Slow Motion Replay: Tom Becherer, from the ‘thin thirty’ to the Rockets’ ’87 launch @SCHSRockets, @RocketPrincipal, @SCPS_Activities, @centurions_fb, @khsaafootball, @KyHighFootball, @minguabeefjerky, @bigassfans

Becherer traveled from Charlie Bradshaw’s UK roster to the pinnacle of professional achievement

Some football coaches were great players, some weren’t. Tom Becherer would have counted among the former. Becherer played on a UK team called the “Thin 30” owing to the brutality of the camp running off all but 30 survivors who became the Wildcat football team. We discussed this in a piece about Danny Sundberg. We also discussed Dan Goble leading Shelby County to an “all-time season.” Tom Becherer led the Rockets to an improbable 4A (Big Boy) title in 1987. Becherer also reached the finals in 1976, ’77 in 3A and in ’87 and ’93 in 4A with the ’81 team being State at-Large runners-up and the ’88 team enjoying an undefeated regular season and No. 1 ranking for much of the year. Shelby County football is worth some recognition and the Rockets wouldn’t be the Rockets without Tom Becherer.

HB Lyon, Scouting Director, “KPGFootball”

Shelbyville, KY: When we first set up Kentucky Prep Gridiron, it was imagined I would be doing way less work than what it has ended up requiring. What I wanted was a forum which featured a message board I could monitor and sometimes publish articles. I really wasn’t attempting to set up an online magazine requiring me to “publish or perish.”

You know what they say, “…the best laid plans of mice and men often go awry,” Robert Burns, “To a Mouse,” 1785. Isn’t that the truth.

Now our articles come with a place for readers to comment. We have over the years enjoyed some 600 or so “comments.” Not every article solicits such interaction, but some do and, when comment is elicited, we attempt to dutifully respond.

Now, I am not unlike most writers throughout history. I am not too fond of my hometown and it isn’t too fond of me.

That poor relationship, the one between hometowns and writers, has existed throughout the history of the human condition. It has appeared with such frequency it has become both trite and cliché.

I got a note from a former classmate concerning a claim I had made in an article about Dan Goble. The offending commentary was the following:  “…Shelby County was 10-1 in 1971 with Goble at the helm…” It was offered in the context of four former schools where Goble had coached having “all-time” seasons with him either at the helm or on the football coaching staff. This 1971 team was held out (by our article) as a Shelby County all-time season.

Well luckily (or unluckily, depending on your vantage point), a classmate reached out to me in the “comments” of the article. He was an ’84 alum of Hopkinsville High School and the former sports editor of the Shelbyville Sentinel-News.

This gentleman took polite and respectful issue with my characterization and reminded me that Goble’s ’71 team had one of the all-time seasons; but, perhaps not the all-time season.

The best season for Shelbyville High’s Rockets, according to the author of the comment, occurred in 1987, or the 4A championship year. We really can’t take legitimate issue with that viewpoint. This guy pointed out a few more all-time seasons.

The 1993 season, reaching the title game to play Male, was another all-timer. The ’84 team which lost its season-ender to Oldham County in a battle of 10-0 teams deserved recognition. What about the ’88 team which lost to future UK fullback, Damon Hood, and his Warren Central ball club, the same group of “Dragons” the “Rockets” had beaten earlier in the year?

The former editor concluded with “[t]hose four ‘all-time teams’ were coached by Tom Becherer, a 200-game winner who went on to start the successful football program at CAL (Christian Academy of Louisville). [Becherer] also coached at Maysville High before its consolidation with Mason County.”

First of all, I want to thank this former, fellow Tiger for his comment. His comment made us study up on Becherer and whether he either should or shouldn’t be included in this series of articles crafted to memorialize the KHSAA’s all-time coaches.

After researching the available data, we agree with the author of the comment. Becherer was Shelby County’s all-time coach and had enough success to warrant inclusion here.

The first thing to note about Tom Becherer is his professional journey started out, first, with his being a fantastic player. Becherer was a multi-season, varsity letter winner at UK, in football, and one of Coach Charlie Bradshaw’s more reliable and skilled players.

Becherer began coaching in 1966 when he restored the football program at Maysville High School. It wouldn’t be until he started coaching at Shelbyville High that his name would become synonymous with extraordinary coaching success.

Becherer coached Shelby County for 25-seasons. Becherer amassed over 225-wins, led the Rockets to a Class 4A title in 1987, and reached the finals 1976 and ’77 in 3A and in ’87 and ’93 in 4A. Becherer’s ’81 team was State at-Large runners-up and the ’88 team enjoying an undefeated regular season and No. 1 ranking for much of the year.

His former players loved him. “He was more than just a coach,” said a former player. “He was a role model, a leader, and someone who cared deeply about the players and the community.”

Like so many former great coaches who went before and came after him, Becherer’s legacy wasn’t limited to the football field. Becherer also spent 34 years teaching chemistry and physics at Shelby County High. In that capacity, Tom Becherer influenced generations of students with his passion for education.

Becherer’s dedication to both academics and athletics left a lasting impact on the Shelby County community. So did his 1987 football championship in Kentucky’s largest classification at the time (4A).

The ’87 title run was among the more improbable in KHSAA history. For starters, the Rockets finished the regular season 6-4. The Rockets would overcome a Henderson County team which entered the game 8-2 in the first round. The Rockets would win by a single point.

In the second round, the Rockets would draw a Madisonville North-Hopkins team which had upset Warren Central in its first round game. Shelby County would hold the Maroons to just two-points in the 10-2 final.

Shelby County got Louisville’s Holy Cross, in round three (3), and won 14-7. For the title, the Rockets got a 13-0, heavily favored, Boone County team which had been thought the class of the commonwealth all year.

At the end of the day, a six (6)-win squad, during the regular season, emerged a 10-win state titleholder. Along the way, the Rockets upset at least three teams one would have thought had more roster talent than Becherer’s squad.

That’s why the games get played. That’s how the great coaches seem to get their teams hot at the right time of year. That is what makes these guys great.

Much like Dan Goble turned out to be the “right man at the right time” at Christian County, so too was Becherer the “right man at the right time” for Shelby County. It is, after all, often about timing. Perhaps the comment appended to one of our articles was additionally well timed.

It was for Tom Becherer anyway.

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

If you enjoyed this article and wish to gain full-access to the site, then subscribe monthly to Kentucky Prep Gridiron by following the prompts!

© The information contained on this site is the copyrighted intellectual property of KPGFootball. Any unauthorized dissemination of this material without the author’s express written consent is strictly prohibited!