Today's News

At one time, junior colleges were as much a part of the major college basketball scene as Dick Vitale.

OK, OK. We will agree that nothing could be like Dickie V, but players who went through two-year programs, then played a major role at a big time program were common.

Forget the ending of what many call the greatest college basketball game ever played for a minute. Focus on nearly eight minutes earler when Kentucky had stunnded the hoops world as Dale Brown swished a three-pointer from the right side that put the Wildcats in front of mighty Duke 89-87.

The city of Lawrenceburg’s efforts to build a “spray garden” in the city park near the American Legion complex is being met with criticism in this week’s letters to the editor, including a 13-year-old who calls it a “big waste of money.”

“It’s basically sprinklers which, let’s face it, aren’t that fun for very long. Wouldn’t it be so much better to have a pool with water slides?” writes Brooke Tindall. “It would cost the city $90,000. In my opinion this is a big waste of money.”

Charles Woods Jr. probably never set out to be a role model, but Lawrenceburg would be hard-pressed to find a better one.

Woods, who died Saturday at the age of 76, epitomized the ideals of small-town America by quietly giving of his time and talents to make Lawrenceburg a better, safer place to live.

I wish anyone who has ever been Larry Bird or Rex Chapman swishing the game-winner could have heard David Wood speak Saturday night.

It makes no difference if you play street ball in Kokomo, on a dirt court at the foot of a Harlan County mountain or at a gym in between. David Wood was talking to you.

“This series is awful special to me and it is to a lot of people. I’m a historian and I love this series,” Wood said. “I grew up in Indianapolis, and I remember Billy Keller, Oscar Robertson and George McGinnis.”