It was Golf Day, Ludlow Day, CovCath Day and maybe even Ladies’ Day (old time baseball reference here) at the November inductions for the Northern Kentucky Sports Hall of Fame in Park Hills this week.
And for good measure, in the absence of Vice-president Kenney Shields, who was traveling, it could have also been Dick Maile Day, who was mentioned by most everyone as a mentor, coach, inspiration and nominator not to mention godfather of one of Northern Kentucky’s all-time three-generation sporting families.
Here we go:
BRYAN CLEMONS, Covington Catholic: Bryan thanked his brother, Doug, for nominating him. “Rumor has it, it only took a dozen chicken wings,” the former CovCath basketball star and runner. And also a note of thanks to longtime CovCath coach, the late Jack Kaelin, for dissuading him from football. “You’re too skinny, they’ll kill you,” Jack told him. A state cross country championship followed as well as three basketball scholarship offers. But Thomas More Coach Jim Connor clinched it for Clemons, despite recruiting him, by telling him Bellarmine (where he went on to a career as a two-year starter and defensive MVP) was the place for him, advice he followed. “You can’t be a good athlete without good coaches,” Bryan said, mentioning Steve Sorrell and George Schneider at CovCath but going all the way back to Dick Maile, his fourth-grade coach. Said he still remembers winning the sportsmanship award. “Rich Maile (Dick’s son) was MVP,” Clemons said with a grin, intimating it doesn’t still bother him nearly a half-century later.
MARGARET WILKERSON, Beechwood: Margaret Wilkerson’s record – eight times Ft. Mitchell Country Club champ, two-time winner of the Northern Kentucky Women’s Amateur and runner-up 17 times. “If you name them,” Margaret quips about all the top local women golfers, “I probably got beat in the finals by them.” Her explanation of a life on the golf course the last half-century: “I just loved playing golf,” she says. “I dragged my dad out to the course every Saturday and Sunday,” recalling a time “when women weren’t allowed to play until after 1 p.m. . . . that’s all I have to say.”
DAN MOLIQUE, Ludlow: Like a lot of kids growing up in Ludlow, Dan Molique loved baseball. His greatest thrill for much of his life, on top of his three-sport career at Ludlow High, was walking on to the baseball team at the University of Tennessee after throwing one no-hitter and three one-hitters at Ludlow. But as exciting as calling his parents from the UT coach’s office to tell them he made the team, it doesn’t compare, the Boone County Knothole coach says, to “watching my sons Brennan and Mason playing ball. Those two are my greatest sports memories.” Although his times working with revered Ludlow youth coaches Benny Clary and Woody Robinson make him realize “all the time we were having fun and learning things,” like when they brought out cardboard sheets to teach them how to slide properly. “You could slide forever on that cardboard,” says Dan, who has been coaching youth soccer, baseball and basketball in Boone County for the last dozen years.
TOM LEONARD, CovCath: The amazing thing about Tom, who was born premature with significant hearing deficit and muscular issues, is how he always had the best stories. “It hasn’t come easy,” Tom said of his storytelling and golf skills. Maybe that was the result, he said, of being “raised at Summit Hills Country Club,” where he learned the game to help CovCath win the 1969 state golf title. “I’m not sure Summit Hills is ready for this,” said Pres. Randy Marsh, another Summit member. But Tom, who has won the Summit Hills Club championship five times, and been a medalist at both the Northern Kentucky Men’s Amateur and the Cincinnati Metropolitan among his many amateur golf accomplishments, said not to worry about his stories. Or that his speech would approach the record length. “Talk for 35 minutes? My confession would take longer than that,” Tom said. Although he did admit: “Golf is hard. It can make cheaters of really good people,” to loud laughter from the many golfers in the crowd.
LAURA SCHILD, Notre Dame: Choosing golf was a no-brainer for Laura, who won the Northern Kentucky Women’s Amateur three times, the Twin Oaks Club Championship 15 times, the Greater Cincinnati Public Links six times, the Met Women’s Amateur three times with a Met Mid-Am championship and a senior Met title among many others. “When you’re 5-foot-1 and lead Notre Dame in turnovers . . .”, Laura said, well golf is an easy call. Although Schild did coach basketball for nine years at her alma mater in addition to two years with two regional titles in golf, it was her golf that set her apart. “I like the competition in golf,” she says, “but in addition to the competition, there are all the friendships I made in golf . . . they’re fantastic.”
KIM GUNNING, Villa Madonna: “I was blessed with parents who loved athletics,” Kim said of her mom, Marlene, “who made her first hole-in-one at the age of 81,” and her dad, Bob, a World War II veteran and former Holmes track star. “I’m so proud of him,” Kim says of her dad’s work in liberating concentration camps in Germany. She praised her “six siblings” who taught her how to compete and Villa Madonna where she got “the opportunity to play five sports” (volleyball, basketball, track, swimming and softball) as well as getting to coach there and serve as AD before moving on to Cincinnati’s St. Ursula as coach and AD. Said she realized in a game against Laura Schild’s NDA team that basketball might not be her best sport when on breakaway uncontested layup, she felt her jersey get tugged by a defender who caught her from behind. “I’m too slow,” she realized, “maybe golf would be a better option.” But “the best part about sports are your teammates,” the multiple hall of famer (Villa Madonna, Notre Dame, N. Ky. AD’s, Buddy LaRosa) says. “The journey looks much different when you have teammates to share it with.”
RYAN MCKENZIE, Ludlow: “I’m very proud of being from Ludlow,” says Ryan, a football-basketball guy for the Panthers. But one look at Ryan and you knew it would be football for the kid who started in the early years with Ludlow Youth Football program and finished up as a four-year defensive line starter at Morehead State, where he won All-OVC honors three years with one All-American selection along with a two Defensive Lineman of the Year awards and one year as team captain. “I was always big,” Ryan says, “I could never make the second-year weight limit” in peewee football. This honor had Ryan “at a loss for words,” he said. “I’d like to thank my family. I don’t do that enough.”
GET THE JUMP ON HOOPS AND HELP A GOOD CAUSE SATURDAY
You can preview a dozen Greater Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky high school teams and remember a special young person here while helping raise money for tuition assistance for students in local communities in one fell swoop Saturday. All of that you can make happen at the 17th annual Kelsey Ann Sorrell Memorial Scrimmages at Simon Kenton.
There are six scrimmages in the main gym and auxiliary gym for varsity and JV teams respectively organized by Covington Catholic assistant basketball coach Steve Sorrell, for his daughter, Kelsey Ann, who died tragically at the age of 18 in an automobile accident. An alum of Notre Dame Academy and a UK student, Kelsey has inspired – with the scrimmages in her name as well as an annual golf tournament — more than $170,000 raised and awarded for tuition assistance for local students.
“We are choosing to honor her life, spirit and memory through this fundraising event that will benefit deserving high school age boys and girls,” Steve and his wife, Terri, say of the project they started in 2008.
All proceeds from the scrimmages will go to that fund.
2024 KAS Scrimmage Schedule:
St. Henry vs. St. Bernard (9 a.m.)
Scott vs. Cincinnati Country Day (10:20 a.m.)
Conner vs. North College Hill (11:40 a.m.)
South Laurel vs. Oak Hills (1:00 p.m.)
Simon Kenton vs. LaSalle (2:20 p.m.)
Covington Catholic vs. Summit Country Day (3:40 p.m.)