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.
Hope you enjoy as summer time rolls on!
The 45th of the 50 sports icons is the Maile family. Three of the NKY family members made it into the pro ranks.
THE MAILE FAMILY
The Maile family’s legacy in Northern Kentucky athletics begins with Dick Maile, a 1961 Covington Catholic graduate who averaged 19.5 points per game as a senior. At LSU, the 6-foot-5 forward led the Tigers in scoring and rebounding all three varsity seasons (1962–65), finishing with 1,284 points (17.4 ppg) and 722 rebounds (10.4 rpg). He earned two First Team All-SEC selections, was named to the Look Magazine All-America team in 1965, and tied for 66th nationally in scoring in 1964. Maile was drafted by the Cincinnati Royals in the 11th round of the 1965 NBA Draft and is a member of the Louisiana Basketball Hall of Fame, the Northern Kentucky Sports Hall of Fame, and the CovCath Hall of Fame. He later coached basketball at CovCath, Notre Dame Academy, and Beechwood.
His grandson, Luke Maile, also a CovCath alum, was Kentucky’s Gatorade Player of the Year in baseball (2009), a three-time Northern Kentucky Player of the Year, and a 1,000-point scorer in basketball. At Kentucky, he was an All-SEC Second Team catcher and a semifinalist for both the Dick Howser Trophy and Golden Spikes Award in 2012. Drafted by Tampa Bay in 2012, he has appeared in more than 300 MLB games with six franchises.
Another grandson, Michael Mayer, was 2019 Kentucky Mr. Football for state champion Covington Catholic, a five-star recruit, and an All-American tight end at Notre Dame. Mayer won state titles in football and basketball and was one of the more dominant players on the gridiron in recent times. He left Notre Dame as the program’s all-time leader in receptions, yards, and touchdowns by a tight end before being drafted 35th overall by the Las Vegas Raiders in 2023.
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