Dan Weber writes a sports column for The River City News. Contact him at dweber3440@aol.com.
Nice job by the Northern Kentucky Sports Hall of Fame in hitting just the right notes in their focus Wednesday on what made the 50-year athletic program at Northern Kentucky (State College first, now University) program so special from its infancy on. In the interests of full disclosure, I was there up close for much of those beginning days as a former high school coach turned jack-of-all-duties athletic staffer in a department surviving on less than a shoestring.
The NKSHOF honored Dr. James Claypool with an annual award – the James Claypool Pioneer Award — named after him for his leadership and dedication to the athletic program he started. They also belatedly inducted Northern’s first female coach – Marilyn Scroggin-Moore – into the Northern Kentucky Sports Hall of Fame for her pioneering work in women’s athletics.
And they once again told stories – with five of his former players from those first Northern men’s basketball teams – about the one and only man who made the program happen for its marquee sport – the legendary Mote Hils.
“There was only one Mote Hils,” Claypool said of the university’s first athletic hire after his run of five straight Ninth region championships at Covington Catholic. “They broke the mold.” They did indeed. One indication of how Mote made things happen almost immediately was that in its first four games against Mote’s alma mater, Xavier, Northern won two of those games. As Claypool said correctly, and from a Xavier insider who knows, that was some of the impetus that made Xavier invest in making its program what it is today.
Two ways the focus was on Scroggin-Moore and Claypool on this day. Claypool said that one of his top selling points for starting athletics with Northern’s first president, Dr. Frank Steely, was convincing him that when they got women’s basketball and volleyball, Northern would offer scholarships for the women just as it did for the men. That was something unheard of nationally for the most part and nowhere else in Kentucky.
And so, out of Boone County High School, they hired Marilyn for the 1974-75 basketball season to also teach a full load of PE classes, coach basketball and volleyball, and serve as sponsor for the cheerleaders and Golden Girls.
Scroggin-Moore would finish with a 137-73 record in her seven seasons in basketball including a best-ever 28-2 in year two, 1975-76. “We were the first school in the Commonwealth to offer scholarships to women” which “certainly proved to our advantage, as we defeated schools like the University of Kentucky and the University of Louisville. In fact, our scholarships created shock-waves across the state, and it wasn’t soon after that the other big schools followed suit.”
In what “was a time of growth for women’s athletics,” Scroggin-Moore said “I probably would have coached for free. Coaching young women was – and is – my passion.”
But her greatest accomplishment, she said, was turning the program over to her former player, Nancy Winstel, who coached Northern to back-to-back NCAA titles in her 29 years, along with athletic director Jane Meier, both of whom were there Wednesday.
The Claypool Pioneer Award will be presented annually honoring the kinds of contributions the former NKU Dean of Students and Kentucky historian performed as the administrative head of athletics from 1970-78 where he not only oversaw the budget, personnel, and NCAA adherence but also chose the school colors (gold and white after his Centre College days) and picked the nickname Norse.
“The Dr. James Claypool Pioneer Award will be an annual award to an outstanding member of the athletic community,” NKSHOF President Joe Brennan said.
*** Off To Sun and Fun for TMU’s nationally-ranked teams: After beating the University of the Cumberlands to reach 10-1, the Saints’ No. 3 NAIA women are off to Honolulu this weekend to compete in the Hawai’i Hoop N’ Surf Classic opening bright and early against Nebraska’s Doane College at 2 p.m. ET (9 a.m. HT) Saturday.
The Saints’ No. 17 men’s wrestling team will be on the other coast this weekend in a pair of dual meets in West Palm Beach, Fla., opening Friday against St. Thomas and finishing up against host Keiser.
*** NKU men, women hoopsters Horizon-honored: Senior guard Lyndsey Duvall out of Mt. Washington capped off a two-game week with 29 points against Atlantic 10 team Saint Louis leading NKU to an 80-69 road win with 29 points and earning Nike Horizon League Woman’s Player of the Week honors.
For the NKU men, Marques Warrick earned Nike Horizon League Men’s Basketball Co-Player of the Week and Highlands product Sam Vinson earned Freshman of the Week honors for the third time after wins over Canisius and Alice Lloyd.
Warrick, a 6-foot-2 sophomore guard out of Lexington, averaged 21 points, 3.0 rebounds, 2.5 assists, and 2.5 steals in the 2-0 week highlighted by a career-high 30 points in 38 minutes against Canisius. The 6-5 guard Vinson scored 17 points in each of NKU’s games last week and is now scoring 10.6 points and grabbing 3.6 rebounds a game, both third-best on the team, with a team-best 3.7 assists and 2.2 steals. NKU (4-5) plays at Eastern Kentucky Saturday at 7 p.m.
*** NewCath’s Turner scoring more than half her team’s points: After scoring 111 points in the first three games, including 50 at Louisville Butler, Rylee Turner has kept up the pace, now averaging 34.7 points a game for a 4-2 NewCath team averaging 59.7 ppg. The 6-foot forward has scored 66 of her 67 field goals two-pointers.
*** More football honors here: CovCath grad Michael Mayer, a sophomore tight end at Notre Dame, was named second-team All-American by USA TODAY this week.
*** The Northern Kentucky Football Coaches Association named its all-region team. First Team: Offensive line: Evan Wibberley (Dixie Heights), Matt Mason (Ryle), Robert Sanders (Newport), Thomas Sayers (Bishop Brossart), Kaleb Kissee (Highlands), Peyton Dietz (Covington Catholic). Quarterback: Cameron Hergott (Beechwood). Running back: Jed Martin (Brossart), Braxten Newborn (Ludlow). Wide receiver: Devin Holbert (Dixie), Mitchell Berger (Beechwood), Cam Patterson (Scott). Tight end: Brach Rice (Dixie). Kicker: Nick Keller (Conner). Defensive line: Xavier Campbell (Beechwood), Trevor Wilson (Covington Catholic), Austin Alexander (Cooper), Joe Vormbrock (Simon Kenton). Linebacker: Gabe Savage (Ryle), Jackson Belk (Ryle), Colin Smith (Dixie), Mitchell Berger (Beechwood). Defensive back: Alijah Thompson (Conner), Adam Dunn (Highlands), Nathan Yowan (Ryle), Rob Sandfoss (Covington Catholic). Athlete: Charlie Noon (Highlands). Punter: Adam Holtz (Covington Catholic).
Second Team: Offensive line: Luke Slusher (Beechwood), Aidan Dietz (Holmes), Sam Epplen (Covington Catholic), Jake Puthoff (Simon Kenton), Tayshaun Marshall (Ryle), Aba Selm (Simon Kenton). Quarterback: Logan Landers (Dixie). Running back: Brendon Tye (Cooper), Avery Courtney (Beechwood). Wide receiver: Chase Williams (Simon Kenton), Jake Welch (Highlands), Jameson Smith (Ryle). Tight end: David Sullivan (CovCath). Kicker: Luke Iden (Scott). Defensive line: David Govan (Brossart), Eric Jimenez (Dayton), Zach Tallman (Ryle), Torin O’Shea (Beechwood). Linebackers: Kaleb Lukes (Brossart), Nick Tackett (Ludlow), Jack Lonaker (Cooper), David Sullivan (Covington Catholic). Defensive back: Brogan O’Brien (Ludlow), Brady Moore (Beechwood), Parker Mason (Beechwood), Miguel Garcia (Holmes). Athlete: Jacob Leicht (Brossart). Punter: Mason Meyer (Brossart).
Biggest question here is how did Beechwood tackle Luke Slusher end up on the second team?
*** The three Coaches Awards: Bob Schneider Coach of the Year Award: Brossart’s Paul Wiggins; Owen Hauck Award: Holmes Ben Nevels; Assistant Coach of the Year: CovCath’s Terry Brown.
–Dan Weber