne Oakley, Hanson (1954)
What player has hit the most consecutive free throws in state history?
Marvin Selby, Corbin — 63
Girls Players
Who is the all-time girls scoring leader?
Whitney Creech, Jenkins — 5,527 points
Who was the first Miss Basketball?
Donna Murphy, Newport (1976)
Name any girls players that were first team all-staters 4 times?
Regina Carroll (Russell), Jaime Walz (Highlands), Arnika Brown (Christian County), Makayla Epps (Marion County), Kyvin Goodin-Rogers (Marion County), ZaKiyah Johnson (Sacred Heart), Leah Macy (Mercy/Bethlehem)
Who was the first J.B. Mansfield Award winner?
Donna Murphy, Newport (1975)
What girl has the most individual career rebounds?
Adia Mathies, Iroquois — 2,583 rebounds
What girl has the most career points in the state tournament?
ZaKiyah Johnson, Sacred Heart — 238 points
What girl scored the most points in a single regular season game?
Geri Grigsby — 81 points
What girl has the highest single season scoring average?
Whitney Creech — 50.3 (2016)
Kentucky–Indiana All Star Games
What uniform number does the Mr. and Miss Basketball wear in the KY–IN All-Star Game?
#1
State Tournaments
What are the two longest state championship games in history?
Ashland (4 overtimes, 1928 vs. Carr Creek) and Henry Clay (3 overtimes, 1983 vs. Carlisle County)
For a time, Kentucky had “class” basketball. How many classes and what years?
Two classes (A and B) from 1927–1932
When did KHSAA change to having 4 first-round games on Wednesday and 4 on Thursday?
1968 (previously 1950–67 format)
When did KHSAA expand from 8 to 16 regions?
1932
What year did Kentucky experiment with 4 rounds (District, Region, Sectional, State)?
1943
What year did the Sweet 16 move from Louisville Armory to UK’s Coliseum?
1951
Where were the first three state tournaments (1916–1918) held?
Centre College in Danville
In 1921, how many schools qualified for state after the first district format?
10 schools qualified
What started Kentucky’s “district winners and losers both advance” system?
Class basketball (1927), advancing both large and small school teams
What year was there a one-week break between region and state tournaments (and why)?
1969 — Freedom Hall hosted the NCAA Final Four
When did KHSAA first require region tournaments to be seeded (district winner vs. runner-up)?
1967–68
Rules
When were players first allowed to huddle with coaches during timeouts?
1948–49 season
When did made baskets stop resulting in a center jump ball?
1937–38 season
When was the foul limit changed from 4 to 5 per player?
1944–45 season
When was overtime length changed from 3 to 4 minutes?
1994–95 season
When were the 3-point field goal and 2-shot technical foul rules introduced?
1987–88 season
When was the “one-and-one” free throw rule introduced?
1955–56 season
When did the clock begin stopping for dead balls in the final minutes?
1946–47 (only final 4 minutes)
When were jump balls mandated to occur only in the nearest of the three circles?
1947–48 season