Former Laurel County All-American Lisa Collins passes at age 59

Lisa Collins was a Parade All-American and Kentucky Miss Basketball. (Photo by UK Athletics)

When I started full-time work at The Advocate-Messenger in Danville in 1975, that was about the same time girls basketball became a sanctioned sport by the Kentucky High School Athletic Association.

One of the best teams immediately was Laurel County under coach Roy Bowling. Not only did Laurel dominate the 12th Region, it dominated the state and one of the star players was Lisa Collins.

She helped Laurel win three straight state championships from 1977-79 and finished her career with 1,840 points, 401 rebounds and 385 assists. By today’s standards, those are impressive numbers. However, for those old enough to remember girls basketball over 40 years ago, you know those were huge numbers.

I thought about all that and more when I learned Sunday about Collins’ recent passing at age 59. I know no circumstances of what happened. I just know that’s way too young for her to be gone.

Collins was a skilled scorer and passer. Her skills were way more advanced than 98 percent of Kentucky’s high school players — one reason she was an easy pick for induction into the Kentucky High School Basketball Hall of Fame a few years ago. Laurel was 124-9 during her career and I can still remember her making two free throws in the final seconds of the 1977 state title game to give Laurel its first state championship.

She was named a Parade Magazine First Team All-American in 1980, the nation’s highest honor for a prep player at the time. She was also named Kentucky’s Miss Basketball in 1980.

Collins played at the University of Kentucky where she was a four-year starter and was on UK’s 1982 Southeastern Conference championship team and 1983 team that was ranked as high as No. 4 nationally.