Mr. Basketball Jake Feldhaus with, from left, his father Deron and uncles Allen and Willie. (Tonia Witt Photo)
Allen Feldhaus Sr. was an all-state basketball player at Boone County High School and then played for coach Adolph Rupp at Kentucky. He coached high school basketball at Russell County before moving to Mason County and had a 512-210 career record that included 325 wins at Mason where he won four regional titles. His 1981 team was state runner-up.
Allen Feldhaus Jr. played for his father at Mason and was on the 1981 team, the first team in school history to make the state tournament. He scored 1,234 points in his career. He played at Eastern Kentucky University and then coached at Clinton County and Green County before coming to Madison Central in 1986. His 2013 team won the state championship and he has over 750 career wins.
If that was not enough to make this year memorable, Jake Feldhaus was named Kentucky’s Mr. Basketball and the Kentucky Gatorade Player of the Year. The 6-foot-8 Feldhaus averaged 20.7 points, 13 rebounds, 2.5 assists and 1.8 blocks while shooting 57.6 percent from the floor and had 30 double-doubles in 34 games playing for his uncle, Allen Jr, at Madison Central.
Jake Feldhaus is the son of Deron Feldhaus, who was also named Kentucky Gatorade Player of the Year in 1987 at Mason County playing for his father. Deron Feldhaus went on to play for the University of Kentucky and was part of the “Unforgettables” for coach Rick Pitino in 1991-92 that lost that historic NCAA Tournament regional final to Duke.
Deron Feldhaus said it is only right that his father and brother are going into the Hall of Fame at the same time.
“It really is special to go in with him,” Allen Feldhaus Jr., 64, said. “He is the reason we all do what we do. He is the hero to all of us in the Feldhaus family. He has been gone almost nine years now but sometimes after big games I still catch myself wanting to grab a phone and call him.”
If that was not enough to make the year special, Ashton Feldhaus — Allen’s daughter — was the head coach at Morehead State for the women’s basketball program during the 2025-26 season and did so well that she has now moved up to the head coaching job at McNeese State. The Eagles finished 18-15, including 13-7 in Ohio Valley Conference play.
Ashton Feldhaus played at Madison Central from 2010-13 and won regional titles in 2011 and 2013. She played for the Kentucky all-stars against Indiana and set an all-star record with six 3-pointers in a game at Freedom Hall in 2013. She played her college basketball at Butler and UT-Martin and then spent five years as an assistant coach at Eckerd College (Florida) before winning 20 games in her first season as head coach at Missouri Western in 2024-25.
“To see my grandfather and father go into the Hall of Fame, Jake be named Mr. Basketball, and to have a successful season myself, it’s been incredibly special for our family,” said Ashton Feldhaus. “There’s just a lot of pride right now in the Feldhaus name and what it represents in Kentucky.
“As we all get older we see how important it is to lean on family because they’re the reason any of this is possible. I just keep reminding myself to stay where my feet are and just am so grateful for where I’m at today.”
