Slow Motion Replay: Tom Larkey, ruled ‘The Rock’ for 23-years and experienced unparalleled success @Dack11Larkey, @coachlarkey11, @minguabeefjerky, @bigassfans, @khsaafootball, @KyHighFootball, @RockHardFB

“Success isn’t always about ‘greatness’, it’s about consistency. Consistent, hard work gains success…” Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson

Tom Larkey put in 37 years at four different schools employing a single style. His style was hard nosed. His teams were hard nosed. There was always more to Larkey than just being a hard-nosed football coach, though he certainly was that. Larkey had a huge heart and would do anything for a player, an assistant, a member of the faculty, a member of the community. In the end, Larkey would win over 300-games, one of only 13 or so KHSAA former or present coaches able to make such a claim. He taught so much more than blocking and tackling. There are just some people in the coaching game who can win anywhere. Larkey was such a person.

HB Lyon, Scouting Director, “KPGFootball”

Mt Vernon, KY: Craig Ferguson is a Scottish actor, comedian, writer, and television host. Ferguson is best known for hosting a late night show on CBS from 2005-2014. Ferguson won a Peabody Award for his interview of South African archbishop, Desmond Tutu in 2009. That isn’t (necessarily) how we know of him.

Ferguson said one of the funnier things we have ever before heard. Ferguson said, “[f]rom 1934 to 1963, the biggest criminals in America ended up on Alcatraz. Nowadays, they end up on Wall Street.”

Alcatraz was called “The Rock.” It was so called because it was erected on a rocky island located in the San Francisco Bay, off the coast of California.

“The Rock” housed some of the more notorious criminals in American history. Al Capone and Robert Stroud, a.k.a. “The Birman of Alcatraz,” were a couple of former inmates, just to name a few.

Rockcastle High School has been historically called “The Rock.” Its inmates are also very tough but are additionally noted for being both hard working and hard charging kids from Mount Vernon, Kentucky. For years and years, The Rock was home to some of the toughest, hardest-hitting, football players in the southeastern end of the commonwealth.

Rockcastle County was named for the Rockcastle River. The River got its name from the towering rock formations along its banks which were said to resemble “castles.”

For 23-years, from 1985-2007, Rockcastle County was led by its tough, gritty, determined football coach, Tom Larkey. Larkey would win 72.99% of his games at Rockcastle (212-67) and over 85% of his games at home (133-23). This incredible run of success included a string of 23 straight wins at home and posting an overall 35-2 record, also at home, between 1999-2003.

Larkey would finish his career with a 303-136 record and a 69.02 winning percentage over a 37-year period as a head coach with 42-years on a sideline in total. Larkey would win his district 12-times, would win his region six (6) times, and would finish KHSAA runner up in both 2001 and 2002.

Larkey would post a 34-30 record just in the playoffs. Larkey would win the 2A Coach of the Year and the 5A Coach of the Year by the Courier Journal twice and the AP Coach of the Year twice more.

Larkey coached in numerous all-star games from the Border Bowl with Tennessee to the Mid South All-Star Game to the Kentucky/Tennessee All Star Game. Larkey won many of those matchups in spite of the prevailing belief Kentucky was outgunned and outmanned in many of those contests.

Ovie Canady worked for Tom Larkey for many years. Coach Canady told KPGFootball, “Tom Larkey is one of the best to ever do it in the commonwealth of Kentucky.”

Canady elaborated, “What sets [Larkey] apart from most is that he cared about people and not just winning.  He knew how to treat the people who helped him both behind the scenes and the people who were more prominently positioned. Larkey treated them all with great respect.”  

Canady continued, “[Larkey] knows how to work kids and get the most out of them.  He came in to Harlan County and taught those kids how to get mean and filthy on the field. We went on a fantastic run there.” 

Canady concluded, “I had the great fortune to work with him for many years and I’d go back and do it all over.  I got to be there for his 300th win. If he had not retired when he did, [Larkey would] have had many, many more victories. I sure love Coach Larkey and my years coaching with him were the best ones of my career.”

Imagine inspiring, in any man, the sentiment that working for you constituted the best years of that man’s life. This isn’t the players, who undoubtedly felt the same way; this is a full grown man coaching football for a living. This is a professional espousing that sentiment. That is powerful, powerful stuff.

Tom Larkey grew up in London, Kentucky where he played guard and center on offense and linebacker on defense. His high school team would post a 31-11 record during his playing tenure. Winning way more games than one loses would be “habit-forming” for the Larkeys.

Larkey would spend four years at Laurel County and post a 21-20 record. He would spend 23-years at Rockcastle County and win 212-games.

Larkey would spend 7-years at Harlan County and post 59-wins against 29-defeats. Larkey would finish up at Perry County Central and win 11-more games in three (3) seasons.

Jayden Neace played for Larkey at Perry County Central. This wasn’t among Larkey’s better years or better teams. In spite of this, Neace told WYMT in its “Mountain Legends” series, “Coach Larkey’s legacy will go down in history and will be very, very, very hard to overcome and beat. I think that should be every coach’s goal is to try and be as good a coach as Larkey…”

Coach Larkey’s son, the head man at Rockcastle presently, told us “[Dad] was a role model for [the kids he coached] and the kids knew that he loved them and that is why they played hard for him.”

As far as Tom Larkey himself, he told WYMT, “It means a lot to me when they say, ‘Coach, if it hadn’t been for you, I wouldn’t be where I am today.’ I guess they mean it, I don’t know. But it means a lot to me to hear one of my former players compliment me for what I did in their life.”

Tom Larkey’s legacy made him an icon. Tom Larkey’s toughness, grit, and determination made him a legend. Tom Larkey’s great big heart and the amount he cared for others made him an inspiration.

If you looked up “football coach” in the dictionary, you might see a picture of Tom Larkey. If not, you would find someone who resembled him darn closely.

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

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