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George Tinsley

All-Americans George Tinsley, Corey Crowder, King Kelly Coleman, Dallas Thornton and Rod Drake headline Kentucky Wesleyan’s All-Century Basketball Team as the top five vote-getters (in order) among the 30-member honorees as voted by 931 fans from a list of 96 nominees.Joining Tinsley (1966-69); Crowder (1988-91); Coleman (1958-60); Thornton (1965-68): and Drake (1981-84) are Gary Auten (1959-62); J.B. Brown (1985-88); Bill Carlyle (1961-62); Patrick Critchelow (1996-99); Willis Cheaney (1992-95); John Duncan (1968-71); Lorico Duncan (2000-01); Antonio Garcia (1998-99); Ray Harper (1984-85); Dwight Higgs (1981-84); Tom Hobgood (1966-69); LeRoy John (1999-00); Vincent Mitchell (1988-91); Dick O’Neill (1966-69); Marlon Parmer (2003); Joe Roop (1953-56); Mike Redd (1964); Sam Smith (1966-67); Sam Smith (1986-87); Dana Williams (1998-99); Mike Williams (1972-73); Robert “Bullet” Wilson (1928-31); Fairce Woods (1946-49); John Worth (1986-87); and Bobby Zuerner (2000-04).
      
In addition, a five-member All-Decade team for the Winchester Campus Era, the 50s, 60s, 70s, 80s, 90s and 2000s consisting of next top 35 vote-getters join the list of honorees.
       
Winchester Campus Era (1907-51) — Kendall Bocard (1930-31); Austin Denton (1931-32); Asa House (1925-27); Alex Kertis (1930-32); and Bruce Strother (1927-29).1950s — Bill Bibb (1955-57); Norman Christopher (1949-52); Mason Cope (1956-57); Logan Gipe (1955-57); and Bill Harrell (1950-52).
       
1960s — Eugene Smith (1968-71); Roger Cordell (1964-67); Martin Holland (1959-60); Jim Smith (1968-71); and Charlie Taylor (1964-65).
       
1970s — James Greene (1971-73); Willie Johnson (1974-76); Jyronna Ralston (1973-74);
Steve Walker (1973-74); and Roger Zornes (1972-73).1980s — Dave Bennett (1985-86); Bunky Lewis (1978-81); Larry Patrick (1977-80); Andra Whitlow  (1984-87); and Ray Zuberer (1980-83).
       
1990s — Steve Divine (1990-93); LeRoy Ellis (1989-90); Tim Griffin (1988-90); Alex Kreps (1992); and
Junebug Rakes (1988-90).
       
2000s — Tyrus Boswell (2002); Ronald Evans (2001-02); Jeff Fahnbulleh (2007-08); Chris Landry (2001-02); and Anwar Perry (1998-01).For complete All-Century and All-Decade Team bios, click here.
      
The 100th-year celebration will conclude with a 100th Gala Weekend on May 21-23, 2010, honoring all men and women players, coaches, managers, cheerleaders, fans and friends from the Winchester and Owensboro campuses. For more information contact Roy Pickerill at 270-852-3347 or pickeril@kwc.edu.

Corey Crowder

King Kelly Coleman

Dallas Thornton

Rod Drake

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Give me 10 Minutes: Joel Utley

By Jim Pickens
Thursday, March 11, 2010

The dean of college basketball broadcasters in the commonwealth, Joel Utley, 70, is in his 49th season as play-by-play announcer for the Kentucky Wesleyan College men’s basketball team. In a career that started in 1961, Utley has called many of the Panthers’ greatest moments on the hardwood — including all eight of the program’s NCAA Division II national championships. All told, Utley has broadcast 1,416 Kentucky Wesleyan basketball games.

The native of Madisonville is a 1957 graduate of Madisonville High School. He attended both Murray State and the University of Kentucky, before embarking on a career in broadcasting. He graduated from KWC in 1974 with a degree in speech and drama. Aside from his broadcasting duties, Utley is retired. He and wife Shirley reside in Owensboro.

Q: Considering you’ve been behind the microphone for a half-century, the natural first question is what got you interested in radio?

A: When I was growing up, I never wanted to do anything else. Radio appealed to me from a very young age. I found it fascinating and magical that you could look at a box and see stories come to life in your mind while the radio played. I listened with great interest to UK basketball, St. Louis Cardinals baseball with Harry Caray. Pretty soon, I found myself playing baseball board games by myself and describing the action like a real broadcaster would — and I was hooked.

Q: What brought you to Owensboro and led you to broadcasting KWC games?

A: I had been working in Lexington at WVLK, and a guy I worked with up there took a job in Owensboro at WVJS and broadcast Wesleyan games. He didn’t stay long, the job came open, I applied, and I got the job as news director. I came to Owensboro in July 1961, and I broadcast my first Wesleyan game on Dec. 1, 1961.

Q: WOMI also covered Wesleyan at the time?

A: Yes, but we were the only ones to cover Wesleyan full time, at home and on the road. WOMI did home games and selected road games, but their first commitment was to UK basketball. That was the way it played out until about the mid-’70s, when we became the exclusive station for KWC basketball.

Q: What has made broadcasting Wesleyan games through the years so personally rewarding to you?

A: I absolutely love doing what I do. Wesleyan is a relatively small Division II school, and that has afforded me the opportunity to build great relationships with the players, coaches, administrators and fans through the years. You get to know these people so well, they become like family. I’ve traveled with them, really gotten to know them as people. It’s not about the money by any means. I do it for the love of it.

Q: What sticks out in your mind after nearly a half-century of association with KWC basketball?

A: Well, I consider myself the most blessed sportscaster in the nation — ever. No one could equal the experiences of eight NCAA championships. My goodness, what memories. One thing that really sticks out for me is that Wesleyan competed in six consecutive national championship games (1998-2003), winning two in that span. That’s just an extraordinary accomplishment for any college basketball program, and I feel very fortunate to have been a part of that.

Q: Has being associated with young people for so long kept your spirit young?

A: I would say that’s true. You know, trends change, and I don’t exactly identify with the music played before games at the Sportscenter these days, but that’s OK. Being around young people provides me a tremendous perspective on what’s going on in the world today. It’s given me energy and kept my spirit about life pretty youthful. My experience with KWC has changed my perspective about age. I’ve discovered that your age is a state of mind more than a number.

Q: Any thoughts about retiring from broadcasting?

A: None. I’ve never worked a game when I didn’t want to be there. I always want to be there. I feel very blessed in that way. Very honestly, I can’t imagine doing anything else.

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The game features Daviess County High School, coached by Pat Hume ’92, against Owensboro Catholic High School, coached by Ray Zuberer ’84 and Allison Estes Ross ’02.

Zuberer and Ross both played basketball for KWC. Hume’s mother, Ruthie, is a long-time employee of Kentucky Wesleyan.

If you’re a KWC fan or just a fan of basketball, come out to Apollo High School Thursday night at 7 to get a look at how KWC’s basketball tradition is trickling down to local high school programs.

Who was the tie against? How do you end up with a tie in a basketball game, anyway? Glad you asked.

In 1918, the University of Kentucky and Kentucky Wesleyan College played to a 21-21 tie. According to bigbluehistory.net, UK got off to a 14-4 halftime lead during the game (held in the Kentucky Wesleyan Admin Building in Winchester, Ky.)

KWC came back in the second half to post a 22-21 victory … until officials realized the scorers had counted a foul that had been disallowed (it must have resulted in a free throw). Without the extra point, the game was tied 21-21.

Both teams had already left the building and were dressing elsewhere, so the game stayed a tie.

UK and KWC played 11 times from 1910 to 1938, with UK winning nine of the games. KWC won 21-19 in 1911 and 31-25 in 1927.

This season marks Kentucky Wesleyan’s 100th anniversary of playing basketball.

Below is a copy of the 1918 game write-up from the Lexington Leader:

WILDCATS TIE WITH WESLEYAN

Score is 21 to 21 in good game at Winchester – Referee made an error

The Wildcats of the University of Kentucky journeyed to Winchester last night to meet the representatives of Kentucky Wesleyan College in a basketball contest which resulted in a tie, each team scoring 21 points. The fact that the game had resulted in a tie was not discovered until the teams had left the building and were in the gymnasium dressing.

At first it was thought that Wesleyan had defeated the Wildcats 22 to 21, but the scorers had made a mistake by counting a foul which had been disallowed. Referee Burr, of Wesleyan, signed a statement to this effect which “Daddy” Boles brought home to prove the statement that Wesleyan had not beat the Kentucky basketeers.

The Wildcats were in bad condition for the contest because of the two hard games which were played Thursday and Friday nights with the Tennessee quintet and were tired in the second half.

The first period ended with the Kentucky men in the lead by a score of 14 to 4. Wesleyan returned in the second half and began an advance which the blue and white basketeers could not stop.

Reese and Nunnelly starred for the Wesleyan five and Zerfoss led the scoring for the Wildcats with three field goals and two out of five fouls.

The game was hotly contested in the last half and both teams fought valiantly for a victory.

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