ASHLAND, Ky. – The window is open until June 1 for purchasing a place in the Ashland Tomcat Donor Wall and Donor Corner at Putnam Stadium that will be ready for the start of the 2019 season.

Hundreds have already put down commemorative bricks with names of families, individuals or businesses who have connections to the Tomcats.

It’s not all about football either.

There are band members, cheerleaders, or even being a longtime fan that needs to be honored or memorialized. It makes for a perfect Christmas gift too that will surprise the fan in your life.

Businesses or classes can put their name on the beautiful Donor Wall that sits in the corner of Putnam Stadium behind the statue of Coach Herb Conley.

Proceeds from the donations go toward the continued refurbishing of Putnam Stadium. The next phase in the rebuilding is for new lights.

Putnam Stadium has been an iconic place in Ashland since 1937 and remains one of the top high school football stadiums in Kentucky.

For a donation of at least $500 you can place that family information on the Donor Wall in one of four categories for large donors as listed below:

TOMCAT TOUCHDOWN CLUB:                               $10,000 OR MORE

TOMCAT MAROON AND WHITE CLUB:                  $5,000 – $9,999

TOMCAT PAWS CLUB:                                             $1,000 – $4,999

TOMCAT PRIDE CLUB:                                             $500 – $999

For a donation of $100 or $175 you can have a brick placed in the Donor’s Corner with an inscription that you choose (name or family name, etc.):

4×8 brick:         $100            3 lines/20 characters each line (this includes spacing and punctuation)

8×8 brick:         $175            6 lines/20 characters each line (this includes spacing and punctuation)

Order forms are available at the South Ashland Greenhouse off 29^th Street.  Complete the form with inscription and contact information, then send the form and check to:

The Putnam Stadium Restoration Foundation P.O. Box 3000 Ashland, KY 41105-3000 or deliver it to Donna Childers Suttle at the South Ashland Greenhouse.

PUTNAM STADIUM RESTORATION FOUNDATION ORDER FORM

“Patience, passion and dedication comes easily only when you love what you do.” – Author unknown

I was a young man, a kid really, when I started my journalism career at the then Ashland Daily Independent in 1975.

My world was surrounded by some great journalists – Mike Reliford, Stan Champer, George Wolfford and Paul Sierer come immediately to mind. They were in their 30s and 40s and were ready to take on the world. I was 17 and just learning.

We had two photographers during those early days and one was Jim Donithan, a veteran who witnessed Ashland through the lens of his camera like few others for at least years before I came along. Donithan, who passed away last week at 91, and the late Ben McCullough, were the pioneers of the photography department at the ADI. They brought the newspaper’s pages to life, giving our readers a visual image to go with the news and sports stories.

By the time I came around in the mid-1970s as a baby sportswriter, Donithan had taken a lifetime of photos. He snapped news and sports photos, fires and other tragedies, and wins and losses on the sports field. He was there to give the readers of the ADI the rest of the story in photographic form. Jim took pride in his photography and was around for some terrific and some horrific events. He was there when dignitary arrived like President Nixon, he was there for economic news at Armco and Ashland Oil, and he was there for some great basketball and football teams playing for glory.

He was there when the great Mickey Mantle paid us a visit and took memorable photographs when Ashland’s 1975 JAWS football team boarded a bus to go play for the state championship. He had an eye for what people wanted to see.

In those days, the police department didn’t have their own camera and they utilized the ADI photographers for grizzly crash and crime scene photos that never made the newspaper. Many of them involved images that had to be difficult to see, let alone photograph, but it was part of the job in those days.

He taught me a lot about how the dark room worked. The dark room was where the magic happened for photographers as film became photos before your very eyes in a room that was infrared. It’s a lost art that’s no longer necessary but an art form just the same.

“Flashbulb,” as some called him, was good at what he did and his demeanor with me was almost grandfatherly. I saw him get upset a few times – and he could throw a fit – but I can’t remember him ever being mad at me. Most of the time when he saw me at a game, he’d twist his ear and stick out his tongue. He could be a prankster.

Jim also loved to bowl, if I’m remembering correctly, and he was good at that as well.

He was good at whatever he did and that included being a husband to Bobbie, father and grandfather. He will be missed by so many.

ASHLAND, Ky. – Ten players and coaches have been selected for enshrinement in the 2019 CP-1 Ashland Baseball Hall of Fame next summer.

Eight players and two coaches make up the fifth class that will be part of the Aug. 24, 2019 ceremony in Central Park.

The 1950s era is well represented with youth league coach T.R. Wright, former Ashland Tomcats players Robert Wright, Dick Fillmore and Herb Conley and former Fairview High standout Ed Joseph.

The 1960s era includes former Ashland Tomcat stars Ed Radjunas, Tobey Tolbert and Mike Johnson.

The 1970s era includes former Ashland Tomcat coach Frank Sloan and Tomcat standout Darryl Smith.

The 10-man class will bring the total to 60 former players, coaches and umpires in the CP-1 Ashland Baseball Hall of Fame that started in 2015. Four more 10-man classes will complete the CP-1 Hall of Fame.

Here’s a closer look at each 2019 inductee:

-T.R. Wright was one of the pioneer youth league coaches, a father figure to many of those players, and was instrumental in establishing the first Babe Ruth League and the first American Legion team in Ashland.

-Robert Wright was a late-1950s all-around athlete who was one of the best hitters and overall players of his era. Former teammates raved about his raw hitting ability.

-Dick Fillmore was a crafty Tomcat shortstop and pitcher and another great all-around athlete in the late 1950s who handled himself well with quickness and quick hands.

-Herb Conley, known more in Tomcat country for football as a player and coach, was also a sturdy third baseman and pitcher in the late 1950s who, of course, hit with power.

-Ed Joseph was a star catcher and hitter for Fairview High School who went on to Eastern Kentucky University where he enjoyed all-league status.

-Ed Radjunas threw the first pitcher in Ashland Little League history in 1955, was a three-year starter at third base for the Tomcats from 1961 to 1963, coached two years of Post 76 American Legion in 1968 and 1969 and also played at Marshall.

-Tobey Tolbert, a state champion hurdler, was a baseball star in his youth league days in Little League and Babe Ruth. He played only his senior season for the Tomcats in 1967 but he was the perfect addition on the second of the three state champions.

-Mike Johnson played on the 1963 Ashland American Little League state champions and was on the 1969 Tomcat state runners-up. He also coached many successful seasons in Ashland Babe Ruth.

-Frank Sloan was an outstanding coach for the Tomcats in several sports, including baseball where he directed two regional championship teams. He also was an All-Area coach in soccer and girls basketball.

-Darryl Smith was an excellent left-handed pitcher for the Tomcats who also carried himself well at the plate in the late 1970s at Ashland before going on to a career at Cumberland College. He joins his brother, Dan, in the CP-1 Hall of Fame.

ASHLAND, Ky. – Rupert “Doc” Rice, who put his stamp on Ashland football way back in 1942 as a no-fear running back who bashed opponents with a relentless running style, died on Friday in Lexington.

Rice was the oldest living Tomcat at 93 years of age.

Those 1942 Tomcats were a grand bunch, finishing a 10-0 season with a 70-0 victory over Russell in five-year-old Putnam Stadium. But it was a game the previous week against Manual, a 7-6 road victory for Ashland, that clinched the mythical championship, at least in the mind of the Tomcats.

The only touchdown came when J.C. Kennard returned the second half kickoff for a score, zigging and zagging all the way down the field, remembered Paul DeHart Sr. in a 2013 interview. Jim Stith kicked the extra point.

Rice had a long run to the Manual 5-yard line late in the game to seal the hard-fought victory.

A young man named Charles Ramey was the coach of the Tomcats and he was named Kentucky Coach of the Year in 1942 by the Courier Journal.

The coach of Manual that year was none other than former Ashland Tomcat coach Paul Jenkins, Ramey’s former high school coach in 1933 and dear friend who would later become his son’s godfather.

Ramey left Ashland because of a call to duty with the Marines where he was in World War II battles from 1943 to 1945. Second Lt. Charles Ramey piloted a battalion of armored amtracks and knocked out Japanese battalions who had secretly infiltrated the island of Peleliu.

Rice was one of several members from the 1930s and 1940s classes at Ashland High School – Dick Patrick, Bun Wilson, Jack Nuckols, Rudy Gute and Ralph Felty were some of the others -who fought in the Battle of Okinawa. More than 100,000 Japanese combatants died in that battle, one of the last of World War II.

Doc Rice was a corporal in the Marines. His nickname of “Doc” came because his father was a doctor and it stuck with him for a lifetime.

Back in those days, there weren’t playoff games but Ashland and Glasgow were the only undefeated teams remaining that season. Both put dibs in on the state title.

Doc Rice, who broke three ribs and his nose that season, was one of the reasons why the Tomcats held that status. He was joined in the backfield by Kennard and Spencer Heaton and Ashland dominated opponents with a punishing single-wing attack.

Only three games were even close — 12-7 over Charleston High, 19-6 over Ironton and the win over Manual. Ashland never allowed more than a touchdown in a game and had five shutouts on the way to outscoring foes 341-31.

Doc and Jackie Rice were my neighbors when my family first moved to Grandview Drive in the 1960s. It was sad to hear about Doc’s passing but his Tomcat legacy will live on.