Herb Conley’s legacy didn’t end with the coaching job he did in Ashland.
Twenty years after hanging up the whistle for the Tomcats after the 1976 season, not because he was tired of coaching but to make a career change to the administrative side of education for the betterment of his family, he took a job across the Ohio River.
Symmes Valley High School offered him a head coaching position and he jumped at it. His five seasons with the Vikings built a foundation and gave him that taste of coaching again that never really left him.
They remember Herb Conley, too, and they revere him like we do. His teams ran the wishbone – Conley’s favorite offense since he installed it in the last game of the 1970 season to stun Ironton and save his job. The Tomcats were among the finest in Kentucky, regardless of class, over the next six years. Nobody wanted any part of them. They were hard-nosed, like their coach. Catch a pass over the middle at your own expense.
Herb Conley, left, early in his career with the Ashland Tomcats. Assistant Bill Tom Ross is with him.
That same kind of toughness was part of that Symmes Valley foundation. Big hits were a calling card of Herb Conley teams. He wasn’t happy until somebody on the other team was looking out of the ear hole on their helmet.
Oh, Symmes Valley remembers him. They plan to recognize Herb on Friday and dedicate the refurbished “Victory Bell” in honor of the man who many say saved their football program. They are asking any of his players during his coaching tenure from 1996 to 2000 to stand with him as he is re-introduced to a thankful community.
He was more than the coach of the football team at Symmes Valley. Herb Conley saved the program from extinction. Coach Conley was their last gasp of hope. He went door-to-door through the community asking any freshmen through senior student to play football for him. Coach Conley had a way of convincing you.
“Our community realizes that he helped save our program but he did so much more,” said Adam Corn, the current school board chairman. “He created a different culture in our community that showed us how to take pride in our district.”
Coach Herb Conley giving some advice to a Symmes Valley player during his five years there.
It was also Coach Conley who found the bell in a storage room in the first place, said Corn, who suggested the school recognize Conley and name the bell in his honor. “When Coach Conley saw the bell, he had the idea to have an A-frame built to hold it and for the players to ring it after practices and games.”
Conley will then be given the honor of the inaugural ring, followed by current Symmes Valley players and coaches and former players.
Symmes Valley gave Conley a chance to coach one more time in Putnam Stadium although it wasn’t against the Tomcats. The Vikings played Fairview and won easily, allowing him to walk out of the stadium with another victory.
The itch to coach never left him and likely never will. Truth be told, he was born with it. The Tomcat community is proud to share Coach Conley with Symmes Valley for a night.
He’s a legend worth sharing.
MARK MY WORDS 2 