Slow Motion Replay: Remembering how Ed proved a Miracle for the Golden Bulldogs of Lynch East Main High @minguabeefjerky, @bigassfans, @KyHighFootball

Ed Miracle led the Golden Bulldogs to eight (8) state finals appearances and four (4) titles

Ed Miracle created an Eastern Kentucky high school football dynasty in the ’50s and ’60s before passing away at the age of 83 while battling an illness which proved his downfall. The high school was Lynch High, or Lynch East Main High, and he did everything from coach football to baseball, to golf, and even directing the marching band for a week while the regular director was out of town. Miracle believed students should be involved and he saw to it there was plenty of opportunity. Enjoy this journey back in time to record for posterity the Hall of Fame career of Ed Miracle.

HB Lyon, Scouting Director, “KPGFootball”

Lynch, KY (Harlan County): Lynch East Main was a football powerhouse for four decades. The Bulldogs’ brightest stars included Joe Hollingsworth in the ’40s; Don Allen, Bradley Mills, Tom Sheback and Jim Stanley in the ’50s; Renus McGeorge, Lowell Flanary, Joe Washington, and Sanford Baskin in the ’60s; and James Price in the ’70s.

The man behind the scenes which always kept the engine purring was Ed Miracle. Coach Miracle’s efforts proved, well, miraculous.

Miracle was a star running back at Middlesboro High School in Bell County. Miracle later played at EKU, as a running back and defensive back, and roomed with another future great in Roy Kidd. When Kidd and Miracle played there, it was called Eastern Kentucky State College.

Kidd and Miracle remained close friends for years while pursuing their coaching careers. Kidd once referred to Miracle as “…a good friend of mine and a good teammate and roommate. We also teamed up pretty good as partners in golf when we both retired.”

Coach Miracle pushed his “Golden Bulldogs” to championships. Former players claimed, one and all, that it was Coach Miracle who did the pushing.

Lowell Flanary, a former Golden Bulldog, was once quoted as describing Coach Miracle as “…a disciplinarian, and he knew football. [Coach Miracle] didn’t show favoritism to anybody. If you were the best man for that position, you played that position.”

Flanary claimed in that same interview not to know what Miracle’s secret formula was. “I couldn’t tell you. He just said ‘do it,’ and we did it.”

Roger Wilhoite, who played on the 1968 title team, said Miracle was “…all business. He knew his talent and could get the most out of his teams.”

The Bulldogs got a boost when Lynch West Main, the town’s all-black school, was integrated into Lynch East Main. The addition of the former Pirates bolstered the Bulldogs’ program and helped them win titles in ’63 and ’68.

There are some great Ed Miracle stories still in circulation.

Miracle was described as a “grinder.” There were opposing coaches who didn’t like him.

There was a story where Miracle had won a title but none of his players had made the all-district team. Miracle showed up at a meeting of the district coaches and inquired about where he could pick up his trophy.

The coaches looked around the room confused. Miracle continued, “A man who can win a State Title with no all-district players on his roster surely should win the district coach of the year, right?”

A final great Miracle story involves a star player who stopped by Coach’s office to inquire whether the team was hitting in practice that day. When Miracle responded, “Not today,” the kid said, “Well, I’m going squirrel hunt’n then.”

Lynch East Main closed in 1981. With it closed a true 1A football dynasty which regularly competed for championships at its level of competition.

In all, Miracle won 200-games, 13-district championships, made eight (8) 1A state championship game appearances with four (4) 1A Kentucky State football titles (’59, ’60, ’63, ’68).

Lynch High School was subsumed into the Harlan County school system. There are two schools in Harlan today (Harlan County and Harlan Independent) where there were once 12. Neither Harlan school, independent or otherwise, has won a football championship at any level of play.

Coach Miracle took a job before Lynch closed, at Madison Central. There, Coach Miracle was both a coach and athletic director until his retiring in 1992. Miracle’s basketball teams won over 300-games to go along with what he accomplished on the football field.

Ed Miracle was inducted into the Dawhares KHSAA Hall of Fame in 1992. After retiring the Miracles lived in the same neighborhood as the Kidds, a fitting end to a relationship which had begun in a college dorm room and on a college playing field.

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

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