By Andy Furman
NKyTribune reporter
It’s alive and well – thanks to Kevin Bundy. And it gets underway on August 14th – for the 31st time.
The Blacktop League is what Bundy calls, “My labor of love.”
No one should be surprised – basketball has been part of Bundy’s life for 31 of his 57 years.
“I grew up in Erlanger, played a little basketball at Lloyd High School and really spent the rest of my life coaching in Northern Kentucky,” he told the Northern Kentucky Tribune.
Bundy said the Blacktop League is two-fold – “It is about playing basketball outdoors and making players better.”
The NKU graduate – class of 1985 – started his coaching career at Tichenor Middle School (Erlanger) moved to Highlands High as a varsity assistant in the ‘90s where the Bluebirds won four-of-five Regional Championships in basketball.
He coached the girls at Bishop Brossart High for five seasons and was the school’s athletic director as well.
So, Kevin, why the Blacktop League?
“Maybe because I grew up in Kentucky, my family is from Erlanger and am a UK fan and — I just love the game of basketball.”
Once a league that boasted some 60 teams and ran for eight weeks, that number has shrunk thanks to competition in the Fall.
“Soccer has grown in popularity, and we have AAU to contend with as well,” Bundy says.
This season, the plans are five-weeks of action with about 16 teams, Bundy notes. “We’ll play two-days-a-week, and a total of 10 games.”
The league is open to boys and girls from grades three to eight, he notes, with a cost of $90 per-player.
“We charge the player individually,” he says, “because he or she may not be involved with a team or group of friends who want to play.”
The $90 registration fee includes the cost of officials, an official Blacktop T-shirt, and the entire 10-game season to be played in late afternoon/early evening at Silver Lake in Erlanger.
“We’re an outdoor league,” he said, “and I think that actually adds to the attraction.”
As for teams, Bundy quickly adds, “We’re looking at about 16 now, but we have never turned down a team that wanted to join the league.”
And as for Kevin Bundy, he has hung-up his basketball shoes.
“I do some officiating,” he said. “I cannot keep away from the game I love. “I want to keep kids involved in basketball and their love for it as well. And, I want them, to walk away a better player and student of the game.”
Just like he did.
For more information on the Blacktop League: kbundy21@aol.com.
Registration being accepted through August 1st.