The history of sports in Northern Kentucky goes back a long way. A very long way. Decades. Centuries.
We know you’ve seen these lists before, but this is a different and unique way of presenting our “50 sports icons in Northern Kentucky” as we’ll provide you one per day over the next 50 days.
Hall of Fames are everywhere in NKY, the Northern Kentucky Sports Hall of Fame, High School Athletic Directors Hall of Fame, NKU, Thomas More and local high schools all have something to recognize their past.
We’ll preface this series by saying this, some of you may disagree with who should or shouldn’t be in the top 50 and that’s fine. Plenty are in the Hall of Very Good, but we feel these 50 are the one’s who stuck out to us.
Sports Editor Evan Dennison spoke and conferred with several local NKY sports history buffs to get their opinions and lists of their own and who should be “locks” for the 50 sports icons. We compiled each list and came up with the 50 of our own (maybe cheated a little by putting families in as one) to present over the next 50 days. It will start today and run through the end of July.
Hope you enjoy as summer time rolls on!
The first one of the 50 sports icons starts with Newport Central Catholic High School grad Dave Cowens, one of the most accomplished athletes in NKY sports history.
DAVE COWENS
After a strong high school career at Newport Central Catholic, Cowens ended up attending Florida State University to continue his basketball career. Mostly known for his relentless hustle and rebounding, Cowens was a late-blooming product who eventually grew to 6-foot-9. At FSU, he became the program’s all-time leading rebounder with 1,340 rebounds and averaged an astonishing 17.2 rebounds per game at FSU and is one of the top 10 scorers all-time for the program. After an illustrious four years at FSU, Cowens was drafted by the Boston Celtics in 1970.
He then went on to become an NBA Hall of Famer, playing for the Celtics from 1970-80 and the Milwaukee Bucks from 1982-83. He finished his career with a double-double average, 17.8 points and 13.6 rebounds per game. His list of accolades as a pro include 1971 Rookie of the Year, MVP in 1973, eight-time All-Star and two-time NBA champion to name a few. Cowens was also a Florida State Athletics Hall of Fame member and had his number retired at both FSU and with the Celtics. He was selected as a member of the NBA’s 50th Anniversary All-Time team and 75th Anniversary team. He made the Naismith Hall of Fame in 1991.
He would also go on to become a head coach in both the NBA and the WNBA. NewCath named the basketball court after him at the high school, the floor taking on the parquet style like the Boston Celtics have at the Boston Garden.
See the 50 sports icons on a day-to-day basis over the next 50 days
— Day 1: Dave Cowens
— Day 2: Shaun Alexander
— Day 3: Homer Rice
— Day 4: Dicky Beal
— Day 5: Jared Lorenzen
— Day 6: Jim Bunning
— Day 7: Tom Ellis
— Day 8: Nate Dusing
— Day 9: Jim Connor
— Day 10: Steve Cauthen
— Day 11: Irv Goode
— Day 12: Stan Steidel
— Day 13: Kenney Shields
— Day 14: David Justice
— Day 15: Morgan Hentz
— Day 16: Eddie Arcaro
— Day 17: Nancy Winstel
— Day 18: Steve Flesch
— Day 19: Donna Murphy
— Day 20: Randy Marsh
— Day 21: Mike Yeagle
— Day 22: Derrick Barnes
— Day 23: Dale Mueller
— Day 24: Dave Faust
— Day 25: Kirsten Allen
— Day 26: The Oldendick family
— Day 27: Martin “Mote” Hils
— Day 28: Nell Fookes
— Day 29: Owen Hauck
— Day 30: Becky Ruehl
— Day 31: Tom Thacker
— Day 32: Sydney Moss
— Day 33: Bob Schneider
— Day 34: The Walz family
— Day 35: John Toebben
— Day 36: Pat Scott
— Day 37: Bob Arnzen
— Day 38: Joan Mazzaro
— Day 39: Frank Jacobs
— Day 40: Adrienne Hundemer
— Day 41: The Draud family
— Day 42: Bill Krumpelbeck
— Day 43: The Molony family
— Day 44: Allen Feldhaus
— Day 45: The Maile family
— Day 46: Maureen Egan Corl
— Day 47: Bill Aker
— Day 48: Maureen Kaiser
— Day 49: John Brannen
— Day 50: Mike Bankemper