Nice honor – with a very humbling experience

As many of your now know from last week’s report in the Lexington Herald-Leader, and now this week’s Clinton County News, I was honored last week to be the recipient of an award given by the Kentucky High School Athletic Directors Association.

The Dr. Rudy J. Ellis Distinguished Service Award came about because of a nomination from Clinton County High School Athletic Director Mike Beard in recognition of some of the volunteer work I’ve done with the local athletic teams through the years.

For that I am extremely grateful – both to Mike, as well as to the Athletic Directors Association for not only recognizing me this year, but for taking the time to recognize volunteers and the time we spend trying to make the programs better for the student-athletes.

The Ellis award has been given out by the Association since 1993, with three to four recipients each year.

Following the part of the ceremony where I received the Ellis Award, I was fortunate to witness the presentation of the “All-Resilient” team awards.

The brainchild of Voice of the Wildcats’ radio play by play man Tom Leach, the awards were being co-sponsored by the Kentucky National Guard, and included recognition for some 13 student athletes from across Kentucky who had overcome tremendous obstacles in their young athletic careers and had bounced back to continue competing.

I won’t go into details about all 13 of the Resilient recipients, but as an example:

Rob Hill plays tennis for Campbell County High School, and as a freshman, he was involved in a serious motorcycle accident while racing motocross that saw him hit a concrete wall at 70 miles per hour. He suffered partial loss of vision, but has now returned to the tennis team as well as the classroom.

Corey Mivelaz is a basketball player for the Academy for Individual Excellence who was born with congenital defects to both lower legs. His left leg was amputated a few weeks after birth. With a prosthetic leg, he has played basketball for his school since the fifth grade and is a standout three point shooter.

Kasi Watson plays basketball for Johnson Central High School. Born with one kidney, her recent surgeries have included a hysterectomy and removal of her gall bladder and appendix. She postponed one of those surgeries in order to play for her team. She led the squad in three-point percentage and free throw percentage.

Those are the stories of just three of the 13 honored last week, and as I mentioned, seeing these young athletes being recognized in front of a packed house of appreciative adults, was one of the most humbling experiences that I have ever been fortunate enough to witness.

If you are interested, you can learn more about Tom’s fantastic project with the “All =-Resilient” Team at his website: 2012tomleachky.com

Derby time

As has long been the tradition, it’s time for my annual picks of two horses that I would place $2 bets on for the upcoming Greatest Two Minutes in Sports – this Saturday’s Kentucky Derby.

With Pat Day now having been long since retired, I’m switching my jockey loyalties over to Calvin Borel, who will be up on Take Charge Indy in Saturday’s race. Best name in the field, at the time of this writing, will go to Daddy Nose Best.

Post time Saturday is 5:24 p.m. central.

TURNOVERS

by Alan B. Gibson