Zack Klemme: Carpenter's impact memorable

Apr. 23—One of the fascinating features of sports on the local level — in northeastern Kentucky and elsewhere — is that some of the most distinctive figures become that way despite having never stepped between the lines nor so much as donned a uniform.

John Carpenter fit that bill. Carpenter, proudly a native of tiny Firebrick in Lewis County, instead was known locally and beyond for assembling what Ripley's Believe It or Not! has called the world's largest private collection of sports memorabilia. It began with an autographed photo of the Dolphins' Nick Buoniconti in the 1970s and grew to about 8,000 pieces, Carpenter estimated to WBIR-TV of Knoxville, Tennessee, in 2019.

Carpenter died this week in his early 60s. Carpenter is believed to have fallen in Ewing, where he was living, and was found unresponsive, longtime Lewis County sporting figure Gary Kidwell said.

Carpenter never played sports at Lewis County High School, said Kidwell, who taught Carpenter driver's education there in the 1970s. But he still developed a deep love for sports, beginning by closely following the Lions and the Cincinnati Reds.

For many years, there weren't many Lewis County sporting events — or even other big games elsewhere in the area that didn't involve his alma mater — at which Carpenter wasn't in attendance wearing Yankees attire or something purple in support of Mount Union (Ohio), his adopted college football program.

Carpenter was quick to rattle off the Purple Raiders' sterling statistics — most impressive of which is their 13 NCAA Division III national titles. He was a stathead, faithfully reporting impressive statistics or distinctions involving area or state sports to Ripley's and Guinness World Records.

Carpenter was also well-known within the northeastern Kentucky and Tri-State media communities for his eagerness to share that passion with them. It was not uncommon to field a phone call from Carpenter in the newsroom at any hour or to be approached by him at a ball game about a sporting artifact or the latest impressive statistic that had caught his eye — memorialized by social media reactions to the news he had died from several current and former media members from Portsmouth to Huntington.

It wasn't immediately known what will become of Carpenter's collection, but he had expressed interest in having it find a museum. Here's hoping that is what happens to it.

Royal Numeral

Kansas City Royals minor-leaguer Gage Hughes is the latest northeastern Kentucky product to change his jersey number to honor the late Ben Jordan.

Hughes, a Greenup County alumnus, asked the Royals to wear 3 on his uniform in memory of Jordan, a West Carter graduate and Kentucky baseball and basketball player who died in January.

"I changed to Ben's number to honor him and his love for baseball," Hughes said.

West Carter's Tyson Webb and Rowan County's Kandace Chandler also changed their uniform numbers to 3 during the recently completed basketball season.

Olivia's OVC

Morehead State freshman Olivia Hensley has been named All-Ohio Valley Conference in women's golf, the league announced Sunday.

Hensley, a Boyd County alumna, shot 1,131 over 15 rounds, averaging 75.4 strokes per round to tie for fifth-best in the OVC.

She was also named to the conference's All-Newcomer Team and finished the regular season ranked second among OVC freshmen in stroke average.

Hensley finished fifth at the Pinehurst Women's Intercollegiate before tying for 13th at the Golfweek Spring Invitational.

Eagles sophomore MacKenzie Neal joined Hensley from Morehead State as All-OVC.

Tyndall Time

Donnie Tyndall is back in a national men's college basketball tournament.

Tyndall, formerly the coach at Morehead State (and before that a volunteer assistant at Lewis County), and Chipola College won the Florida College System Activities Association state championship on April 10 to qualify for the National Junior College Athletic Association Tournament.

On Wednesday, the Indians knocked off Shelton State, 73-60, to advance to tonight's NJCAA national quarterfinals against Indian River State College — the team it beat in the state title game.

Tyndall, five years from the end of an NCAA show-cause penalty for recruiting violations, recently told the Tennessean he "(doesn't) take that for granted" to be coaching college basketball again, even if it is far from the bright lights of Tennessee, his last Division I job.

"Do I want to get back someday? Yes," he says. "I'd be lying if I said I didn't. I do want to get back. Is it the be-all and end-all for me like it was five or six years ago? It's not. And that's not because I'm not hungry and driven. At the end of the day, there's more to life."

And, in the meantime, a shot at a title.

Barrier Back

Ironton graduate Lexie Barrier is a new assistant women's basketball coach at Marshall, the Herd announced Thursday.

Barrier left the Lady Tigers as their all-time leading scorer and capped her high school career by leading Ironton to an undefeated berth in the Division III state semifinals. She was voted Southeast District Player of the Year and Ohio Division III Co-Player of the Year as a senior in 2016 before going on to a college career at James Madison, where she was twice all-conference.

"I am beyond ecstatic to be starting my coaching career back home," Barrier said in a release. "(Marshall) coach (Tony) Kemper has provided me an amazing opportunity and I can't wait to get to work."

Added Kemper: "Lexie brings championship experience to our program, both as a player and coach. Her ties to the Tri-State area run deep and will serve her well in recruiting this region."

Thomas Moves On

Of interest in the northeastern Kentucky high school football world: Mason County coach Jonathan Thomas resigned Wednesday to become the district's transportation director.

The Royals reside in Class 3A, District 6 with Fleming County and Lewis County. Mason County dressed a roster numbering in the 20s in the Class 4A playoffs at Ashland in 2016 before building back up to 53 players last fall, as tallied by The Ledger Independent, and the Royals were regarded as in the mix for a district championship in 2020 before their season was cut short by COVID-19.

Mason County went 24-37 in six seasons under Thomas, including a 7-4 mark in 2017.

The Royals, long a force in a more northeastern Kentucky-oriented Class 3A district earlier this century, had only four seniors last season, said the Maysville newspaper, so they should aim to return to such glory days. Fleming County currently sits as top dog in the district and owns eight straight wins against Mason County.

Title Update

An updated edition of the Ashland Tomcat football record book that includes the 2020 championship season is available.

The 300-page book has 30 additional full-color pages dedicated to the champion Tomcats. The first edition went through the 2018 season.

It is available for $45 at Pollock's Jewelry or through Mark Maynard. Contact Maynard through Facebook or email him at mainrod@windstream.net. A limited number of books are in stock.

Books that need to be mailed will be an additional $8.

Reach ZACK KLEMME at zklemme@dailyindependent.com or (606) 326-2658. Follow @zklemmeADI on Twitter.