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Trigg County Athletic Hall of Fame: 1962-63 Wildcat basketball team

The first team to be inducted into the Trigg County High School Athletic Hall of Fame was the 1962-63 Trigg County basketball team.

The 1962-63 Wildcats accomplished many firsts worthy of induction into the Trigg County athletic Hall of Fame.

The team was the first to play their home games in Wildcat Gym, which was built following the school fire of 1960 that destroyed the high school and gym.  In the two seasons that followed, Trigg County was a respectable 25-25 while playing all of their games on the road.

The 1962-63 team was also the first integrated basketball team at Trigg County.  The Wildcats were coached by Duke Burnett and assisted by Tommy Cunningham.  Trigg was coming off a 13-12 season and lost three of their top five scorers from the previous season.

The Wildcats opened with nine straight home games, winning them all. Trigg ran out to a 14-0 record, which still stands as the best start to a season in school history.

Trigg’s first loss came to Calloway County 41-40.  Their only other regular season loss came to Clarksville, Tennessee 48-46.

The Wildcats nearly saw their season come to an end in the first round of the 7^th District Tournament on their home floor.  Buddy Sivills hit a late shot to send their game with Hopkinsville Attucks to overtime.  Billy Joe Armstrong hit two free throws with six seconds left to give Trigg County a 59-58 win in double-overtime.

The Wildcats went on to beat Dawson Springs and Christian County to claim the school’s first district title since 1947.

Sivills was named the MVP of the district tournament and was joined on the all-tournament team by Armstrong.  However, a key component of the Wildcats that season was 6-1 senior James Boyd, who was known for his defensive prowess.

In the district tournament, Boyd held Attucks’ leading scorer, Lynn Shaw, to just seven points.  Against Dawson Springs in the semifinals, Boyd limited Winky Menser to just five points.

In the district title game, Trigg County beat Christian County for the first time 55-53, with Boyd helping hold Tommy Porter to just nine points.  Porter went on to play basketball at University of Kentucky.

Because their gym was the new jewel of the Second Region, Trigg County played host to the Second Region Tournament for the first time.  In the opener, the Wildcats hammered Livingston Central 74-48 for the school’s first region tourney win.

Their season came to an end in the semifinals with a 52-33 loss to eventual region champion Princeton Dotson.

The 62-63 Wildcats finished the season with a record 23-3, including a 20-3 record on their home floor.  The .884 winning percentage is still a school record as is the 14-game winning streak and the 20 home floor wins.

Senior guard Billy Joe Armstrong led the Wildcats in scoring at 15.7 points a game, followed by 6-6 junior John Graham who scored 12.9 points.

Senior Carl Ray Francis averaged 11.3 points a game, and sophomore Buddy Sivills scored 11.1 points and grabbed 11.2 rebounds a game.  James Boyd, the defensive stopper, averaged 7.6 points a game.

Other members of the team were William Banister, Sam Kirby, Randy Allen, Dale Henderson, Kenny Rogers, David Banister, Henry Gude, William Bridges, and Jerry Burnam.

Team managers were C. Ray Hall, who also contributed many of the game reports to The Cadiz Record, Richard Nesbitt, and Charles Ray Cunningham.

 

Head coach Duke Burnett induction speech

James Boyd induction speech

Buddy Sivills induction speech

Carl Ray Francis induction speech

Award acceptance by Jim Wallace on behalf of the late John Graham

Randy Allen induction speech

Wiliam Bridges induction speech

Jerry Burnam induction speech

Charles Ray Cunningham induction speech

David Banister induction speech

C. Ray Hall induction speech

Dale Henderson induction speech

John Ladd induction speech

Kenny Rogers induction speech

William Banister induction speech

 

Trigg County Athletic Hall of Fame: Buddy Perry

Allen "Buddy" Perry was inducted into the Trigg County High School Athletic Hall of Fame Saturday night.

Buddy Perry was a long-time coach and athletic director at Trigg County High for over two decades.

Perry came to Trigg County from Dyersburg, Tennessee and was an assistant football coach on Trigg County’s back-to-back Class 1A state championship teams in 1971 and 1972, helping coach the offensive and defensive lines.

Perry is credited with helping coach and mentor All-State lineman David Sadler, who later went on to play football for Paul “Bear” Bryant at the University of Alabama.

He also coached the Trigg County baseball team.

Perry served as head wrestling coach for two seasons and was an assistant track and field coach in the mid-1970s, helping fill coaching voids where the school needed him.

Perry was the Trigg County High School golf coach from 1979-93 and had several state qualifiers, including girls’ region champion Jaime Towler.

Coach Perry also served two terms as athletic director from 1984-89 and from 1991-94. He did this while teaching a full schedule during the day and working out of an office in the back of his classroom no bigger than a closet.  He said during his time as AD he pushed for grade checks of the student-athletes.

“Academics were just as important as athletics to me,” he said.

Following his retirement, Coach Perry stayed involved in Trigg County athletics by running the clock for Trigg County basketball games for over a decade.

“I hope somewhere I helped some of these young kids become better citizens and influenced them in the right way.  Winning is important, but character is more important,” Perry said.

Buddy Perry induction speech

 

Trigg County Athletic Hall of Fame: Ladonna Diggs

Ladonna Diggs was inducted into the Trigg County High School Athetic Hall of Fame Saturday night.

She is a 1975 Trigg County High School graduate and was a key member of Trigg County’s first two state champion track teams.

Diggs was a member of the 440-yard relay team that won three straight Class 1A state titles in 1972-74.

She was also a member of the 880-yard relay teams that won state titles in 1972 and 1974.

A five-time champion, Diggs helped Trigg County win Class 1A state track and field championships in 1972 and 1974 and a runner-up finish in 1973.

In addition to running on the track team, Diggs was also a cheerleader for TCHS.

After school, Diggs remained involved in Trigg County sports and is a fixture at many Trigg County sporting events where she can still cartwheel like she did in high school.

Ladonna also is very active in her church and community activities.

Ladonna Diggs induction speech

 

Marty Jaggers named Trigg County AD

Trigg County High School has named Marty Jaggers as their new athletic director.  He is expected to begin his duties next Monday.

Jaggers is the son of former Trigg County and Kentucky Hall of Fame football coach Joe Jaggers.  He passed for 3,342 yards and 28 touchdowns at Trigg County from 1973-76.  He set nearly every passing record at Trigg County until Curtis Higgins and the spread offense arrived in 1999.

Jaggers was 36-14 in four years as head coach at Mercer County, including a state title in 2006.  He also won 49 games in six seasons at Lincoln County in the early 1990s and served as an assistant coach at Danville.

The WKDZ News Edge spoke to Jaggers today to get his reaction.

Jaggers will be the fourth athletic director at the high school in the past 14 months following the resignations of Jim Perrin, Dennis Walls, and Kenneth Oakley.

 

2012 Trigg County Athletic Hall of Fame: Ginger Wallace

Ginger Wallace began running cross country at Trigg County as a fourth grader.

As an eighth grader, she finished fourth at the regional cross country meet and helped the team to their first team title in 1981.

Wallace finished in the top ten at the state cross country meet as a sophomore and was a member of Trigg County’s state champion track teams in 1982 and 1983.

On the basketball court, Ginger was the third leading scorer as a freshman.  She led the team in scoring her sophomore and senior season.  In 1986, her 21.5 points a game set a new school record as did her 539 points.

She still holds the school record for assists in a game (15), assists in a season (167), and single season free throw percentage (79%).

For her career, Wallace scored 1,498 points while shooting 53-percent from the field.  Her 125 games played is the second most in TCHS history.

Following her senior season, she was named to the Associated Press All-State team and the Evansville Courier All Western Kentucky team.

She is also the only Trigg County basketball player – boys or girls – to make the Kentucky All-Star basketball team.

She played college basketball for the Air Force Academy where she was a starting guard.

Induction speech of Ginger Wallace

 

2012 Trigg County Athletic Hall of Fame: Buddy Sivills

Buddy Sivills was one of the premier basketball players for Trigg County in the 1960s.

Sivills averaged double-figures in points in his final three years in high school, including a team best 19.3 points a game in 1965 in helping lead the Wildcats to a district title and region semifinal appearance.

He also averaged 14.5 rebounds a game his senior season and was named the Scholastic Magazine All-America squad.

His single-game effort of 37 points remained a school record until 1980.

Sivills finished his career as the school’s second all-time leading scorer with 1,262 points.  He was named to several all-district teams and the 1965 all-region team.

After high school, Sivills played basketball at Carson-Newman College in Tennessee.  After graduating from college in 1969, Sivills tried out for the Dallas Chapperals of the American Basketball Association.

He returned to Trigg County and became an assistant basketball coach under Jim Wallace on the 1969-70 squad that won the school’s first-ever region title and advanced to the Sweet 16 semifinals.

Sivills served several more seasons as an assistant coach and coached the Lady Wildcat basketball program for five seasons.

Buddy Sivills' induction speech

 

2012 Trigg County Athletic Hall of Fame: Gary Siegmund

Gary Siegmund served in many roles during his years at Trigg County and still serves as public address announcer for the Wildcat home football games.

“Coach Sieg” helped coach several of Trigg County’s state champion track and field team and served as an assistant basketball coach for the boys’ and girls’ teams for 14 years.

He served two different terms as Wildcat baseball coach.  He guided the Wildcats to the school’s first district baseball title in 19 years in 1979, serving as head coach from 1978-82.  He later returned as head coach in 1987 for a couple of seasons.

Coach Sieg also served as girls’ softball coach in 1989-90 and served as track and field coach.

He also was a long-time football trainer and assistant coach for the football team.  It was during this time that he tutored many student-managers in the art of taping ankles, fingers, and wrists. 

Coach Sieg also served as an athletic trainer for the Murray State football team in the 1980s.

Through his roles as teacher, trainer, and coach, Coach Sieg remains one of the most popular icons in Trigg County High School athletic history.

Coach Sieg's induction speech

 

2012 Trigg County Athletic Hall of Fame: David Radford

David Radford is considered by many to be the best athlete to play sports at Trigg County High School.

Radford played several positions on the football field, including quarterback his senior season in 1967 when the Wildcats won their first district title and advanced to the playoffs for the first time in school history.  Radford made his name known on defense where he set a school record with 12 solo tackles and 21 total tackles in a game with Russellville.

For his efforts, Radford was named to the All Western Kentucky Conference Team that combined Classes 1A and 2A.

Radford was also a three-year starter on the Wildcat basketball teams and became only the second player to average over 20 points a game when he averaged 21.3 his senior season in 1968.  Radford was an all-district and all-region performer and finished his basketball career with 1,228 points, which was third highest in school history when he graduated.  His career scoring average of 18.05 points also ranks third best in school history.

Radford played college football at Jacksonville State College in Alabama where he was a three-year letter winner for the Gamecocks, playing primarily on defense.

Accepting the award for the late David Radford were his sons Lamar and Stevie Radford and brother Eddie Radford.

Lamar, Stevie, and Eddie Radford speaking about David

 

2012 Trigg County Athletic Hall of Fame: Joe Jaggers

Joe Jaggers coached Trigg County football from 1971-76, amassing a record of 46 wins and 25 losses.  His .648 winning percentage remains the second-highest in TCHS history.

Jaggers skippered the Wildcats to a 13-1 record in 1971 and the school’s first state football championship with a win over Class 1A power Lynch in the title game.

The Wildcats followed that up in 1972 with another 13-1 record and a dominating win over Pikeville in the state championship game.

The 1972 Wildcats averaged a school-record 34.2 points a game – a mark that stood for 28 years.  The defense also allowed just 6.6 points a game, bettered only by the Wildcat teams of 1940 and 1984.

After leaving Trigg County in 1976, Jaggers went on to win state football titles at Fort Knox and retired as the state’s all time winningest coach with 292 victories.

Coach Jaggers was not able to attend the induction banquet.  His award was accepted by his son and former Trigg County quarterback Marty Jaggers.

Marty Jaggers speaks about his father Coach Joe Jaggers

 

2012 Trigg County Athletic Hall of Fame: Sam Love

Sam Love was a state record track and cross country runner who still holds school and state records some 30 years later.

Love was the three-time winner of the 800 and 1500-meter runs at the Kentucky State Track and Field Meet, running school record times of 1:45.7 in the 800 meters and 3:58.9 in the 1500 meters his senior season.  His 800-meter time remains a Class 1A state meet record today.

“Fox” also ran anchor on the 1,600-meter relay team that won back-to-back state titles with the latter squad running a time of 3:21.40 in 1982 that also remains a Class 1A state record today.

After finishing second at the state cross country meet as a sophomore, Love won consecutive state titles the next two years, winning in his senior season in a meet record time of 16:16.

Love also played basketball and was named the inaugural winner of the Millard Griffin Sixth Man Award as a senior when he came off the bench to average nine points and 5.5 rebounds a game.

Love signed to run at the University of Kentucky, choosing the Wildcats over Western Kentucky and Kansas.

“Fox” was named Kentucky’s inaugural Associated Press Male Athlete of the Year following his senior year in 1982, beating out basketball players Jeff Hall and Todd May and Rowan County’s Joe Magrane, who pitched for the St. Louis Cardinals.

Mike Wright introduces Sam Love

 

2012 Trigg County Athletic Hall of Fame: Selby Grubbs

Selby Grubbs was the leading rusher and scorer for Trigg County’s state champion football teams in 1971 and 1972.  Grubbs also threw the shot put and discus for the Wildcat track teams.

Selby was a starter for the Wildcat football team as a sophomore but flourished under the offense of first-year head coach Joe Jaggers in 1971.  Grubbs rushed for a school-record 1,714 yards as the Wildcats surprised many by defeating Lynch for the school’s first state title.

In 1972, Grubbs followed that up by rushing for 2,242 yards which still stands as the single season school rushing record.  He rushed for 30 touchdowns and ran for 175 yards in Trigg County’s shutout win over Pikeville in the 1972 state title game.

His senior season totals of 30 rushing touchdowns, 212 points, and 16 two-point conversion runs remain school records as do his 58 career touchdowns and 376 career points.

Grubbs signed to play football at Western Kentucky University.  He still lives in Cadiz and has served on the Trigg County Board of Education.

Selby was unable to attend the banquet due to hip replacement surgery last week.  His son Rodney accepted his award on his behalf.

Rodney Grubbs talking about his father Selby Grubbs

 

2012 Trigg County High School Athletic Hall of Fame: David Butts

David Butts 

was a three-sport star for the Wildcats from 1977-82.

He was the starting quarterback for the Wildcats in 1980 and 1981 and was a guard for the basketball Wildcats.

Butts was a member of the Wildcat baseball team as an eighth-grader and led the team with a .430 batting average as a junior.  Butts hit .500 as a senior, again leading the Wildcats in that category.

Butts played college baseball at Murray State where he led the Thoroughbreds in hits for three seasons, runs scored two seasons, and stolen bases his senior season.  His 28 career home runs still ranks seventh on the Murray State career list.  Butts was a two-time All-Ohio Valley Conference selection while at Murray State.

Butts was selected in the 20^th round of the Major League Baseball draft by the Atlanta Braves.  He played four seasons in the minor leagues, advancing as high as Class AA baseball at Greenville.  He was a career .262 hitter with 18 home runs during his minor league travels.  He was also named a Carolina League All-Star.

David Butts' HOF induction speech

 

2012 Trigg County Athletic Hall of Fame: Duke Burnett

Duke Burnett was the Trigg County High School basketball coach from 1959-67.  His record in eight seasons as Wildcat skipper was 133-77.  His wins are the third most in school history and his .633 winning percentage ranks as second-highest.

Six of Burnett’s eight teams had winning records.  However, his biggest challenge came in his second season as head coach when the school and gymnasium burned to the ground in the summer of 1960.  Practicing in a warehouse and playing all of their games on the road in Hopkinsville and Christian County for two seasons, the Wildcats were a combined 25-25. 

Burnett’s 1962-63 team christened the new Wildcat Gym with 20 wins in 23 games in their new home.  The Wildcats set a school record with 23 wins and their first district title in 23 years.  Trigg County won the school’s first region tournament game over Livingston Central before losing to Princeton Dotson in the semifinals.

The Wildcats again won 23 games and a district title in 1965 before losing to Hopkinsville Attucks in the region semifinals.

Burnett won his third and final district title for Trigg County in his final season in 1967.

However, one of Burnett's greatest feats came in the mid-1960s when he was the coach of the Wildcats when the school underwent intergration -- something that went smoothly at Trigg County unlike other places.

HOF induction speech of Duke Burnett

 

2012 Trigg County Athletic Hall of Fame: Chappel Allen

Chappel Allen was a starting forward/center on the Trigg County basketball teams of the early 1950s.  As a senior in 1953-54, Allen averaged 13.5 points a game for the Wildcats.  While that average was second on the team behind Glen Simpson (15.8), it was the fourth-highest season scoring average in the first 17 seasons of Trigg County High School basketball.

Allen was also a starting offensive and defensive lineman for the Wildcat football team.

After high school, Allen settled in Cadiz and founded Kentucky Machine and Engineering.  Through his business and personal contributions, Allen has been one of the biggest supporters of Trigg County athletics through the years. 

Allen and KME have helped sponsor football bowl games and basketball tournaments.  He has also made other contributions that have helped improve athletic facilities.  Retired TCHS athletic director Jim Perrin called Allen one of the largest community supporters he has worked with in his many years of athletic work.

Chappel Allen's HOF induction speech