Three-sport star at Trigg County High experienced plenty of ‘firsts’
George Radford was a three-sport star at Trigg County High from 1964-1967 before going to Murray State University where he would letter in football. Radford was a member of two district championship teams in basketball and returned to Cadiz, Kentucky, after graduating from Murray State with a bachelor’s and a rank one Masters, to guide Trigg County to state track titles in 1978, ’81, ’82, and ’83. In 1982, he guided the girl’s cross country team to its first state title. Radford was enshrined in the Kentucky Track and Cross County Coaches Association Hall of Fame in 1994 before retiring from education as an assistant principal concluding a 31-year career.
HB Lyon, Scouting Director, “KPGFootball”
Cadiz, KY: There will never be another George Radford come through the town of Cadiz, Kentucky or through the alabaster hallways of Trigg County High School. That is what makes him a fabulous feature article to post during this “Black History” month.
We have fallen a bit short of confirming this, but it is believed Radford may well have been among the first black athletes to play for the Murray State Racers in the Ohio Valley Conference. He would have followed the Racers’ Dennis Jackson, who competed for Murray in football and track & field from 1960–1964. We can credibly confirm Radford was the first black coach in what was then the fifth district after joining the Wildcat faculty and staff in 1977.
Radford grew up in Cerulean, but on the Trigg County side. Radford graduated from Trigg in 1967, becoming the first member of his family to attend college.
In 1973, Radford received a BS in Health and PE and returned home to coach football, basketball, girls and boys track & field, and boys and girls cross country. Radford would earn his Masters (1981) and his rank one Masters (1990), in Education, all from Murray State University.
Radford was inducted into the Kentucky High School Track and Cross County Hall of Fame in 1994
Friday Night Fletch
Coach Radford was inducted into the Kentucky High School Track and Cross County Hall of Fame in 1994. He coached four (4) State Championship Boys Track teams, one (1) Girls State Championship team, and one (1) Girls State Championship Cross County team.
One of his most famous athletes was the great Al Baker. Baker would play football for the Wildcats with George Radford on the staff as an assistant and also star in track & field for the Wildcats under Radford’s tutelage as his head coach.
Baker would matriculate to being an all-conference football player, in college, for the UK Wildcats before playing in the NFL. Radford once said of his famous protégé, “Al [Baker] gave 100% in the classroom, on the track, and on the football field.”
Radford continued, “I have followed Kentucky high school sports closely since 1973, and I have only seen a handful of athletes with the combination of size, speed, agility, strength, and competitiveness Al possessed.”
I have only seen a handful of athletes with the combination of size, speed, agility, strength, and competitiveness [which] Al possessed
George Radford about Trigg all-time great, Al Baker
Coach Radford coached 21 individual state champions in his time at Trigg County High and ended his career in education as an assistant principal, retiring after 31-years. In Radford’s playing career in high school, he was coached by the legendary Ken Barrett in football during Radford’s senior season while being tutored by another coaching legend, in Jim Wallace, on the hardwood.
Barrett coached at Trigg County, from 1967-1970, but is better known for his stint at Russellville High from 1976-1997. Barrett was inducted to the Kentucky High School Athletic Association (KHSAA) Hall of Fame in 1996. In 2017, the field at Rhea Stadium (in Russellville) was named Ken Barrett Field. Under Barrett’s leadership, the Panthers won Football, Class A State Titles in 1980, 1983, and 1990.
Radford would claim a bit of fame walking off the Rhea Stadium field as a player at Trigg. Radford caught a game winning TD against the Panthers, in Russellville, as a Wildcat while running up the famous “high corner” of the end zone.
George Radford would go on to become very successful in business and as an entrepreneur after retiring from education. His wife and he still live in the Cadiz community.
This is Friday Night Fletch, reporting for KPGFootball, reminding you to PLAY THROUGH THE WHISTLE!
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