(WKUSports photo)
A former Lyon County skipper who enjoyed a lengthy head coaching career in Kentucky is a member of the latest class of inductees into the Kentucky High School Basketball Hall of Fame. Curtis Turley, who played basketball at Crittenden County, is a 32-year veteran of the high school coaching ranks.
He began his coaching travels at Berea, then was head coach at Lyon County in 1979 and 1980.Christian County head coach Kerry Stovall was a starting guard at Lyon County on Turley’s 28-6 squad in 1979-80. Turley has also coached at Warren Central, Graves County, Henderson County, Greenwood, Shelby County, Daviess County, Lexington Catholic, Louisville Manual, Warren East and Martha Layne Collins.
Turley ranks 14th on the state’s all-time wins list, compiling a 624-321 career record. Turley is also a former assistant coach on the women’s basketball team at Western Kentucky University.
Also selected was William Falls, the former head basketball coach at Attucks High School in Hopkinsville who later became an assistant coach at Hopkinsville High after consolidation. Falls led his teams to two state titles in the Kentucky High School Athletic League and took his teams to the KHSAL state tournament 12 times. Attucks also made three National Negro Tournament appearances under Falls, including a third-place finish in 1957.
After integration brought Attucks into the Kentucky High School Athletic Association, Falls took his team to the state tourney in 1959 and finished fourth. Falls began his coaching career in Hopkinsville in 1935. He compiled a 515-200 record at Attucks. He was killed in a car-train accident near Hopkinsville on Dec. 13, 1973.
Others chosen for Hall of Fame induction were Sammy Moore, 1978 Mr. Basketball Doug Schloemer, 1978 Miss Basketball Irene Moore, Robin Harmon, Charles Hurt, 1984 Mr. Basketball Steve Miller, Scott Draud, 1995 Mr. Basketball Charles Thomas, 1999 Mr. Basketball Rick Jones, and coach Nell Fookes.
Induction will take place Aug. 3, 2019, in Elizabethtown.
