LOUISVILLE, Ky. As a Louisville native, Kentucky Mr. Basketball and a prep All-American out of Male High School, Darrell Griffith could’ve played college basketball anywhere he wanted. He was the nation’s top prospect, and in 1976 was the only high school player asked to try out for the U.S. Olympic team. At the trials, his…
Postgame crowd speaks to Schimmels’ legacy — local, national and Native American
LOUISVILLE, Ky. The game was over, the press conferences complete. The lights on the scoreboard, showing the №3-ranked University of Louisville’s 68–48 loss to №1-ranked and unbeaten Connecticut, had been shut down in the KFC Yum! Center. But the story was only beginning. Ride up the elevator, to the main concourse. Walk around to the…
Looking inside Louisville’s “One Shining Moment”
ATLANTA — One Shining Moment. Many little moments. Having beaten Michigan 82-76 for the school’s third NCAA Championship, the University of Louisville basketball team looks up as the first strains of “One Shining Moment” begin in the Georgia Dome . . . U of L coach Rick Pitino’s family seems to materialize from everywhere, his…
A prayer changed Kevin Ware’s bad break into a big victory
There was a moment, with Kevin Ware lying on the sideline at Lucas Oil stadium, his right leg shattered and hanging at an unnatural angle, that the University of Louisville basketball player made a choice. He found in the midst of profound pain and crushing disappointment a minute of peace that changed his life. If…
Why I walked away from the only job I ever wanted
I wanted one job when I was growing up. The job I just walked away from. I loved being in the newspaper. The first byline story I ever wrote for The Courier-Journal, I still have in my basement, a Neighborhoods section story about a man in La Grange, Ky., who owned a Model-T Ford. Right…
Kentucky wins 2012 NCAA title
The thing I remember most about this night was having custody of the “fake” front pages with “UK NCAA CHAMPS” in a bold headline, and being tasked with handing them out near the end of the game should Kentucky, as expected, win the NCAA title. Jody Demling was the hero of the moment. He somehow…
Manifold Greatness: Reflecting on 400 years of the King James Bible
NOTE: The following is a blog post reprinted from Dec. 23, 2011. I have tried, as best I could, to pay tribute to the King James Version of the Bible in this the 400th anniversary year of its publication. That is to say, while I have used it not often enough, I have on those…
Bellarmine wins national championship
I wrote Bellarmine’s national title for The Courier-Journal in a story that appeared on the front page of the paper on March 27, 2011. For copyright reasons, I won’t include the text here, but the following are images that can be blown up and read.
A Letter to Lincoln
Note: This column originally ran in a personal blog, then on the Op-Ed Page of The Courier-Journal on Feb. 12, 2009. Dear Mr. Lincoln, Everybody here in Kentucky is gearing up for the bicentennial of your birth so I thought at least one of us ought to write to you. I bet you’re getting a…