The October Northern Kentucky Sports Hall of Fame inductions Wednesday were equal parts Erlanger Day and a pep rally in Park Hills for the Lloyd Memorial Juggernauts who dominated with five of the six new Hall of Famers.
The lone exception was Newport High’s Sherill “Ace” Morgan. Billing himself as “the oldest recipient” ever without actually revealing his age, Morgan entertained the crowd with talk of his three years as a coach at Newport after four years as a Wilmington College football player where he was MVP, captain and all-conference, the same honors he earned at Newport in football as a player.
“I’m 78 years old,” former coach Charlie Coleman, now an author of books on Northern Kentucky sports, said of playing for him in 1966, “and Sherill Morgan is still my coach.”
But on hearing that his brother had been named to the Hall of Fame, Dan Morgan said: “They must not have looked at his Newport High record.” To which Sherill responded: “I coached there three years and I can report we won a game every year.” Which got him fired and looking for a job to support his young family and after a start selling those legendary Fuller Brushes door-to-door, he founded an insurance agency 56 years ago that is thriving to this day built on what he learned in sports.
Sherill’s sports’ takeaway: “You can get knocked down but you always must get up.”
Next up was Mika Lockard, one of four members from Lloyd’s 1976 unbeaten state football champs who played five years of varsity football for the Juggs, noting how he had NFL aspirations before a knee injury the season after the state championship cut short his career.
“I was surprised when I got the letter,” Mika said, although his teammates weren’t. “He could do anything,” they said of his two-way backfield talents.
“My Lord Jesus Christ pulled me through,” Mika said of handling his career-ending injury, “and my offensive linemen.”
“It was fun,” Mika said as he often danced away from the mike and had the crowd calling for him to speak to it so they could hear every word, “we had a blast.”
David Smith was co-captain of that state champion team and earned so many first-team all-state honors as the state’s second-leading scorer with 26 touchdowns there’s not enough space to list them here. And later he was an outstanding arm-wrestler – No. 1 in Ohio, No. 2 in Kentucky.
“I’m not a very good talker,” Dave said as he thanked four of his Lloyd teammates and two of his coaches for being there. “Before we were good teammates, we were buddies,” he said, “and we still are buddies.” And even though his mom didn’t want him to play football, she was always there for him, even laundering his practice gear between the three-a-day sessions so he always had fresh stuff to wear.
But Dave’s playing days didn’t end his sports career. He coached Knothole Baseball for eight years and 40 more of high school and middle school football. “I just want to say thank you and see you later,” Dave said in conclusion.
Matthew Kordenbrock described himself as “just a big dumb lineman,” and then put a twist on the old saying by adding: “You can’t be a good lineman without good backs.” Or without a Hall of Fame buddy on the line pushing you the way Tim Wheeler did after transferring from Ludlow a year after helping the Panthers to a state title. “I didn’t like this guy from his days at Ludlow and then we became best of friends,” Kordenbrock said.
Although there was a time in the big game of the season against Newport Central Catholic “when I slumped into the huddle,” Kordenbrock admitted, “and he hit me so hard I was looking out of the earhole of my helmet.” As they scuffled, the NewCath coaches wanted a penalty called but the referee said he couldn’t throw a flag for guys fighting their own teammates. As it happened, that worked for Lloyd. As one NewCath player told him, they thought the Lloyd guys were crazy. “You were fighting each other,” he said.
First-team all-stater Kordenbrock continued his football career on a full scholarship at Murray State.
Mark “Moe” Molitor was in the Class of 1977 at Lloyd, a four-year football player, three years in basketball and two years in baseball before going on to a four-year college career as a Morehead State baseball player.
In football, Mark was a first-team All-Region, All-District, All-Conference and All-State quarterback while named All-Region in baseball. Mark kidded that his “kids had to work today so they couldn’t be here . . . but they’ll be off to Keeneland Friday.”
Mark’s career extended after college when he coached three years of freshman football and a year as the girls’ eighth-grade head basketball coach. But maybe his top honor had him named Northern Kentucky Player of the Year earning the Marty Kehoe Award named for the legendary Enquirer Northern Kentucky sports columnist.
“There are lots of emotions,” Mark said. “I love seeing you all. Thanks a lot.”
Seven-year Lloyd swimmer Laurabeth Messmer Smith had the best self-intro of the day: “I was not a member of that 1976 football state champion team,” Smith said as she stepped to the mike, “but I was at every game . . . that’s what you did growing up in Erlanger.
“Sports is what held everybody together and it’s lasted my whole life.”
Indeed, it would take a couple of lifetimes to accomplish what Smith has done in hers: 12 years as a Northern Kentucky Swim Leaguer, 10 years as an AAU swimmer, those seven years at Lloyd. Then there were those 18 varsity letters in track and field, cross-country and swimming at Lloyd, earning her a track scholarship at the University of Louisville, where she ran the 400 and 800 and threw the javelin and discus.
Laurabeth was an All-American in 1979 and All-Region in 1979 and 1980 before going on to more than a decade of softball play that had her leading her team to the Class “B” Worlds Championships in Modesto, Calif.
Contact Dan Weber at dweber3440@aol.com. Follow him on X @dweber3440.