Slow Motion Replay: Ewell E. “Judge” Waddell laid down the law around Highlands High from 1942-1954 @HighlandsFB, @WaddellScholars, @khsaafootball, @KyHighFootball, @bigassfans, @minguabeefjerky, @WKUFootball

Waddell won 71% of his games and a ‘mythical’ state football title in 1943

In 1950, two fine football programs would play each other in the Granddaddy of the KHSAA bowl games, the Recreation Bowl in Mount Sterling, KY. The game would pit Highlands versus Prestonsburg. The game would match up two coaches, Judge Waddell from Highlands versus Doc Ferrell from Prestonsburg. Perhaps one of the more singular aspects of the game was that neither man practiced the profession for which they were nicknamed or christened. Ewell E. “Judge” Waddell was not a judge nor even a practicing attorney and Doc Ferrell was not a doctor. All of that notwithstanding, both men could coach a football team and coach it well. Ferrell would end the year the Courier-Journal’s 1950 KHSAA Football Coach of the Year. Judge Waddell wound end the Recreation Bowl with a trophy and a 40-19 drubbing of Prestonsburg. Lots of folks got routed by Highlands, in those days and even later. Judge Waddell helped to get the ball rolling.

HB Lyon, Scouting Director, “KPGFootball”

Fort Thomas, KY: His given name was Ewell E. Waddell. He was born in 1907 in Marion, Kentucky.

Waddell was, perhaps, the first, noteworthy high school football coach Highlands High ever knew. Judge Waddell was more than that, he was a gifted intellect and among the finest gentlemen that ever graced either the teaching profession or football coaching. Waddell was a credit to both vocations.

Waddell would have probably made a fine “Judge.” However, he never practiced that particular profession.

Waddell graduated from what is now Western Kentucky University. He was a gifted student. Waddell was an extraordinary football player.

Waddell played the center position in the single wing offense. That offense depends on deception to flourish. The deception began with just which offensive back, in a cluttered backfield, was receiving the snap? The center in that formation was crucial to the offense’s success.

It was called the “quick snap.” There was a reason for that. The quick snap was essential for the deception and speed on which the scheme and formation relied.

The responsibility didn’t end there. The center was also required to be a strong blocker, capable of holding off defensive linemen, and providing a solid foundation for the running game. 

Waddell did all of the above and well enough to be elected to the Associated Press’s (AP) Little All-American team in 1933. The Little All-American football team commemorated the best football players in the country from smaller colleges and universities. Many of those schools represented then would be NCAA Division I, FBS teams today. Western Kentucky would be included amongst them.

Waddell’s first high school job was at Ludlow where he had great success. In 1942, Waddell took the job at Highlands.

Waddell taught U.S. and World history, economics, and sociology while on Highlands’s staff. Waddell also taught football. Waddell, most importantly, taught life.

Waddell’s teams, from 1942-1954, won 91-games and lost 37. Highlands, under Waddell, won six (6) conference titles and claimed a mythical state title in 1943. Highlands may have claimed a second “mythical” state title under Waddell, though whether or not that occurred is somewhat unclear and a point for debate amongst both fans and historians.

Waddell and his teams had an intense rivalry with Covington Holmes and its coach, Tom Ellis. Ellis’s 1946 football team, at Holmes, was awarded the mythical state title, and Ellis coached two Holmes basketball teams to the Kentucky Sweet 16.

Ellis, like Waddell, attended the college now known as WKU and was also a football standout. Ellis’s name also adorns a scholarship.

Ellis once said of Waddell, at the height of the rivalry, “Judge Waddell is a gentleman first and a coach second. He is the finest fellow that I have run into in the coaching profession. He is my best friend in Northern Kentucky.” Quite a tribute from one’s most heated rival.

In 1954, Waddell gave the reins over to the great, Homer Rice. Rice had played for Waddell on a team of Waddell’s which won a mythical state title.

Rice went on to be an All-American at Centre College. Rice would eventually coach at every level from the NCAA, Mid-Major level, to the NCAA, Division 1 “Power Four,” to the NFL. Rice would invent the Triple-Option offense and the Air Option Attack.

Rice’s most prominent tenure was as the long-standing AD at Georgia Tech University. There is a bronze statute of Rice on the campus of Georgia Tech this moment. Waddell left coaching to become superintendent of the Ft. Thomas school system.

Waddell successfully led the system through the change-filled and challenging years of 1955 through 1967. Waddell died suddenly after a twenty-five year career in Ft. Thomas.

Waddell’s sons, Don, Bill and Phill, all played for Highlands. Waddell’s sons all enjoy their father’s sparkling reputation for gentility and professional attainment.

After his death, the Ewell “Judge” Waddell Endowed Scholarship Fund was created. The endowment funds students chosen based on their sincere interest in teaching and coaching and demonstrating to the foundation exemplary character and leadership.

This is a fitting tribute for a man who started his own path as the senior class treasurer. This seems entirely appropriate for a former student who was voted the school’s most popular boy in its yearbook, “The Talisman.”

“Not only was Waddell interested in his team,” Phil Waddell was quoted once as saying, “he was interested in winning. He wanted Highlands on the map, so to speak.”

Phil Waddell went on to say, “[Waddell] loved every one of his players. I remember him coming home from a game or practice and remarking about…how much he appreciated [getting to coach every one of them].”

We need to remember guys like Judge Waddell. We don’t get their equal in the profession too often anymore. We will look up one day and the Judge Waddell types and the Doc Ferrell types will have all left us.

Here’s to them.

This is Friday Night Fletch, reporting for KPGFootball, reminding you to PLAY THROUGH THE WHISTLE!

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