With basketball – and football – behind us and still looking ahead to the Kentucky Derby and all the spring sports’ championships and tournaments, this might be a great time here for sports fans to catch up on a little Northern Kentucky sports history. And luckily, there are two new books out now that tell much of the story of how we got here in sports.
Former Bellevue High School football coach Charlie Coleman has a great read in his Northern Kentucky Sports Legends of the 1950s. Host of the Sports Legends cable TV show, Newport native Coleman was growing up in those days when the likes of Stan Arnzen were setting the tone for what many consider the golden decade of Northern Kentucky sports.
Even better, Charlie’s editor for the book was Dr. James Claypool, who we’ll mention in a moment for his own book (with Robert D. Webster) – A TRADITION REBORN: From Old Latonia Race Track to Turfway Park Racing and Gaming – a 140-year History.
From NKU’s first-ever baseball coach Bill Aker (alphabetically) to Thomas More’s (then Villa Madonna) Charlie Wolf who went on from the then-Rebels to the Cincinnati Royals and Detroit Pistons in the NBA, it’s hard to pick out a favorite read among the 50 athletes and coaches profiled in the 178 pages. From Arnzen, a man way ahead of his time in basketball to baseball “bonus babies” – Holmes’ Bob Barton and Lloyd’s Jeoff Long — to Little All-American Jim Boothe, from Dayton High to Xavier, to Baseball Hall of Famer Jim Bunning, from the Phillies and the Tigers to the U.S. Senate, to Jim Brock, who helped Kentucky integrate high school sports so successfully to one of his Covington Grant players, Tom Thacker, the only man to play on an NCAA champion, an NBA champion and an ABA champion.
Then there’s Williamstown’s Arnie Risen, a Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Famer, and the Tieman brothers, Roger (who played at Louisville) and Danny (who went from Thomas More to the NBA’s Royals). Speaking of Louisville, Newport’s John Turner led the Cardinals to their first Final Four with an All-American season. Tom Ellis coached all three major sports at Holmes as the last man in Kentucky to manage that while Homer Rice went from innovative Highlands High football coach to the NFL and then a distinguished career as AD at Georgia Tech. Boone County’s Irv Goode was a UK All-American center who followed college with a long NFL career while another Boone County athlete of that era, Allen Feldhaus, went on the start for Adolph Rupp at UK and then a Hall of Fame coaching career at Mason County. But one of our favorites here is an athlete who maybe is a bit under that radar but no one played harder or was more difficult to defend than St. Henry’s dynamic Bucky Steffen.
And that’s just a small sample of the stories and the people you’ll meet in Charlie’s book that can be ordered at Nksportslegends@gmail.com.
From Old Latonia to “new” Turfway
And now for the Claypool-Webster book that takes you back to 1883 and the founding of Old Latonia Race Course for the next 140 years where the standard $2 bet was pioneered along with the largest mutuel payout ever as well as the nation’s first sports book, all of which are chronicled here. As are the two times Churchill Downs swooped in to buy Northern Kentucky’s place for thoroughbred racing.
Northern Kentucky’s own Triple Crown-winning jockey Steve Cauthen writes the foreword here, talking of the history from “Old Turfway” to the new $150 million facility blending thoroughbred racing and casino gambling. He notes the more than 200 photos that make this book a keepsake alone.
The book takes you back to opening day when some 8,000 turned out at Latonia Race Course, named for a nearby spa and hotel – Latonia Springs – at the south end of Covington, near the intersection of 38th and Winston today. And did the track ever catch on, with 100 bookmakers and new grandstands. By the late 1880s, the featured race – the Latonia Derby – was the nation’s biggest horse race, “much bigger than the Kentucky Derby,” the numbers make clear.
But better read the book for all the interesting stories. As to that record payout, it happened June 17, 1912, when four bettors collected on a 941-1 longshot, Wishing Ring, for an $1,885 payout for a $2 ticket. No winner has ever paid more.
Profiles include Hall of Fame Triple Crown jockey Eddie Arcaro, raised in Newport and Covington, who raced illegally at the age of 13 at Old Latonia before heading off to Tijuana where he could do so legally. Cauthen, from down the road from Turfway in Walton, would return to Northern Kentucky to be the track’s vice-president while other great jockeys like Isaac Murphy, Patricia Cooksey and Julie Krone would become familiar names here.
Just the extensive chapter endnotes and index make this book worthwhile for anyone who cares about thoroughbred racing here.
Full rosters for Kentucky-Indiana basketball series in June
Here are the Kentucky rosters for the June 6-7 games with tickets on sale May 1 at kentuckybasketballcoaches.org.
Kentucky Girls – Miss Basketball ZaKiyah Johnson (Sacred Heart), Ciara Byars (George Rogers Clark), Peyton Bradley (Meade County), Grace Mbugua (Danville Christian), Caroline Eaglin (Newport Central Catholic), LaReesha Cawthorn (Franklin-Simpson), Tessa Miles (Bethlehem), Lainey Johnson (Anderson County), Aubrey Randolph (Owensboro Catholic), Morgan Frey (Sacred Heart), Jailenn Green (George Rogers Clark), Kyra McAlarnis (Knott County Central), *Leah Macy (Bethlehem), Kenleigh Woods (Ashland Blazer, injured, will not play). Head coach – Donna Moir (Sacred Heart).
Kentucky Boys – Mr. Basketball Malachi Moreno (Great Crossing), Maddox Huff (Harlan County), Jordan Mabe (South Laurel), Ty Price (Butler County), Jonah Butler (Calloway County), Armelo Boone (Woodford County), Vince Dawson (Great Crossing), Austin Sperry (Breathitt County), Andy Johnson (Cooper), Jaden Stewart (Pike County Central), Aaron Gutman (Walton-Verona), Julian Miles (South Oldham, injured, will not play). Head coach – D.G. Sherrill (Bowling Green).
Contact Dan Weber at dweber3440@aol.com. Follow him on X (formerly Twitter) @dweber3440.