What’s all the racket about Covington Catholic’s unusual two-sport high school standout whose family has been dominating local tennis for years and passing down good athletic genes the better part of a century?
The commotion is about senior Brady Hussey, the three-time KHSAA regional tennis champion who is about to make some noise again on the basketball court.
“He’s a solid basketball player,” Colonels coach Scott Ruthsatz said. “He can shoot the ball. He’s a lockdown defender.”
Hussey was the No. 1 singles player on last season’s state championship-winning CovCath tennis team. He had his individual state championship bid derailed by a late-season basketball injury to his ankle that kept him from being fully heathy against Kentucky’s best tennis players. He lost in the state semifinals for the second year in a row.
“Brady earned all-state recognition in both basketball and tennis. I don’t remember any of our athletes in the past achieving that,” CovCath tennis coach Al Hertsenberg said. “I know we had little chance to win a state title without Brady.”
Hussey was also a Northern Kentucky Basketball Coaches Association Division I all-conference selection last season while often being the second scoring option on the Colonels. Now that former teammate Evan Ipsaro has taken his 25 points per game to the college level, Hussey stands to be a prime beneficiary of the redistribution of those points as he steps into a bigger scoring role.
“He’s going to be a big part of what we do,” coach Ruthsatz said.
Hussey, a 6-foot-1, 180-pound athlete from exceptionally good stock, is a good shooter, passer, defender and rebounder. That’s how he won over local coaches when they were thinking about last season’s best players in Northern Kentucky. It’s what can happen when a talent like Hussey comes along after following a long line of distinguished family athletes. A wellspring of confidence can ensue.
“A lot of confidence in me and my teammates,” Hussey said. “We want to win the region and state and I want to win region player of the year and Mr. Basketball. That’s the goals.”
He’s not the first one in his family to achieve athletic greatness and wish for more.
Hussey’s great grandfather, former Holmes standout Walt Molony, was a one-time University of Cincinnati and Xavier basketball and tennis player. He once played International Tennis Hall of Famer Bobby Riggs, who won Wimbledon championships and became the No. 1 ranked player in the world in 1939.
Hussey’s maternal grandparents, Maria and Kevin Molony, were Northern Kentucky University athletes. Hussey’s mother, Cincinnati Tennis Hall of Famer Kara (Molony) Hussey, was a top-ranked pro on tour in the Women’s Tennis Association after competing at Cincinnati, where she is the Bearcats’ all-time winningest player. She also starred at Notre Dame Academy, where she was a regional and state champion.
Hussey has two aunts, Lindsey and Molly, who also won regional and state championships at Notre Dame. The Molony sisters have been high school tennis coaches and head teaching professionals at clubs. Brady Hussey’s older brother, Austin, also won tennis championships, including regional and state crowns at CovCath. They all played in college.
Brady Hussey’s extended family has been part of a lot of basketball history and has combined to win 17 KHSAA regional tennis championships, 17 KHSAA regional team championships and 19 titles at the annual Thomas E. Price Cincinnati Metropolitan Tennis Tournaments.
Not only does Hussey have good bloodlines, but he also is a year stronger and a year wiser as he takes the stage for his final go-arounds as a prep basketball player and tennis player.
“This year, he’s our leader,” coach Ruthsatz said. “He’s not only the most experienced on the basketball court, he also has to be a vocal leader.”
Evan Ipsaro’s 25 points per game, certainly most of them, have to be redistributed somewhere. CovCath remains a talent-stocked team with plenty of players able to take a slice of the scoring pie. Hussey is poised to rack up a lot of those newly available points with a chance to greatly improve on last season’s average of 12.5 per game. He put up solid across-the-board shooting percentages last season, converting 45.7% from the field, 35.5% from 3-point range and 77.8% from the free throw line. At those rates and with more opportunities, Hussey has a clear path to a much higher scoring season.
If Hussey doesn’t score as many points as some might expect, those points surely will find their way into the hands of teammates as they take the ball from the point guard, who all the while will be taking potential points away from the opposition with his defense.
Hussey’s rise on the basketball court is bound to pose some intriguing questions.
Is he the 9th Region’s best all-around guard? Newport’s wildly talented sophomore Tay Kinney, Cooper’s internationally tested junior Yamil Rondon and Highlands senior Nathan Vinson will have something to say about that.
If Hussey keeps shooting well and continues to defend and rebound while upping his scoring average closer to 20 points per game, and CovCath wins the 9th Region or finishes a strong runner-up, who is looking like a strong regional player of the year candidate?
Hussey.
That’s why the senior’s self-proclaimed goals are legitimate aspirations. Moreover, this is his final season of organized basketball. It’s his hope to make a college commitment to play NCAA Division I tennis very soon. Among colleges courting his services are Alabama, Auburn, Florida, Mississippi, South Carolina, Illinois, Michigan State and Dayton.
“When I was a sophomore, I was all about basketball,” Hussey said. “When I decided I wanted to play tennis in college, I had to reach back out to schools to let them know. I’d like to decide before the basketball season starts.”
With college tennis in his future, it looks like Hussey is CovCath’s basketball-playing tennis player. Or, is he really CovCath’s tennis-playing basketball player?
“Tricky question,” basketball coach Ruthsatz said. “He’s a naturally gifted tennis player who can play Division I college tennis. In Division I basketball, it’s a much tougher situation. A lot of recruiting happens through AAU, but Brady takes that time to work on his tennis game. In Division II basketball, he could be a 1,000-point scorer and win a lot of games.”
Tennis coach Hertsenberg marvels at the mere asking of the question. It’s thought that 1986 Highlands graduate Scott Draud is the only other example of another Northern Kentucky basketball and tennis player who won regional titles in both sports in one season. Hussey did it as a sophomore.
“I have known Brady almost his whole life,” Hertsenberg said. “I have memories of him and his younger brother, Blake, coming to his older brother Austin’s high school tennis matches while sporting CovCath face paint. I’ve watched Brady grow up and be successful in both basketball and tennis.”
What about Hussey? What does he think? Is he a basketball player who also plays tennis. Or is he a tennis player who also plays basketball?
“I’m a basketball player during basketball season and a tennis player during the tennis season,” he said. “I think both sports are really fun.”