Robbie Davis Memorial Classic was a good day

Four schools converged Saturday to play some hoops in honor of one of Clinton County’s best known athletes who left us too soon.

The Robbie Davis Memorial Classic saw Clinton County girls’ and boys’ varsity take on their Clay County Lady Bulldog and Bulldog counterparts from south of the border in Tennessee, while our neighbors to the east, Wayne County, took on our neighbors to the south, Pickett County.

Wayne County and Pickett County split their games, with the Wayne girls picking up a narrow 63-58 win, while the Pickett Bobcats earned a 49-41 victory over the Cardinals.

Clinton County dropped both of our games to the Clay County Lady Bulldogs and Bulldogs, with the girls going to the wire in a 46-44 loss, while the Clinton Bulldogs fell hard to one of the best teams in Tennessee, with a front-runner for Mr. Basketball (Class A), 76-39.

In the end, it was the Robbie Davis Memorial Foundation that won the most, getting some well deserved recognition and donations on the day.

The foundation, founded in 2016 in honor of Robbie, operates on the goal of helping area youth in athletics, education and life needs in general.

To date, the foundation has awarded over $35,000 in grants to benefit over 3,000 area youth.

Like I said – it was a good day.

A little good-natured turnabout

After sitting on the sidelines for a couple of years, former Bulldog head coach and later (and most recent) Lady Bulldog head basketball coach Darrell Thompson has moved a little closer to the action once again.

Thompson has assumed the duties as Official Scorer for the boys’ varsity basketball team when we play at home, with veteran scorer Kevan Young doing the scorer work for the Dawgs on the road.

As the head coach for the Bulldogs in three seasons during the early 2000s, and then the Lady Bulldogs for seven seasons in the teens, I was used to Thompson sitting to my immediate right, as I did the public address work at games.

Now that he’s at the official table, his position to my immediate left took a little getting used to, but we’ve learned that we can communicate with each other from our new vantage points as well.

The officials working the game, who for a combined stretch of a decade were used to seeing Thompson in the head coaching chair, are having a little harder time getting used to the change.

The new seat for Darrell brought about a little good-natured kidding last week during the Robbie Davis Memorial when official Larry Hurt suggested that Thompson might try putting on the striped uniform for a while if he was looking for a change.

Known for his intense “Thompson stare” directed at officials when things weren’t going to suit him, the former head coach just smiled at that comment and noted that his wife, Tonda, had just recently remarked at how much calmer and how much more he smiled since leaving the coaching ranks.

“Yeah, but you deserve this” official Chris McGuire said with a grin as he headed out to get the game underway.

A long-time Big Blue fan is gone

I received some sad news early Monday morning when the caller informed me that Clinton County native Jim York had passed away (see obituary, page X)

Jim was a huge sports fan, especially when it came to the University of Kentucky Wildcats and the Clinton County Bulldogs.

Stopping by the Clinton County News office multiple times each year, he would always bring U.K. football posters to my office that were distributed by sponsors who weren’t available in Albany and Clinton County (most recently Kroger and Central Bank).

Then for as much as a half hour sometimes, he and I would take up the front lobby area as we compared notes about Kentucky basketball and football, then on to Clinton County basketball and in the past few years, football as well.

Jim moved from Clinton County as a young man, served in the army and spent his adult life working in Louisville and raising his family.

Still, he remained a Clinton County Big Blue fan, and while he left here for better opportunities, he never abandoned his home – and he remained a dedicated Bulldog fan until his dying day.

He loved Clinton County, the Bulldogs and Lady Bulldogs, Trooper Island and his Kentucky Wildcats.

I’m going to miss my friend, Jim York, but I will always cherish our talks.