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 14th of the 50 sports icons is David Justice, who didn’t even play baseball until he attended Thomas More.
DAVID JUSTICE
This story still blows my mind.
Known as a basketball player for Covington Latin in high school, Justice went to Thomas More University to continue his basketball career.
A few years later he was a fourth round pick for the Atlanta Braves, a sport he couldn’t even play at Covington Latin because they didn’t offer it. How Justice got to that point is nothing short of a fairy tale.
Heading to Thomas More as a 16-year-old high school graduate, Justice wanted a way out of basketball conditioning. Seeing the baseball team practice was a way he thought he could get out of it. He joined the baseball team, and a game against Xavier was when the under-the-radar prospect was recognized. Hep Cronin was a scout for the Braves and saw Justice hit a ball over 400-feet.
Justice played three seasons at Thomas More before being drafted by the Atlanta Braves in the fourth round to Atlanta in 1986, a Braves team that really struggled in the 1980’s. But when Justice and the core of young players were called up the Major Leagues in 1990, the Braves endured a dynasty for the next 14 seasons with playoff appearances every year and a World Series title in 1995 and five World Series appearances.
Justice’s MLB career included the NL Rookie of the Year in 1990, 305 home runs and 1,017 RBI to go with being a three-time All-Star, two-time World Series winner (1995 with Atlanta, 2000 with the Yankees), ALCS MVP (2000), two-time Silver Slugger winner and a member of the Braves Hall of Fame. It was a 14-year career that included stints with the Braves, Indians, Yankees, and Athletics.
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