With the recent naming of Western Kentucky University’s All-Century basketball team, I couldn’t help but notice more than half of them were home-grown Kentuckians.
Of the 15 players and one coach, nine were from nearby towns ... not large cities. In fact, two of them – Darel Carrier and Johnny Britt – hailed from the outskirts of Bowling Green. Two more, Carlisle Towery and Dwight Smith, were from Caldwell County. Clem Haskins was from Campbellsville, Jim McDaniels from Scottsville, John Oldham from Hartford and another, Bobby Rascoe, from the big city of Owensboro. Ed Diddle, the coach, grew up in Gradyville, right next to what is today the Hal Rogers Parkway in Adair County.
A closer look reveals that Rascoe, a senior, and Carrier, a sophomore, played one year together in 1962 under Coach Diddle, and Haskins and Smith played their three-year varsity careers at Western together from 1965-67. Over a five-year span from 1964 through 1969, after 100 years of basketball on the Hill, five players were honored with All-Century accolades.
Kentucky has long been known as a “basketball state.” College coaches from throughout the nation traveled our backroads in search of basketball players.
For more than 100 years, Western coaches have been able to blend the “home grown” with super talent from other states to keep basketball on the map nationally.
Reflecting on the All-Century team, no one would have been upset if Diddle’s assistant coach of 26 years, Ted Hornback, had been part of the ceremonial recognition. By the way, he was from Sonora, in Hardin County.
