‘Buffalo’ stampede in 1954

Oct. 22, 1954 was a memorable night in Ashland Tomcat football history.

You just may know have known it.

It happened to be the night there was a “Buffalo” stampede in Fort Thomas.

“Buffalo” Bill Hopkins, who will be feted tonight as the Elks Sports Day honoree, ran for 112 yards and a 56-yard touchdown as the Tomcats crushed the Highlands Bluebirds, 38-6. It was one of back-to-back 100-yard games for Hopkins during his senior season, the other coming the following week when Ashland defeated Newport Central Catholic, 32-6.

Here’s the kicker about the win over Highlands: It happens to be the last time the Tomcats defeated the Bluebirds.

Earl “Brother” Adkins, left, “Buffalo” Bill Hopkins, middle and Paul Reliford from the glorious 1950s in Ashland. All three men have passed.

They tied in 1955 and since then Highlands has reeled off 15 consecutive victories, including five in the playoffs.

But on Oct. 22, 1954, the night belonged to Buffalo Bill, who rambled for all his yardage during the first half. Not even one carry after intermission.

It was a dominating performance by the Tomcat defense, too, limiting Highlands to 29 yards rushing in handing the Bluebirds their first loss of the season.

Ashland rushed for a season-high 253 yards, led by Hopkins. The Tomcats lost four fumbles and had 125 yards in penalities but still managed to make it a one-sided affair.

Ashland finished 5-4-1 under coach Denver Ball but ranked ninth in the state Litkenhous Rankings. The schedule was brutal, with losses coming to Stonewall Jackson, Portsmouth, Ironton, Louisville Manual and Greenbriar Military Academy. All of the games were tight.

Highlands and Ashland was expected to be a tossup since both teams had tied Lafayette.

Buffalo and Co. made sure that it went the Tomcats’ way. Paul Reliford hauled in four passes for 72 yards in the win.

An article in the Oct. 23, 1954 Ashland Daily Independent said that about 800 paying fans witnessed the game, including a dozen or so from Ashland.

It is interesting to note that the Tomcat band did make the trip, too.

The following week, in Putnam Stadium, Ashland played Newport Central Catholic for the first time and Hopkins got the Tomcats off to a rousing start with an 85-yard touchdown run on the first play from scrimmage.

That set the tone for the night as Hopkins ran for 125 yards and a pair of touchdowns.

Hopkins broke free on the first play off a nice block from quarterback Herbie Thompson.

Reliford had a 60-yard TD on an end-around later in the game.

George Rupert, Gilly Layman, Ralph Clere, Charlie Phillps, Larry Highley, Thompson, Reliford, Clarence “Red” Sparks, Ace Bowman and Bill Sutphin were among the players on the 1954 Tomcats.

Hopkins and Phillips were co-captains.

Five players — Highley, Phillips, Reliford, Thompson and Sparks — were honorable mention All-State selections.

Hopkins played quarterback as a sophomore when the Tomcats went 6-2-2 but missed his junior season because of illness.

In his Tomcat career, he accounted for 1,271 yards and 12 touchdowns.

He played the ’54 season and then graduated that December although he went through ceremonies with the ’55 class.

Hopkins also played on the 1953-54 Tomcat basketball team that finished third in the state. He scored in double figures twice that season as one of the first players off the bench, averaging 4.4 points per game.

Of course, Hopkins is best known for his community work with Armco and Ashland Oil and as the longtime mayor of the city of Russell.

He and his wife, Ruth, have made major inroads with community work in the Russell area, including a new senior center

But “Buffalo” has some sports history with the Tomcats, too.

Just ask the good folks of Fort Thomas.

Coach Haywood’s life wasn’t just football. He was a guiding light for others.

The late great Philip Haywood was a mountain mover, putting that brand of football on the Kentucky high school football stage in magnificent ways throughout a brilliant career. During a 50-year coaching career, he amassed eight state championships, six runner-up finishes and an astounding 491 victories – more than any coach in Kentucky high school history – while serving as the head coach at Prestonsburg (nine seasons) and Belfry (41).

Fifty-years!

His passing on Wednesday doesn’t just leave a void, it leaves a deep hole in the heart of the Pond Creek community – and the Kentucky high school football community for that matter – that will be impossible to replace. I’m certain they are in shock that he’s gone. When I saw the report on Wednesday afternoon that he had died, it literally took my breath away. Even knowing that he was in a serious accident with severe injuries from a car accident a few days earlier, I was not expecting that news. Not Coach Haywood. He was going to recover and be fine. Such a good, good man.

It wasn’t just his football coaching skills that made him extraordinary. His interpersonal skills with players, teachers, sportswriters and anybody that crossed his path made him a master of communications. You walked away from any conversations with Coach Haywood feeling better about yourself because that’s how he affected people and that was his aim.

Coach Philip Haywood was successful in football and life. (Photo by Joshua Ball)

It was never about him. “How are you doing? How is your family?” and on and on the questions would go. We would eventually get around to football, which he loved to talk about, too. “How are the Tomcats doing?” he would ask me even if I was calling him about an upcoming game with Russell.

After serving as an assistant coach for three years at Tates Creek and Meade County, he took his first head coaching assignment at Prestonsburg, his alma mater, in 1975. That’s also the year I started working for the Ashland Daily Independent. Over the next few years, as he was building on an incredible coaching resume, I was learning the ropes of a sportswriter.

Prestonsburg was on the edge of our coverage area and, being at the bottom of the food chain in the sports department, that’s where I was to begin. I can remember interviewing him even then and coming away thinking how likeable he was. And I’m sure he had to answer (endure?) some dumb questions from this still green-behind-the-ears aspiring journalist.

We spoke off and on throughout his Prestonsburg tenure. Not often but often enough that we knew each other. If he didn’t answer the phone himself, he always called me back even though the ADI wasn’t really the paper of Prestonsburg. We might have sent a few hundred copies to that part of the Big Sandy area. Our reach mostly stopped around Paintsville (I had a good relationship with the great Walter Brugh, too).

Over the years both of our careers were moving. When he took over at Belfry High School in 1984, I had moved up the ladder and mostly covered the bigger schools in the closer part of our coverage area – Russell, Boyd County and Ashland.

Coach Haywood and I spoke on occasion, especially for some incredible battles with Russell and coach Ivan McGlone. They were important games and always a great chess match between Hall of Fame coaches. They were usually defense-dominated games with a conversion or extra point deciding the outcome.

Win or lose, both of those coaches were humble. They may have been disappointed if defeat came but understood how the game was played, and life was more than what happened on Friday nights. They were incredible men who offered life lessons to players during good times and bad. Both offered such dynamic insight into life even on the hardest of days.

Coach Haywood and I continued to be friends as our careers continued. I began covering more of Ashland games and eventually became the sports editor in 1989. That came during Haywood’s building of Belfry’s great program.

Belfry and Ashland knocked heads a lot during his time – 16 games to be exact. The Tomcats got the better of him in 12 of those, including a state semifinal game in 2020 at Putnam Stadium when Ashland won 10-3 on the way to the Class 3A state championship.

Keontae Pittman races for a 17-yard gain against Belfry in the 2020 state semifinals at Putnam Stadium. The Tomcats won 10-3 and won the Class 3A title a week later. (Photo by Don McReynolds)

He always had a healthy respect for the Tomcats and during many of our conversations he said just that to me. That may date back to his first coaching job as an assistant coach at Tates Creek for Roy Walton in 1972. The Creekers defeated Ashland 16-7 in the state championship that season in the last game ever played at UK’s Stoll Field. That Tomcat team never got the lasting respect they deserved but that’s a column for another day.

It might also be because of a conversation he had once with Herb Conley, who came over to his bus after a Tomcat game, put his hand on his shoulder and told him he was a great coach and was going to have a great career. Haywood never forgot the gesture.

Walton was a mentor for Haywood right down to the reason he wore a coat and tie on the sidelines every Friday night. Walton told him coaching on Friday nights was like going to the symphony so why not dress up. Tates Creek was 13-0 in that 1972 season.

Ashland was 4-3 at Belfry when Haywood was coaching and 8-1 in Putnam Stadium with the defeat (31-14) coming in 1989. That was the year before the Tomcats won the Class 4A title in 1990, which included a 35-20 victory at Belfry after the Tomcats had fallen behind at the half.

There were some important battles between Russell and Belfry over the years as well. Games that meant state championship appearances for the winner.

He carried so much respect for Ashland and Russell as I suspect he did for any opponent he was preparing to play. That’s just how he rolled. Respect the game, respect the opponent.

But Coach Haywood knew at the end of the day there were things a lot more important than a football game. He instilled that notion in his players, modeling what a Christian should be, showing these young men the importance of a relationship with Jesus. They didn’t have to look far for a role model that would not steer them wrong.

I cannot imagine what the Belfry community is experiencing right now. The word “loss” isn’t enough. Irreplaceable comes to mind. Greatness comes to mind. But not loss, because Coach Haywood was never about that word. It was always gain for him. Even in defeat there was something to be learned. He found a way to learn and teach even on the hardest days. He is teaching now that this is how you live and there is a reward. “Well done good and faithful servant” is what he heard Wednesday. And it wasn’t for his 491 victories and eight state championships. It was for a life that led others to Jesus. There is no bigger victory.

Steve Gilmore: A hero in his Ashland hometown

Steve Gilmore held three of the most volatile positions that anyone could have in Ashland – the city mayor, the school superintendent and the Tomcat head basketball coach.

Those are three of the most second-guessed jobs in Ashland. Every decision is publicly scrutinized, criticized and magnified unfairly. In Gilmore’s case though, at the end of the day, those decisions he made were more often than not celebrated.

“Everybody is a coach, and everybody is a mayor, and everybody thinks they want to be superintendent,” Gilmore told me in one of several stories that was written about him. “I think you develop perspectives. You learn perspective so much better. You don’t have that growing up and in the eye of the storm.”

He’s made friends and made enemies, pleased some and angered others. But, along the way, Gilmore said he’s always tried to be fair. He also considered himself fortunate to have lived and worked in a place he loved so much.

“I’ve been the most blessed person in my hometown,” he told me. “I may be the most blessed person anywhere.”

Gilmore has stood firm even in the face of criticism be it as the Tomcat basketball coach, city commissioner, mayor or superintendent.

Steve Gilmore presented me with “Mark Maynard Day” after retiring from the newspaper in 2017. He was always a friend even if the story didn’t go the way he may have liked.

The late David Payne, of his best friends, once told me about Gilmore: “He stands by what he believes. You have to admire that. All those jobs have their share of second-guessing. But he never backs down.”

Heartfelt tributes are pouring in for Gilmore, who died early Wednesday morning after an extended illness. He is a giant in Ashland lore, somebody who had a deep love for the city where he grew up and a favorite son whose impact will be felt for generations to come whether it was in politics or school administration.

But he’s even more Ashland than that. Gilmore pitched in the first Little League game in Ashland history in 1955, played against the great 1961 Tomcats as a high-scoring star for Holy Family and became the youngest coach in Ashland history at 27 years old in 1972. He was also on the ground floor of the rebuild of Putnam Stadium which today is one of the state’s best places to watch high school football.

Steve Gilmore was a popular politician who was a city commissioner and eventually the mayor, even running unopposed one term which, at the time, was also a first in Ashland history. Like any politician, he had an ego but he did not let it get in the way of fairness, a trait he carried with him throughout his life.

Gilmore had a sense of Ashland history, too, which was why he was so humbled when awarded the Elks Sports Day recipient in 2012. He was awed by those who had come before him and even helped him become the person he was. The history was important to him.

Steve Gilmore posed with good friends David Payne, Dicky Martin and Donna Childers Suttle at Putnam Stadium in 2014. Gilmore was the Ashland school superintendent who was on the ground floor of the rebuild that was completed this fall.

Few have had the passion for the city Gilmore exhibited, said Charlie Reliford in a 2012 interview. During Reliford’s umpiring days, he was nicknamed “Mr. Ashland” for his constant references to his hometown.

“As I started to leave Ashland — and you know how much I care about Ashland — I always felt like he cared more than I did. He took the job as mayor when Ashland Oil was leaving, and it looked like hard times. But he made things better. He’s always been a great representative of Ashland, Kentucky, no matter what he was doing.”

Gilmore was a standout basketball player for Holy Family, where he graduated in 1961, and he went on to play four years of basketball at Rio Grande. The basketball teams from Gilmore’s era still meet every year for reunions, a testament to the closeness of the players and coach. He returned home after college, landing a job as a teacher/coach at Putnam Junior High. That started him on a long and highly successful trek right here in his hometown.

“This school district has been my life and it’s been good to me. It’s the people who you teach with, coach with and interact with that make it special,” Gilmore said during an interview after he was awarded as a Distinguished Tomcat. “It’s an older community, and I’m part of that. The whole community is Ashland, and I wouldn’t trade this town for any town in the world.”

Steve Gilmore spent a lifetime of serving Ashland in various capacities. He died on Dec. 11 at 81.

Gilmore’s journey took him from Ashland to Rio Grande and back to Ashland again where he remained a friend and vital cog in the community for more than five decades.

Ashland was home for him, and he didn’t want to be anyplace else.

“I’ve said this many times — and I certainly didn’t coin the phrase — but it’s hard to be a hero in your hometown,” Gilmore once told me.

In the case of Steve Gilmore, though, the cape with the A on it fits more perfectly than he dared to dream.

He will be remembered that way in Ashland. A hero, and a friend to the end. RIP, good friend.

Johnny Mullins made lasting impact as athlete, friend

The 1960s are considered a golden era in Ashland Tomcat sports. They won state high school championships in basketball, football and baseball in the decade and had some of the greatest athletes to ever wear maroon and white.

Few teams anywhere – not just in the 16^th Region but in all of Kentucky – could match them. Ashland put together powerful youth programs, especially in baseball, where state championships were quickly accumulated. That translated later to high school baseball teams from 1965-1969 when Ashland dominated the state with three titles, a semifinal finish and a runner-up finish during a five-year Tomcat Dynasty period that remains unmatched in state history.

The names from that era are forever remembered in Ashland. We sadly lost one of them last month with the passing of Johnny Mullins on Oct. 18. He was a brilliant athlete who excelled in baseball and basketball for the Tomcats while also starring on three memorable youth league championship teams, including the 1963 and 1964 Ashland American Little League state champions. The ’63 team was one win shy of being in the Little League World Series, losing to a team from North Houston 6-3. The following year, as a 13-year-old, he was on a Babe Ruth state champion, and he was just getting started. He was a star from the beginning with clutch performances on the mound and at the plate.

John Mullins stands behind Jim Speaks, a pair of fireball pitchers who were inducted into the CP-1 Hall of Fame in 2017. Both former Tomcat stars passed away in 2024.

Johnny was loved and admired by his teammates because if he was on your team, he made you better. He was a special talent.

Ashland’s baseball coaches recognized that in 1967 when they invited Mullins, who was a freshman at Coles Jr. High, to try out for the team. During that era, freshmen never played varsity in any sport. Ever. They would wait their turn not just in the freshman year but usually the sophomore year, too. But the Tomcats needed a shortstop and Mullins’ talent was undeniable. Let’s give the kid a shot, they said.

While he didn’t ultimately start at shortstop, he was a valuable reserve and pitched some too. That was unheard of for a freshman, and this was a team coming off an undefeated state championship season. All they did that season was win another state championship, and then another during Mullins’ sophomore year when he played a starring role.

Mullins was an easy selection for the CP-1 Hall of Fame in 2017 because of the gigantic roles he played on Tomcat teams of that era, including as a junior when he helped the Tomcats reach the state championship game for an unprecedented fourth consecutive year where they suffered a 1-0 loss to Owensboro in the championship game. As a senior, he took a depleted Tomcat team back to the regional championship game and Mullins’ will to win had a lot to do with that.

As a standout basketball player, he started on teams that went to the Sweet 16 in back-to-back seasons in 1969 and 1970 and reached the state semifinals in ’69 before losing an 82-80 heartbreaker to Ohio County. Playing in the final four is rare air even for Ashland, which has advanced that far only three times in the 55 years since.

Johnny Mullins was a natural athlete and good at anything he tried. He could have jumped off the high dive at Southside Pool for the first time and splashed down into the water after doing a triple flip without creating so much as a ripple, then move over’ to the basketball court and play the rest of the day because his team would never lose – and winners always stayed up at Southside. Then he might go down to the park and throw horseshoes and win there, too. Athletes like him do not come along often. The 1960s were full of them at Ashland and John Mullins rightly stands with the best of them.

The characteristics that made him a good athlete also made him a loyal friend and a loving husband, father, grandfather and brother. Family and friends mattered most to him.

Was he perfect? Of course not. None of us are. But it is what we do with those learning experiences that matter. As a professional, Mullins worked as a counselor at a day treatment center to help troubled youth in Ashland. Helping was what he did best. He related well to those he counseled, and they listened to his advice.

If you were in his circle, you could always count on him to be there in difficult times. He wanted to be that person who makes a difference, just like he did as an athlete.

Ashland lost a treasured friend on Oct. 18, but his legacy as an athlete, friend, and family man will be everlasting. A memorial ceremony to honor John Mullins will take place in the lobby of Paul G. Blazer High School on Nov. 16 from 2-4 p.m.

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