Will Rogers Writes About Carr Creek Basketball Aggregation

             Will Rogers included in his Sunday paper article a long reference to the Carr Creek basketball team, of special interest to Greenville people because Miss June Ranney helped to start basketball in the Kentucky mountain school. Mr. Roger’s comment in his usual humorous vein follows:

            “Well, Sir, I guess you read about them. But if you have I must tell you more. The Carr Creek basketball team, that kicked up such a fuss later on among all the best high school basketball teams in America. They was in Lexington when I got there. They come from away down in the mountains. There is only 18 boys at their little country school. They played barefoot, and out on the ground. They just had the baskets fastened up to two trees, had no suits when they came to play in the Kentucky State Tournament. They walked in eight miles to get on the train, and it was one of those slow jerk-water lines, and the reporter in Lexington ask them how they made out coming from the mountains, and the kid told 1em, “We made pretty good time till we got on the train”. The whole five is cousins and two are brothers. They were beat for the Kentucky Championship by one goal I think it was the second quarter. They never had a coach and don't know what is commonly called by the coaches “The finer points of the game.” They just know one point. I don't know if they call it fine or not, but that is they have been told that the idea of the game is to get that ball in that hoop, and boy, how they do it! I think it's the greatest example of what any school any place can do. It's funny that the two greatest upsets in our sports have been by Kentucky teams when you think of what Centre College at Danville did, a few years back. I visited the school and they only have a couple of little brick buildings, and to think they beat Harvard.  Then here are these kids right out of those mountains beating big city teams from all over America. “The Carr Creek Boys!” That's a great kick to a country school any place, anywhere, to know that they can go outdo the principal sport just as good as any other school in America. “Viva Carr Creek!”

Footnotes

 1 Please excuse Mr. Roger’s grammar. This article was copied as written and as he was a syndicated columnist the article appeared in several newspapers in 1928.

2 They were beaten in the fourth overtime period. A record that still stands today.

3 In 1921, Centre College upset Harvard University's undefeated football team 6–0, a feat which led The New York Times to later call it "Football's Upset of the Century". ESPN described Centre's victory as one of the biggest upsets in all sports during the twentieth century.

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Carr Creek Alumni Association, PO BOX 271, Littcarr, KY 41834

The mission of the Carr Creek Alumni Association is to provide cultural, educational, economic, social and recreational experiences for the Carr Creek Community and eastern Kentucky in order to sustain a healthy and wholesome life style that encourages cross-generational relationships. The Carr Creek Alumni Association is an organization dedicated to the preservation of the Carr Creek High School name and building. To meet this goal, the Association is in need of charitable donations that will help us preserve the School and its legacy. It is the ultimate goal of the Association to preserve the building and make it a viable part of the Carr Creek Community as it once was.

Our goals include a regional welcome (visitor’s) center, a museum that will highlight the heritage of the Carr Creek, a community including such things as natural resources and our rich basketball history, a bed and breakfast, a restaurant overlooking beautiful Carr Creek Lake and a true Community Center that will be available for community functions.