What Travis Perry Did After Two State Tourney Wins Might Surprise You

Les Nicholson Photo

He was already the state’s all-time leading scorer, had been named Kentucky’s Mr. Basketball and the Kentucky Gatorade Player of the Year, and has signed with the University of Kentucky.

So what do you think Lyon County star Travis Perry did after his team beat Ashland in its first state tournament game?

Answer: He spent time writing an essay for a college prep class he’s taking to make sure he kept his A in the class.

So what do you think Perry did the day after Lyon beat Harlan County to win the school’s first state title in his final high school game?

Answer: He had a paper to write for another college prep class.

That’s what keeping a perfect 4.0 grade-point average and being one of the class valedictorians means to him.

Other schools called off classes for state and one might think Perry would have been given a little slack by Lyon officials since he was trying to win a state title. However, the UK signee said since they were college level classes, Lyon officials had no say in when his work was due.

“But it was fine. It all worked out,” Perry said on WLAP Sunday Morning Sports.

He explained again how special winning a state title was for a school with less than 300 students and how proud he was to have done it playing for his dad, Lyon coach Ryan Perry.

“To share that feeling with my dad and guys I grew up playing with and to get the community support we did was a special feeling,” Perry said.

That community support was on full display when the Lyons returned home to Eddyville one day after winning the state title.

“It was crazy. We had a police escort 2 1/2 hours from home. We got back to Eddyville and the exit (off the interstate) was shut down because there were so many people on the side of the road waiting for us,” Perry said. “It was pretty incredible to see all the fans. I think pretty much everybody in Lyon County was there.”