OWENSBORO, Ky. – So how did coach Jody Hamilton celebrate winning the 1,000th game of his illustrious Kentucky high school baseball coaching career on Saturday?
“We went home and went to bed,” he said.
Hamilton, the head coach at Owensboro Catholic, became only the fifth coach in Kentucky high school baseball history to reach the plateau with a 12-2, five-inning victory over Union County. He has been coaching for 39 years and is the only coach in state history to guide two different teams to state championships – Boyd County in 2001 and West Jessamine in 2015.
Owensboro Catholic is his fourth coaching stop in a career that has seen him win 72 percent of his games and be named National Coach of the Year in 2016.
The team had a small celebration for Hamilton and his family after winning 1,000 while Union County and Adair County were warming up to play. After that game the Aces were back at it, smashing Adair County 13-3 for Hamilton’s1,001st victory.
“I didn’t want anybody to know about,” Hamilton said of the milestone. “We were really playing well, and I didn’t want to mess up anything. I told Denise (his wife) I didn’t want anybody to know.”
But he didn’t tell his daughter, Neena Gaynor, who wrote to the Owensboro Messenger-Inquirer about the special moment, nor his son, Casey Hamilton, who was in on letting others know, too, Jody said. “I think Denise was in on it, too,” he said of his wife.
The Owensboro newspaper wrote a nice story in advance of the milestone victory so everybody in the community knew what was about to happen.
Hamilton said he was the product of great parents growing up and great in-laws after he was married. “I grew up a lot after getting married. They taught me just as much about people.”
It all translated well for Hamilton, who said he’s taking his career “year to year” but enjoys coaching as much now as he ever did. He said he was blessed to have outstanding players, assistant coaches and parents who helped him succeed. And a supportive wife, he added.
“She said it’s a thousand wins for me and 7,000 wins for her, kind of like dog years,” the coach said. “She doesn’t hold back. We were eating breakfast before the championship game (in 2001) and she said, ‘We’ve been in the finals twice. Are we ever going to win this thing?’ I said it’s going to happen today.”
Hamilton began his coaching career in 1983 at Raceland High School in northeastern Kentucky after playing two years of professional baseball in the New York Yankees organization. He had a Hall of Fame playing career at Morehead State University from 1977-1980. His career home run record of 49 lasted 44 years before being eclipsed this spring.
Hamilton has endured only one losing season in his 39 years, a 15-17 mark in 1986 during his last season at Raceland.
Boyd County and West Jessamine each have one state title, both coming with Hamilton at the helm. His son, Casey, was a star on the 2001 state championship team at Boyd County that defeated Ballard 3-0. Casey, who signed with Mississippi State out of high school, is coaching with his father at Owensboro Catholic.
The top four coaches on the Kentucky win list accomplished their 1,000-plus victories while coaching at the same school. Two of them – Mac Whitaker of Harrison County and Bill Krumplebeck of Covington Catholic – are still coaching. “I’ve been a gypsy,” said Hamilton, one of the few coaches who has taken three teams to the state tournament.
Whitaker came into this spring with 1,221 victories and is No. 1 on the list. Krumplebeck is No. 3 at 1,097. The late Bill Miller of Pleasure Ridge Park had 1,144 victories for No. 2 and Larry Gumm of Green County recorded 1,006 victories for No. 4. Hamilton needs only six wins to take over the fourth spot.
Hamilton was at Boyd County and West Jessamine for 16 years apiece and at Raceland for four years. This is his third season at Owensboro Catholic, which he guided to the state tournament in 2022.
West Jessamine’s state tournament produced the most runs ever scored since the event went to a Sweet Sixteen format. The Colts scored 48 runs, managing to reach double figures in all four victories, including 10-3 over Fort Thomas Highlands.
But the secret sauce for Hamilton’s teams have been pitching and defense. All but “one or maybe two “of his starting catchers throughout his nearly 40 seasons have gone on to play college baseball. Two of his pitchers at Boyd County, Jason Keyser and Casey Davis, were drafted in the eighth and ninth rounds. He has helped more than 125 players find a place to play in college.
Hamilton operated a baseball school while coaching at Boyd County and one of the pupils was Brandon Webb, a future Cy Young Award winner for the Arizona Diamondbacks. Webb was 10 when his father, Phil, took him to Hamilton. He worked with him for five years before telling him he had to stop because Webb would soon be pitching for Ashland, Boyd County’s biggest rival.
“I said, ‘Brandon, here’s what’s going to happen. I have to stop giving you lessons because, if I keep giving you lessons, you’re going to beat me. People aren’t going to like that. If I don’t keep giving you lessons, I’m going to recruit you, and then I’m going to get fired.’”
In an unusual twist, Webb never did face Boyd County as a Tomcat. Coaches held their top pitchers during the regular season for a potential district matchup. Ashland and Boyd County never drew in the first round through his junior year. Webb’s senior season was cut short by an injury.
“How many coaches can say they gave lessons to a Cy Young winner?” Hamilton asked.
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