Mike “The Missile” Minix
Dick Butkus, Joe Namath, John Huarte, and Tucker Frederickson were oft-heard names in Sunday NFL games. However, Mike “The Missile” Minix was the MVP of the game with all those storied players: the 1960 North-South football game.
A Florida newspaper reported that “The missile and some muscle, the lean Southern kind that doesn’t wilt under heat and pressure, as the South, in 80 degree heat, defeated the North, 26-21.”
Minix signed to play for Coach Blanton Collier at the University of Kentucky, joining the freshman class of 1961. However, Collier was replaced by Charlie Bradshaw, a UK player from the 1940s and former Marine drill sergeant. His brutal practice and conditioning drove off many players, including Minix.
Minix concentrated on his studies and eventually became an eye surgeon with practices in Paintsville and Ashland.
Mike “The Missile” Minix was inducted into the Kentucky Sports Hall of Fame and the Paintsville Sesquicentennial Sports Hall of Fame.
Minix’s son, also named Mike, played on the great Paintsville teams of the late 1980s with John Pelphrey, Joey Couch, and others. He was also a multi-sport star.
After a very successful career Mike Minix retired and moved to Florida.
