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 28th of the 50 sports icons is Nell Fookes, the longtime Boone County girls’ basketball coach who is top five in wins in KHSAA history.
NELL FOOKES
Nell Fookes built one of the most consistent and respected girls basketball programs in Kentucky during her legendary 30-year run as head coach at Boone County High School. With a career record of 686-253, she ranks among the top five all-time in wins in KHSAA girls basketball history. Her teams never had a losing season, won 22 district titles, nine regional championships, and reached the state semifinals twice.
Known for her energy and demanding practices, Fookes often reminded her players that “nobody ever drowned in sweat.” Her passion was contagious. Boone County’s court now bears her name, a tribute to the high standard she set every time her team took the floor. Her 686 wins rank fifth all-time in Kentucky girls basketball coaching history according to the KHSAA basketball record book, and her .729 winning percentage speaks to her sustained success.
Fookes grew up in Virginia and was a four-year starter at Radford University before moving into coaching. After six years as an assistant at Eastern Kentucky University, she was hired to lead Boone County in 1985. She never left.
Her influence extended far beyond wins and titles. She was named 9th Region Coach of the Year multiple times, honored as Coach of the Decade in the 1990s by the Greater Cincinnati Coaches Association, and was a finalist for National Coach of the Year in 2010. Fookes is enshrined in several Hall of Fames, including LaRosa’s, the Greater Cincinnati Basketball Coaches Association, NKADA and Kentucky High School Basketball Hall of Fame. She retired in 2015.
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