[rojas]

I wonder who Hicks' first win was against (1978-79 season, I think). I looked up Mike Jones' record when he won his 600th earlier this year (19th coach in Kentucky history I think) and his first season (at Cawood) was against Billy Hicks and Harlan on Dec. 3, 1983.
To address an earlier point by Rojas, Billy asked me once about a game he won at Evarts against Keokee, Va., but the record book was not available and the Enterprise did not cover it (before my time there), so there was no proof.

Billy's first win was against Jackson City. It was at a tournament in Williamsburg. Evarts ended up winning 10 games that year. It was probably the hardest 10 wins Billy ever got.

I remember well Mike Jones first win. It was against Harlan at Cawood. Cawood was a very heavy favorite. Harlan had only won 4 or 5 games the year before I believe. Former Harlan coach Doyle Troutman had made the comment that with the players Hicks had selected for his team, that he could only see maybe two wins. The game went down to the wire and Cawood did win. I remember Billy phoning me after the game. He was very excited in how well his team had played. I think Harlan won the rematch with Cawood at Harlan and Cawood also beat Harlan in a another game that went down to the wire in the 52nd district tournament that year.

I think you and Billy are both wrong about the Keokee thing. The discrepancy with your records was in the 82/83 season. EHS's record that year was 20-10. I remember it was a pretty big deal for Evarts to get 20 wins. I think you always listed them as 19-10 or 19-11. Evarts did not play Keokee. I think the discrepancy could be with the Bell Co/Evarts Game. Bell Co won on the floor but had to forfeit the game due to an ineligible player. I can remember most of the games from that year but not all. I remember EHS having some big wins against Cawood, Cumberland (twice) and regional champion Middlesboro.