Gate City football had own tradition
Mark Maynard The Independent
ASHLAND — A lot of times when writing something that only grazes the topic, it leads readers to call me.
Nothing better, in my estimation.
A recent column about the passing of two high school sports legends — Olive Hill’s Corky Howerton and Catlettsburg’s Phillip Caldwell — led to some conversation.
Marvin Meredith played against Howerton in high school and called him the “second-best player I ever played against and No. 1 was Ralph Beard.”
Meredith said in all the years he played, he never lost a jump ball tip except one time. “Guess who outjumped me?” he said. “Corky Howerton. I thought he was the most underrated player to ever play there.”
Meredith is one of the many great athletes who Catlettsburg produced through the years. The team had some great football teams starting in the 1930s when Tom Ewing and Charlie Snyder were playing. There was a five-year span when Catlettsburg played Ashland and the result was a pair of 13-13 ties in 1937 and 1938 and three consecutive 6-0 losses to the Tomcats from 1939-41. The state champion ’42 Tomcats clobbered the Wildcats 42-6.
Snyder was a legend in the Gate City as a player and later as a coach from 1948 to 1956. Snyder, who played at Marshall and is in the Herd’s Hall of Fame, had a record of 55-21-4 at Catlettsburg. He left for a two-year high school stint in Lexington and then became Marshall University’s head coach for nine seasons although he could never muster enough talent to win at his alma mater.
Sam Spears, who is 84 today, was a freshman when Ewing, who went to UK, and Snyder were playing at Calettsburg. He remembers going up against some rough and tough teammates and opponents.
“I was 13 my freshman year up against guys who were 18 or 19,” he said. “They pushed me around like I was a paper doll.”
Catlettsburg’s success in the late 1930s, including an 8-1-1 season in 1935, led to some upgraded schedules. It played either Louisville Manual or Louisville Male every year from 1938 to 1942 (losing all four games). They went up against Covington Holmes in 1941 and 1942.
“I think they might have overscheduled a little bit,” Spears said.
One of those 13-13 ties with Ashland came in the first year the Tomcats played in Putnam Stadium in ‘37. Ashland had one of its most peculiar records at 3-3-3 that season.
“Ewing and Snyder couldn’t beat the Tomcats when they were playing but they did when they came back to coach,” Spears said.
He was right.
Catlettsburg’s first victory over Ashland came in 1953, a 20-7 victory during a 10-0-1 season. The Wildcats would defeat Ashland one more time, in 1957, the year after Snyder left, by a score of 26-14. Coach Harold Baker led an 8-2-1 campaign that season.
The Wildcats had a 9-3 season in 1961 and were sound until the end of that decade when enrollment started to go against them. The last winning season was 5-4-2 in 1967 and that was followed by six consecutive difficult seasons of either one or two victories. At the end, the program was a shadow of what it had once been. The last season was in 1973 and Catlettsburg consolidated with Boyd County the following year.
But there were some glory days, that’s for sure.
“Catlettsburg had one of the best small football schools in the state,” Meredith said. “I’d put them on par with people like Evarts and some of those coal-mining schools, especially when Snyder was there.”
Meredith was a good enough receiver at Catlettsburg that he was selected to the All-Eastern team. Joe Southers of Ashland was also on the All-Eastern team but Tomcat J.D. Ison, who went to Baylor, was only second team All-Eastern.
“I always kidded J.D. about that,” Meredith said.
Catlettsburg had its share of great basketball teams, too. Pappy Holbrook was coach from 1946 to 1954. The Wildcats were 31-game winners in 1948.
Catlettsburg captured the regional title in 1941 with Clifton Dowell as head coach. Dick Damron, Fred Charles and Bill Spears were part of that Wildcat team that defeated Morehead 35-28 in the finals. Ashland, which had beaten Catlettsburg 52-23 in the district finals, was upset by Winchester 39-30 in the opening round of the regional tournament. Catlettsburg defeated Winchester 40-35 in the semifinals and then Morehead in the championship.
But football was always the sport that Catlettsburg fans loved the most.
“Growing up as a young kid, Catlettsburg football was what it was all about,” said Bill Tom Ross, a former Wildcat player who went on to be a successful high school coach. “One of the reason I decided to play when I was a freshman and didn’t weigh 100 pounds was because you were nothing in school if you didn’t play football. Catlettsburg football had a great tradition.”
Ross, who graduated in 1964, remembered playing with Caldwell when he was only a freshman. “He stepped right into the starting lineup,” Ross said. “He was one of best pure athletes in Catlettsburg history.”
Ross remembers the long walks to the stadium, from downtown Catlettsburg to where the field is today, where everybody would file out in twos and not a word was spoken.
“It’s one of my great memories. It gave you the chance to get in a good frame of mind,” he said. “There was a mystique about it.”
Ross’s father, Billy Joe, was the quarterback of the high school team back in the 1930s. There were a lot of legacies like that in Catlettsburg football.
Ross said game day in Catlettsburg was special when he was growing up as a young boy and even more special as a player. “There was a lot of tradition to the place, a lot of guys you wanted to be like,” he said.
It also produced some fantastic coaches like Meredith, Ross, Roger Zornes, Dale Craycraft, Carl Ward, Joe Rupert, Huston Elder, Jack Ison, Don Adkins and Don Eddy to name a few. Meredith calls it “the coaching cradle of Kentucky.”
There were some good athletes in baseball, too, like a hard-throwing left-hander named Phil Webb in the late 1960s. He’s better known these days as the father of Arizona Diamondback Brandon Webb.
Now that’s what you call a legacy.
Mark Maynard The Independent
ASHLAND — A lot of times when writing something that only grazes the topic, it leads readers to call me.
Nothing better, in my estimation.
A recent column about the passing of two high school sports legends — Olive Hill’s Corky Howerton and Catlettsburg’s Phillip Caldwell — led to some conversation.
Marvin Meredith played against Howerton in high school and called him the “second-best player I ever played against and No. 1 was Ralph Beard.”
Meredith said in all the years he played, he never lost a jump ball tip except one time. “Guess who outjumped me?” he said. “Corky Howerton. I thought he was the most underrated player to ever play there.”
Meredith is one of the many great athletes who Catlettsburg produced through the years. The team had some great football teams starting in the 1930s when Tom Ewing and Charlie Snyder were playing. There was a five-year span when Catlettsburg played Ashland and the result was a pair of 13-13 ties in 1937 and 1938 and three consecutive 6-0 losses to the Tomcats from 1939-41. The state champion ’42 Tomcats clobbered the Wildcats 42-6.
Snyder was a legend in the Gate City as a player and later as a coach from 1948 to 1956. Snyder, who played at Marshall and is in the Herd’s Hall of Fame, had a record of 55-21-4 at Catlettsburg. He left for a two-year high school stint in Lexington and then became Marshall University’s head coach for nine seasons although he could never muster enough talent to win at his alma mater.
Sam Spears, who is 84 today, was a freshman when Ewing, who went to UK, and Snyder were playing at Calettsburg. He remembers going up against some rough and tough teammates and opponents.
“I was 13 my freshman year up against guys who were 18 or 19,” he said. “They pushed me around like I was a paper doll.”
Catlettsburg’s success in the late 1930s, including an 8-1-1 season in 1935, led to some upgraded schedules. It played either Louisville Manual or Louisville Male every year from 1938 to 1942 (losing all four games). They went up against Covington Holmes in 1941 and 1942.
“I think they might have overscheduled a little bit,” Spears said.
One of those 13-13 ties with Ashland came in the first year the Tomcats played in Putnam Stadium in ‘37. Ashland had one of its most peculiar records at 3-3-3 that season.
“Ewing and Snyder couldn’t beat the Tomcats when they were playing but they did when they came back to coach,” Spears said.
He was right.
Catlettsburg’s first victory over Ashland came in 1953, a 20-7 victory during a 10-0-1 season. The Wildcats would defeat Ashland one more time, in 1957, the year after Snyder left, by a score of 26-14. Coach Harold Baker led an 8-2-1 campaign that season.
The Wildcats had a 9-3 season in 1961 and were sound until the end of that decade when enrollment started to go against them. The last winning season was 5-4-2 in 1967 and that was followed by six consecutive difficult seasons of either one or two victories. At the end, the program was a shadow of what it had once been. The last season was in 1973 and Catlettsburg consolidated with Boyd County the following year.
But there were some glory days, that’s for sure.
“Catlettsburg had one of the best small football schools in the state,” Meredith said. “I’d put them on par with people like Evarts and some of those coal-mining schools, especially when Snyder was there.”
Meredith was a good enough receiver at Catlettsburg that he was selected to the All-Eastern team. Joe Southers of Ashland was also on the All-Eastern team but Tomcat J.D. Ison, who went to Baylor, was only second team All-Eastern.
“I always kidded J.D. about that,” Meredith said.
Catlettsburg had its share of great basketball teams, too. Pappy Holbrook was coach from 1946 to 1954. The Wildcats were 31-game winners in 1948.
Catlettsburg captured the regional title in 1941 with Clifton Dowell as head coach. Dick Damron, Fred Charles and Bill Spears were part of that Wildcat team that defeated Morehead 35-28 in the finals. Ashland, which had beaten Catlettsburg 52-23 in the district finals, was upset by Winchester 39-30 in the opening round of the regional tournament. Catlettsburg defeated Winchester 40-35 in the semifinals and then Morehead in the championship.
But football was always the sport that Catlettsburg fans loved the most.
“Growing up as a young kid, Catlettsburg football was what it was all about,” said Bill Tom Ross, a former Wildcat player who went on to be a successful high school coach. “One of the reason I decided to play when I was a freshman and didn’t weigh 100 pounds was because you were nothing in school if you didn’t play football. Catlettsburg football had a great tradition.”
Ross, who graduated in 1964, remembered playing with Caldwell when he was only a freshman. “He stepped right into the starting lineup,” Ross said. “He was one of best pure athletes in Catlettsburg history.”
Ross remembers the long walks to the stadium, from downtown Catlettsburg to where the field is today, where everybody would file out in twos and not a word was spoken.
“It’s one of my great memories. It gave you the chance to get in a good frame of mind,” he said. “There was a mystique about it.”
Ross’s father, Billy Joe, was the quarterback of the high school team back in the 1930s. There were a lot of legacies like that in Catlettsburg football.
Ross said game day in Catlettsburg was special when he was growing up as a young boy and even more special as a player. “There was a lot of tradition to the place, a lot of guys you wanted to be like,” he said.
It also produced some fantastic coaches like Meredith, Ross, Roger Zornes, Dale Craycraft, Carl Ward, Joe Rupert, Huston Elder, Jack Ison, Don Adkins and Don Eddy to name a few. Meredith calls it “the coaching cradle of Kentucky.”
There were some good athletes in baseball, too, like a hard-throwing left-hander named Phil Webb in the late 1960s. He’s better known these days as the father of Arizona Diamondback Brandon Webb.
Now that’s what you call a legacy.
7 comments:
Great story but I could have gone without the mention of Brandon Webb.
Well you will have to talk to the ADI about...and funny...you drafted him...
Unreal that any story could be written about ctown and coaches without Mr. Tom Scott being mentioned.Coach of the year in state of Ky. in 72 or 73.State finals appereance and a good freind of mine.Booze and gambling might have dulled the senses over the years but he was very well respected in coaching circles.Dont mean to wax poetic but this one is personal.
GRC3
Also started program at a little HS known as Boyd County.Was a catlettsburg boy through and through
Gave me detention like 5 times. Legend.
There were many many more athletes from Catlettsburg High School who could have easily have been mentioned as well.
Caine Phillip Webb wasn't even an all state type player so the reason I said that was they some how managed to bring his name up just so they could throw Brandon Webb's mane in the story who has nothing to do with Catlettsburg whatsoever... it was despicable in my opinion.
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