It always interests me concerning the men for whom a district elects to name a school. Simon Kenton, the man for whom Independence, Kentucky elected to christen its high school, was an interesting guy by all accounts.
Simon Kenton was a legendary frontiersman in Ohio and the Midwest. He was born on April 3, 1755, in Fauquier County, Virginia. He grew up helping his father on the family farm and therefore had little opportunity to go to school.
At the age of sixteen, Kenton became involved in a fight involving a woman. Believing he had killed a man, he fled to the Ohio Country where he changed his name to Simon Butler.
In 1782, Kenton would discover the man he believed he had killed had actually lived. Therefore, Simon was able to resume his family name of “Kenton” abandoning “Butler.”
Kenton spent the next two years hunting along the Ohio River. In 1774, he served as a scout during Lord Dunmore’s War.
By 1775, Kenton had moved to Boonesborough, Kentucky. For the next few years, he worked as a scout for the settlement, often coming in contact with the local American Indians. At one point, Kenton is said to have saved the life of Daniel Boone.
During the American Revolution, Kenton participated in a number of military engagements against the British and their American Indian allies. In 1778, he joined George Rogers Clark on a difficult but successful expedition into the Illinois Country to attack British outposts as well as American Indian settlements.
Returning home, he accompanied Daniel Boone in an attack on the Shawnees’s settlement of Chillicothe near what is now Oldtown, Ohio. That same year, Kenton was captured by American Indians, who tortured him and attempted to burn him at the stake.
Simon Girty rescued him and instead of his being killed, Kenton was sent to Fort Detroit as part of a prisoner trade with the British. By mid-1779, Kenton was free and had returned to service under George Rogers Clark.
There is a guy pioneering his own path at the high school named for the legendary early frontiersman. His name is Josh Bowling and if he keeps playing like he did over his junior year we may be writing about him in a few hundred years.
Bowling is over 6-2 (6-2.5) and weighs 220-pounds. He plays MLB, boasts a 4.16 GPA, and was among Class 6A’s leaders in tackles in ’21, finishing runner-up to Gabe Savage from Ryle High.
Bowling had 123-total hits as a junior. He registered 3-TFLs and a QB-sack to go with 2-FFs and a FR. If there is a criticism, and we are just nit-picking here, we would like to see him get more “down hill” and make more plays in the opponent’s backfield.
Regardless of what we think, and we are high on this prospect to insure clarity, primetime schools recruiting Kentucky are showing plenty of interest. He has visited Miami of Ohio and his visits to programs in the FBS will only continue.
Bowling reminds us plenty of Johnson Central’s Zack Russell. Russell was a favorite of the magazine in the ’21 class who inked with a FBS, mid-major, and we believe doing likewise may well be Bowling’s floor, not his ceiling.
In either event, Josh Bowling has been blazing quite a path for himself and looks to continue such efforts in the Fall of ’22. If he keeps going at his present rate, he may discover himself at the top of the heap among 6A tacklers for the second consecutive season.
This is Coach HB Lyon, reporting for KPGFootball, and we’re JUST CALLING IT LIKE WE SEE IT!
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