The City of Earlington, Kentucky became the BASKETBALL CAPITOL OF KENTUCKY on Saturday night, March 18^th, 1967, when forward Tyrone Hopson tipped in a five-foot shot, amid the bedlam of 16,000 fans in Louisville’s Freedom Hall to defeat Covington Catholic 54-53!

The “Yellowjackets had come full zenith under the coaching of bob Fox and David Jenkins.  Here was a team from one of the state’s smallest towns, roaring through one of the toughest schoolboy basketball tournaments in the nation.  It all started on Thursday, March 16^th with the “Yellowjackets” eliminating a bigger Russell quintet, 76-72.  In the quarter-final round on Friday, the Jackets bombed Louisville Atherton, 85-64.  Semi-final action on Saturday afternoon saw Fox’s determined crew nip Breathitt County 69-64, coming from six points down.  Then…the climax…a shot at the Dream of every Kentucky schoolboy…to take home the Big Trophy, and rule, at least for one year, as the CHAMPIONS OF THE COMMONWEALTH!

Ahead by seven points at halftime, the game was a toss-up right down to the wire.  The Jackets came to the final six seconds…down by just one point!  With the ball to toss in-bounds, Greg Martin p[assed in to Justin Sharp, who bounced to the mid-stripe, saw the seconds fleeting away, and fired from 45 feet!  The ball hit the boards and came down directly into the waiting hands of Hopson!  Without a moment’s hesitation, he went up in the air, and with only ONE SECOND remaining, the ball arched through the net!  The roar was deafening!  The scoreboard read 54-53!  EARLINGTON HAD DONE IT!

On this recording you hear it exactly as it happened, as Elmer Kelley of WFMW Radio, Madisonville, described it shot-by-shot from start to finish.

Immortalized in the hearts of basketball fans throughout the state are the names of those who did it:  Justin Sharp, Tyrone Hopson, Jimmy Hicks, Greg Martin and Arthur Johnson on the starting five.  Reserves were Bob Leavell, Lonnie Burgett, Larry Martin, Kenneth Jagoe, Charley Smith, Alvin and Calvin Moore.

Cheering the team on were Rita Clayton, Rosemarry Ezel, Margaret Jordon, Debbie Overton and Jo Ann Tucker.  And there were managers Tommy Todd and Bobby Garland, statisticians Mike Wyatt and John Jordon, cheerleader sponsor Mrs. Elizabeth Coffman and Pep Club sponsor Miss Martha Howard.

The realization of a dream by Coach Bob Fox, voted UPI Coach of the Year, who started coaching at his alma mater in 1963, winning 25 and losing 5 the first year; 19-10 in ’64; 30-3 in 1965; 29-7 in ’66 and into the first round of the State Tournament.

In the 1966-67 season, the Yellowjackets went though the entire season with only one loss…right up the never-to-be-forgotten March 18^th, 1967!