Friday, August 17, 2007

 

Getting Kicks From Twins
and
What A Great Place To Live

My youngest son started high school this year. He's a big kid (14 years old, 6' 1", 215 lbs) and the strongest kid on the freshman football team. Today he got to scrimmage some with the varsity against another high school.

The big story isn't my son, except for me, or some of the other freshmen who show promise of being good enough to play college ball. The big story is the place kickers for the varsity, pictured below. They are twin sisters. One kicks extra points and the other kick-offs. It's bcome fairly common for a high school football team to have a girl or two on the team but how many have twins?


They both also play soccer, quite well it is told. During one of the kick-offs the female kicker got in on the tackle of the ball runner.

Because I couldn't resist, I've included a picture of my son standing close to one of the girls. He's not only large but incredibly handsome and intelligent. :-)










One of the things that amazes me about Maysville/Mason County is the number of high achievers it produces. Supreme Court Justice Stanley Reed, Rosemary Clooney, Miss America 2000 - Heather Renee French, and All-American basketball player Chris Lofton.

Last year Army free safety Jordan Murray, former Mason County player, intercepted Notre Dame quarterback Brady Quinn to break Quinn's streak of over 200 passes without an interception. At least one other West Point Cadet is from Maysville as well as another Maysvillian entered the Naval Academy this year.

Daniel Boone lived here once. His cousin, Jacob, is buried in an old cemetery in downtown. Confederate general Albert Sidney Johnson was born in what is now the "Old Washington" section of Maysville. Much of Harriet Beecher Stowe's inspiration for writing "Uncle Tom's Cabin" came from a visit to Old Washington. Being a friend of the son of the last people to live in the house in which Beecher stayed, my oldest son spent several nights in the house himself.
There are more in the making. Mason County High School has a senior basketball player currently considered the 32nd best high school player in the country. And I left out the All-American swimmer who just graduated from St. Patrick's High School in Maysville.

Not bad for a city/county totaling about 20,000 people. There are more to come, I'm sure.

My theory as to why the high number of successes is the positive side of small towns. Almost everyone does know everyone else. About the only people who don't are "newcomers" like me. I've only lived in the area for 17 years. People see the success of other members of their community as a reflection on themselves and their community.

When a young person shows promise they receive tremendous support from almost everyone. It's not like "Friday Night Lights". It's much more upbeat with lots of rah-rah "way to go" stuff and there is always someone there willing to help the kids as long as they're willing to be helped.

A couple of weeks ago, my youngest son told me he wanted his kids to grow up just like he did, in a small town with lots of friends and people cheering each other on. I often hear about kids hating living in a small town, etc. Well, that small town ain't Maysville, KY.

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