The 11th class of the Christian County High School Hall of Fame has been announced and will include 14 individuals and one team.
Leading the class is former Kentucky Mr. Basketball Anthony Hickey and former Miss Softball Griffin Joiner. Both Hickey and Joiner also will see their jerseys retired during a ceremony at the Stadium of Champions on Sept. 5 before the Colonels’ football game against McKenzie, Tenn.
Hickey led the Colonels to the 2011 Kentucky High School Athletic Association Sweet 16 State Tournament title. He averaged 22.5 points, 7.3 rebounds, and 4.3 assists during the Colonels’ state championship run.
For his Colonels’ career, Hickey scored more than 1,300 points and dished out 451 assists with 341 steals. He signed with LSU and played three seasons for the Tigers before transferring to Oklahoma State. After college, he enjoyed a professional career overseas.
Joiner left Christian County High School as the softball program’s all-time leader in hits (293), home runs (30), doubles (66) and RBI (216). In addition to being named 2011 Miss Softball, Joiner was named the 2011 Kentucky Gatorade Player of the Year.
She went on to an All-SEC career at Kentucky and continued her playing career professionally when she was selected by the Akron Racers as the 19th overall pick in the fourth round of 2015 National Pro Fastpitch College Draft. She was selected to the 2016 All-NPF team as a catcher after throwing out a league-best 13 baserunners. In 2017, she was one of eight catchers selected to try out for the USA Softball Women’s National Team.
After two years as a graduate assistant at UK, Joiner spent one season as an assistant coach at Pittsburgh before joining the staff at the University of Louisville where she coaches pitchers and catchers for the Cardinals.
Also part of the 11th class is former Colonels’ quarterback Keith Tandy, who is the school’s all-time leading passer with 8,609 yards and 90 touchdowns. Following his high school career, Tandy played at West Virginia and was drafted by the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in the 2012 draft. He played seven seasons with the Bucs and Falcons before joining the Tampa Bay staff as a special teams coach.
The 1996 KHSAA state champion softball team also will be inducted to the school’s athletic hall of fame. The Lady Colonels defeated Ryle for the state title in only their second season of fast-pitch softball.
Two members of that team, Tammy Hightower and Kayce Fields Brown also will be inducted individually. The pair were the first two fast-pitch pitchers for the Lady Colonels.
Others being inducted include basketball player Maxie Stamps Jr., basketball/track athlete DeErica Jones, football players Vashun Banks, Mike Pyle and Jimmy “Doc” Johnson, baseball player Brett Duncan, wrestlers Darren Parker and Arvel Banks, and contributor Dr. William Sweet.
A reception will be held at 5 p.m. on Sept. 5 at the Stadium of Champions.