By Terry Boehmker
NKyTribune sports reporter
Kentucky high school athletes and coaches get to enjoy a break during the two-week “dead period” that lasts until July 9, but Stan Steidel never stops working on the All “A” Classic.
Last week, Steidel had a meeting with the board of directors for the non-profit organization. They talked about getting sponsors to underwrite the cost of providing nine state tournaments for small schools in Kentucky once again this coming school year.
“It comes down to making a choice between getting one major sponsor or a batch of tournament sponsors,” said Steidel, who has been director of the classic since its inception in 1980.
For more than 20 years, Touchstone Energy Cooperatives was the lone corporate sponsor of the small school state tournaments, but that contract expired in 2015. Over the last four years, the All “A” Classic has handled the expenses on its own for state tournaments in golf, soccer and basketball for both boys and girls along with volleyball, baseball and softball.
“We’ve hung on better than I thought we would and been able to survive,” Stiedel said. “We had some money set aside for bad days and we’ve dipped into that, and we’ve cut some things.”
Steidel said eliminating regional championship trophies and reducing the number of All “A” Classic scholarships from 100 to 50 were two cost-cutting measures. He hated to do that, but it was better than eliminating any of the tournaments. The fact that everyone involved with organizing the classic is an unpaid volunteer has also helped keep it all going.
Steidel said the All “A” Classic state basketball tournaments have provided the money the organization needed to subsist over the last four years. That was the sport that got it all started 40 years ago after a lawsuit to force classification of the statewide basketball playoffs failed.
Steidel continues to look for another corporate sponsor for the classic along with individual sponsors for each of the state tournaments. He’s got a sponsor for boys and girls golf this fall, but not for the others.
“I tell people I’m the world’s greatest begger,” Steidel said with a chuckle, but he’s willing to do whatever it takes to keep the classic alive.
“The All A is going to last until the state decides to play in classes and give every kid the same opportunity,” he said.
CovCath senior attending elite high school football training camp
Covington Catholic senior Michael Mayer is among the elite high school football players in the nation taking part in The Opening, three days of high-level training, coaching and competition, this week in Frisco, Texas..
Mayer, a University of Notre Dame recruit, is listed as the nation’s No. 1 tight end in the 2020 senior class by 247sports.com. He scored high enough in a regional qualifier to be invited to The Opening national final.
The schedule for this week’s event that ends on Wednesday includes training camp drills for every position and 7-on-7 games showcasing the top quarterbacks and receivers.
Mayer played both tight end and linebacker on the CovCath team that was runner-up in last year’s Class 5A state playoffs. He was the team’s leading pass receiver with 46 catches for 1,029 yards and 12 touchdowns. He also made a team-high 98 tackles.
State champion runner, veteran coach inducted into hall of fame
Two well-known names in Northern Kentucky girls cross country and track were officially inducted into the Buddy LaRosa’s High School Sports Hall of Fame last Sunday.
Dayton graduate Stephanie Edgar-Kuntz, a distance runner who won 14 Class A state championships in cross country and track, was among the five former athletes inducted. They were joined by Bishop Brossart coach Dave Schuh, who put together teams that won six straight Class A state titles in girls track and back-to-back state titles in cross country during his 39-year career.
Edgar-Kuntz and Schuh are already members of both the Kentucky Track and Cross Country Coaches Association Hall of Fame and the Northern Kentucky Athletic Directors Hall of Fame.