The Graves County Boys: A Tale of Kentucky Basketball, Perseverance, and the Unlikely Championship of the Cuba Cubs

24. Lexington, Here We Come!

24 lexington, here We Come! all things are won by diligence. —Menander during their senior year, the Cubs paid little attention to their schoolwork. it was impossible to keep up with it, tutors or no tutors. Wanting the players to have all the experience they could, Coach story completely revised their schedule, so that they played one game after another. in addition to playing all the area schools in Graves County, they played in every invitational tournament in the state, plus many charity games. They played the top teams in the state and also the number one and number two teams in Tennessee. They opened the 1951–1952 season with four quick wins: over Wingo, 82-36; Farmington, 72-34; Fancy Farm, 120-18; and Columbia, 76-50. next they traveled to Maysville, in northern Kentucky , clear across the state, where they won the Burley invitational Tobacco Bowl Tournament by beating Carrolton 60-43 in the opening round, and inez 75-52 for the championship. doodle was in lexington, here We Come! 183 complete control of his shooting and rebounding in this tournament , and he played defense superbly. in the Carrolton game, he was the leading scorer with 27 points, followed by howie with 13, Bill Pollock with 6, and raymon and Jimmie with 4 each; harold roberts contributed 3, and Joe Buddy added 2. in the championship game against inez, the Cubs played a splendid floor game and controlled the backboards just as they had done with Carrolton. during this game, doodle’s performance was what the local sportswriters described as “spectacular.” having never seen the boy’s hook shot, they were immensely impressed with his technique, a unique windmill that connected repeatedly. doodle led all the scorers with 29 points, helping the Cubs forge ahead at the outset of the second period. shooting from the perimeter and driving to the basket, howie collected 17 points of his own. he put the Cubs ahead by 15 during the second half with a quick behind-the-back dribble around the man guarding him followed by a speedy drive to the basket for an uncontested layup. Jimmie contributed 13 points in the inez game, Joe Buddy 6, Bill Pollock 4, and raymon and Paul simpson 2 each. The Cubs returned to the regular season schedule and kept winning . Their victories included wins over saint Mary’s, 64-41; Metropolis , illinois, 54-47; lowes, 92-36; Brewers, 74-60; symsonia, 86-56; and henderson’s holy name, 47-30, improving their 1951–1952 record to 12-0. next they won the Paducah invitational Christmas Championship Tournament by defeating Crittenden County 86-48, Bandana 70-61, and the highly regarded lone oak 72-54. Beating lone oak was especially sweet. Coached by don stephenson, lone oak had an excellent ball club that year. sonny hubbs, “slick” herndon, Tommy stephenson, and six-foot-seven Ken donaldson were all outstanding players, but that night they were no match for Cuba. doodle, recovering from the flu, scored only 9 points, but howie led with 27 and Joe Buddy added 12. 184 The Graves County Boys The night they played the Brewers game was a good example of Coach story’s flexibility. For some reason (probably because of their overpowering sense of superiority at that point), the Cubs decided they were not going to dribble the ball the first half, and they did not. The ball did not touch the floor; they just passed it. although they were just barely ahead, Coach story remained silent. They won the game but not by as many points as they could and should have. after they whipped lowes 116-49 for their sixteenth straight victory, they proceeded to the Purchase-Pennyrile Basketball Tournament at Murray. in the first game, Wickliffe handed Cuba its first loss of the season, 52-51. The Cubs chalked their defeat up to bad luck: raymon, with sore ankles, was not up to speed, and howie and Jimmy Webb were suffering from the flu. The Cubs then played henderson’s holy name in the consolation game, winning 71-56. The regular season schedule picked up again with the Cubs coming out ahead of sedalia 59-41. That Friday they traveled the long trip to lexington, where they again lost, 48-41, to louisville Manual, one of the largest schools in the state. in that game doodle badly injured his already sore ankle and scored...