BOB PORTER From A Tiger To A Bear
When we get a bit older the memories of the great times we had from sports we played in our youth seem to come to the surface in our minds from time to time. Along with the memories comes smiles.
Paintsville has had many great athletes over the years, both boys and girls, all sports. Here is one.
FOOTBALL: Bob Porter played quarterback at Paintsville for a great coach in Walter Brugh. Bob was a good one, too. In 1964 he was named a quarterback to the East squad in the East-West game. Earlier in the season in one game in November of that senior season for Porter against Mt. Sterling he returned a punt for a 35 yard TD, passed to James (Glue Fingers” Tackett for a 77 yard gain and kicked one extra point in a 48-0 win.
BASKETBALL: The 1963-64 Paintsville Tiger basketball squad was one of their many great teams from over the years.
In their first six games of the season they won by margins of 19, 30, 17, 17, 02 and 14 and then played in the prestigious Ashland Invitational Tournament where they won two of three games, falling only to Ashland 65-62 in a Tomcats vs. Tigers catfight.
They then won the next nine games before falling to another great mountain team in Breathitt County by six points-in point another catfight with Bobcats vs. Tigers. in a rematch against Ashland the Tigers again came up with a three point loss. From that point thru the remaining six games they again were victorious. Maybe it was the cats vs. cats games. Most likely it was just great head to head competition.
The Tigers breezed through the eight team 59th District Tournament in 1964 defeating Louisa 91-36, Warfield 54-47 and taking the championship crown with a 77-63 victory over Inez and its great player Orville Stepp. But Paintsville had some great players, too. Bob Porter led the scoring with 24 while Rex Sublett had 14. Stepp had 36 for Inez.
Bob Porter and Jim Allen were seniors and were just as steady on defense as they were on offense. Both were seniors. The Tigers also had junior Rex Sublett playing guard and playing some great basketball. All three would make the All District Tournament team. All three were multisport stars at Paintsville.
In the 15th Region Tournament Paintsville played Martin, a team that had gone 17-16 going into the Regional. Paintsville had defeated the Purple Flash by 25 and 20 point margins in the season. But this was for survival and Martin played them fairly close. The Tigers prevailed with a 69-66 victory. Not nearly the points the Tigers had put up in the first two meetings ( 98 and 82) but still they moved on.
The Tigers next played Inez, a team they had beaten twice in regular season play, once in the Paintsville Invitational and again in the District Tournament final. Paintsville could not survive the fifth meeting although they had defeated the Indians by margins of twelve, four, seventeen and fourteen. This time the Tigers went down clawing, 57-56.
Bob Porter and Jim Allen were both named to the All Region team. That concluded a season of 27-4 for the Tigers under the guidance of Coach Jim Wheeler. It was his first year back as coach after first heading them up from the 1950-51 season thru the 1958-59 season. After that 1963-64 return he stayed two more seasons at the helm. Then he came back again from the 1972-73 season thru the 1977-78 season.
Porter and Allen both received scholarships to play basketball at Baylor. Allen opted to play at Dallas Baptist College before going to Baylor for his last year or two. Porter would letter three seasons for the Bears under coach Bill Menefee. Menafee had been the first ever All American at North Texas State before going to the marines in WWll. He would there become friends with Syd Garland who would make Paintsville his home and therein lies the connection of how Menefee heard of the great players from so far away. In Paintsville, KY.
Menefee was quoted in a 1968 edition of the Waco News-Tribune as saying “ Porter gave us the kind of hard play you’ve got to have . He was driving in there, penetrating their defense, putting up the short jumpers and hitting.” In a crucial game that threw Baylor into a three way tie for the Southwest Conference lead, the Bears were playing Arkansas, then in the SWC. A newspaper report said that the team was upset over a call with a two point lead late in the game and the bench was up and yelling when Porter ran by the bench and said “You all sit down. We got ‘em.” They did get them and threw the SWC into a three way tie. Porter scored 18 in that game.
That is just one small memory from a bunch for Bob Porter. This year’s Baylor University NCAA championship sure brought up some great memories for him. Along with the biggest win in the school’s boys basketball history came a large smile on his face. “ It made me feel great” is how he described it to me.
Bob was invited back to Waco to join in a celebration of the national title along with other past players but it fell on a day he could not miss an important doctor’s appointment. “ Those were fun years. I wish I could go back and relive it all again.”
Remember our first line in this article? It sure applies here. I am glad it does for him.
