Memories will never fade as lights will go out on Dunbar Gym

Christian County High School will turn out the lights on Lyle Dunbar Gym for the final time tonight as the final home basketball games in school history will be played against Todd County Central.

The Colonels will consolidate with Hopkinsville High School next fall and play at the new Christian County High School gym.

The current gym opened in 1972 and has been the site of many district championships, cross-town rivalry matchups, and top-10 state battles through the years. Many talented players have taken the floor and hall-of-fame coaches have patrolled the sidelines.

What if those walls could talk? In a way, they can.

Former Christian County All-State forward C.J. Pepper, who went on to play at Arkansas State and with the Harlem Globetrotters recalled what he thinks was the best game in the gym’s history – the Colonels’ upset of national ranked University Heights Academy in the first round of the 1996 District 8 Tournament.

That UHA team had defeated Koby Bryant’s team and Jermaine O’Neal’s team the previous summer. The Blazers’ starting lineup included the 6-foot-10 Lamont Barnes, who went on to play at Temple, 6-9 Isaiah Victor (Tennessee), 6-8 Harold Swanagan (Notre Dame), 6-4 Mauryio Buckner, and 6-3 Michael Forrest (Eastern Illinois).

Brad Fraser, who coached the Colonels that night remembered walking into the then Colonel Gym, with electricity in the air.

A few years earlier, the Colonels of Tony Lovan, Corey Thompson, Courtney Radford, and Stephen Bides played host to No. 1-ranked Louisville Fairdale. The Louisville team went on to win the state title, but that night belonged to the Colonels, the city of Hopkinsville, and “Cocoa” Radford, who threw down a thunderous dunk and broke a rim. It’s a play that still echoes in the gym rafters.

David Joiner, who went on to play for Vanderbilt and who led the Colonels to the 1983 Region 2 championship, always will remember the Hoptown-County rivalry games.

Joiner recalled one game when he scored 35 points against Hopkinsville. He also remembered in 1984 when Logan County, which went on to win the state title, and their Mr. Basketball Fred Tisdale visited Colonel Gym and went home with a loss. But he also points to the CCHS-UHA 1996 game as a highlight.

Who can forget watching Colonels’ players like Curtis Parker, Victor Jordan, Mike Reese, Kenny Hart, Charles Nance, Joiner, Chris Whitney, Lovan, Pepper, and Anthony Hickey Jr., at Colonel Gym, later to be renamed after legendary Colonels’ coach Lyle Dunbar?

There were coaches who patrolled the sideline including Dunbar, Bob Hoggard, Fraser, Joiner, and Kerry Stovall.

There was a state championship celebration inside the gym in 2011 when the Colonels returned from Lexington with their only Sweet 16 state title. Not to mention that Hickey Jr. brought home the school’s first and only Mr. Basketball Award.

But it isn’t just the boys’ basketball history that is remembered in the gym. The Lady Colonels have provided many memories as well.

Former Lady Colonels’ Head Coach Lynn Colley recalled his 1987 team that won the Region 2 championship behind the play of Kim Roberts. But he said the special moments he remembered most were the early morning Saturday practices and the athletes he coached.

The Lady Colonels’ most memorable teams came in the early 2000’s and included such players as DeErica Jones, Tiffany Tandy, Corky Stiger, Shaleea Petty, Arnika Brown, Kiki Radford, Denisha “Boots” Mumford, and Lydia Watkins.

Coached by Don Dillard, the Lady Colonels advanced to the state semifinals twice and had it not been for Crystal Kelly and Louisville Assumption, may have owned multiple state titles.

Dillard recalled a game in 2003 when the Lady Colonels played host to Henderson County and the gym was so full, the fire department wouldn’t allow anyone else in the gym. His star, Brown, wouldn’t come out of the locker room because her mom hadn’t gotten to the gym in time and was not being allowed entrance.

Dillard said he had to go get Brown’s mother escort her into the gym, which was electric as the No. 2-ranked Henderson County team met the No. 3 Christian County squad.

Brown, who went on to win Kentucky Miss Basketball in 2006, recalled the battles with Henderson County, the cross-town rivalry games with Hopkinsville, but mostly remembered her time with her teammates.

The gym won’t also be without echoes of other games.

Many local fans remember the 1985 first round District 8 Tournament game when Reggie Odom’s baseline follow-up dunk on a Jeff Welch miss in the fourth quarter looked to send Hoptown home. But Wendell Quarles and the Tigers rallied and went on to win their only Sweet 16 State Championship.

In 1987 when No. 1-ranked Hopkinsville lost to No. 3-ranked UHA in the first round of the boys’ District 8 Tournament, a packed house saw the Tigers’ Lamonte Ware, Chris Crutchfield, Jeff Quarles, and Mike Peachers play their final high school game as the Blazers pulled off the upset.

The gym also could tell the story about Owensboro Apollo’s Rex Chapman playing the Colonels in a 1985 preseason scrimmage. He blocked one shot off the painted Colonels on the southernmost wall and he provided a couple of highlight dunks that left fans talking for years.

The gym also saw future Florida Gator and NCAA champion Corey Brewer and the Portland, Tenn., High School team play in a summer league in the early 2000’s against Kerry Stovall’s Colonels’ team.

Whether you remember purchasing tickets in the old ticket windows at the back of the gym or buying popcorn and finding friends in the front foyer, tonight will bring tears of laughter, memories, and Colonel Pride.

Tonight, when the lights are turned out on the last Christian County Colonels game in history, the gym and scoreboards may become dark, but the echoes of the memories and games played there will live on forever.

Tipoff for the girls’ game is scheduled for 6 p.m. with airtime at 5:45 p.m. on 95.3 The Farm and 953thefarm.com. The boys’ game will follow about 20 minutes after the completion of the girls’ game and also will be broadcast on 95.3 The Farm and 953thefarm.com.

Photos by Joe Wilson