[J. R. VanHoose]

By the way I think that Inez has a total of TWO state championships. I think that that may top anything that any of our teams in Johnson County and the entire mountain region as well have done. Would you not say that that gives the folks at Sheldon Clark a little reason to puff their chests out a little as well when it comes to tradition.(Heck throw some of the great Hazard teams of years gone by in this equation. Perhaps, nobody can even come close to their tradition.) I think that Russell Williamson might have the edge on coach Runyon as far as legendary status and with bragging rights that go with it as far as his and their accomplishments because of his longivity and his TWO state titles . The difference being is that there is not a person that posts on this board that can remember the first game that they ever played or he coached, so obviously they are going to be slighted and not recieve the respect of what they accomplished during their times of dominance. You'll probably never see the first person from that era toot their own horns, so in a way they have been and will completely forgotten by us all. Those series of teams certainly never had the media exposure that the teams of this era to exalt them. And not to take anything away from anybody in this day and time, but I would just have to imagine how tough it would have been back in those days to win a regional championship, let alone a state title.

I will have to agree with you on this one. Inez had some pretty tough teams and probably does have a tradition that is equal to, or better, than Paintsville, with having two state championships, and four other trips to the Final Four but they have been consolidated and Sheldon Clark has not come close to matching the success of the old Inez teams. I agree with you that they are probably forgotten, because their accomplishments have been so long ago, as I am sure the accomplishments at Paintsville will largely be overlooked in the next 50 years. I just have a fierce loyalty to Paintsville, and I believe, in all of my heart, that we do have the best tradition around the region, and in Eastern Kentucky.