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HENDERSON, Ky. — Though Henderson County won its second straight 3-A state track championship in 1989, many of the key components of the dominant 1988 team were no longer around the following season.

“We lost half of that state team from ‘88,” said Doug Calhoun, who was a senior in 1989 and repeated as the state champion in the 110 high hurdles. It wasn’t just graduation that got in the Colonels’ way. “Three of our fastest guys got hurt and didn’t participate,” he said.

Coach David Mitchell plugged different athletes into new positions and the Colonels didn’t lose a meet the entire season – winning the indoor state championship at the Mason-Dixon Games in the winter and then capturing the outdoor state title with 67 points, finishing 27 points comfortably ahead of runner-up Eastern.

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The 1989 Colonels, who will be inducted into the Henderson County Sports Hall of Fame, built on the success of the previous year and developed an aura around the program that invigorated the team members and intimidated opponents.

Assistant coach Robert Johnson and Calhoun both recalled the maroon Adidas sweat suits the team wore. “I had buddies later from Louisville, who’d say ‘We were terrified of you guys. We saw that maroon. We didn’t know if you guys were on steroids or what? But y’all were the cockiest team.’ We weren’t cocky,” Calhoun said. “We just knew we were going to win.”

Mitchell used his powers of persuasion to build a roster of more than 50 athletes on the team that season.

“Coach Mitchell was very charismatic. He’d have the sweats in his arms. He’d say, ‘Here’s this. Show up after school. I want you to have it on.’ The kids are like ‘Huh?’” Johnson recalled. Mitchell would reply, “‘You look like you can do something and we are going to find something that you can do.’”

Mitchell would never take credit for the program’s success, Johnson said.

Johnson pointed to Kevin Sebree, who was a team captains and would be the team’s top point scorer in 1988. “He wanted to high jump. Coach said, “Look, you’re not going to be no high jumper. Either you’re going to run or you’re going to be in the stands,’” Johnson said.

Sebree finished third in the 100 dash in the state meet and was part of the second-place 400 relay team and third-place 1,600 relay team.

“(Coach Mitchell) made him run stairs. He ran cross country,” Calhoun said. “(Kevin) went from a little heavy-set high jumper that barely scored for us to one of the most dominant people in the state of Kentucky. Coach knew how to push those buttons.”

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The Colonels dominated the regional meet, beating runner-up Daviess County by 102 points. Ricky Hancock won region titles in the long jump and triple jump. Calhoun won the 110 and 300 hurdles. Sebree took the 100 and 200 dashes. Sean Wilder won the 3,200 run.

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They also won the 400 relay with the combination of Eugene Tramill, Hancock, Sebree and Calhoun and the 1,600 relay with the lineup of Jerome Royster, Willie Holmes, Tramill and Sebree.

Henderson County won the sectional meet in similar dominating fashion scoring 133 points and beating runner-up Warren Central by 73 points.

Hancock again swept the long jump and triple jump as did Calhoun in the hurdles. Sebree won the 100 dash, while the team of Daymon Carter, Hancock, Sebree and Tramill won the 400 relay.

In the state meet, Calhoun and Hancock won the team’s only individual state titles. Calhoun repeated as state champ in the 110 hurdles, while Hancock won the long jump and finished second in the triple jump. The Colonels racked up points from Sebree, who was third in the 100; Royster, who was third in the 400; Shawn McMahon, who was third in the shot put; Tony Krampe, who was third in the pole vault; and Jay Klutey, who was sixth in the discus. The 400 relay team finished second and the 1,600 relay team was third.

The team wasn’t just strong in one area but had quality athletes in the sprints, distance races and field events, Calhoun said. “We had a mutual fund. It was from A to Z. We were in almost every event.”

“The main thing is that the kids performed,” Johnson said. “They were talented, but they put in the work.”

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Ceremony information

The 2020 and 2021 inductees of the Henderson County Sports Hall of Fame will be honored at halftime of the Sept. 3 football game between Henderson County and Christian County, which kicks off at 7 p.m. The Hall of Fame banquet will be Sept. 4 at 6 p.m. at the Henderson County High School cafeteria. Tickets, which are $15, are available at WSON or from Hall of Fame committee members.