Death is inevitable, but it still hurts those left behind deeply. Some well-known and beloved present and former Logan Countians have left us in the first half of 2025. Some thoughts about a few of those involved in sports follow.
1) As I drove south on Main Street in Franklin last Monday, I was struck by the magnitude of the cars filling the parking lot of Franklin Church of Christ. I thought that this had to be someone well-known and much loved.
I was right, but I didn’t know until Friday that the person being celebrated was one of the men I admire most.
It was Mike Harris—whom I consider to be the most important force in the creation of and ensuing phenomenal success of one of Kentucky’s most respected industrial corporations, Logan Aluminum.
Mike was one of the four men who were the nucleus of the leadership of the corporate island which had come to be known as “the aluminum plant at Epley Station” as it quickly went from being Anaconda to ARCO to Logan Aluminum. He was joined by Fred Mudge, Ev Katz and Bruce Robson in the early days. Original plant manager John Gatlin, Gerry Myers and Gary Grohovsky were among others in the group as time and changes came, but the constant was Mike Harris
Not only was he Human Relations Manager, but it was Mike who drew up the Team Concept which has been the model and/or dream of industries across the nation and around the world.
When Logan’s first president, Mudge, moved on to other adventures, Mike became the second president and also held the title of CEO of Logan Aluminum during the time it rose to dominance in aluminum can stock production.
He could have left Logan at any time for industrial leadership roles nationally and internationally. He could have made a fortune writing books, lecturing and consulting corporations wanting to adopt and adapt to his concept. Certainly, some of the greatest universities would have loved to have him on their MBA or doctoral faculties.
Yet he never seemed to consider leaving. I always thought he stayed for two reasons: 1) Logan Aluminum was his creation and he loved the concept and the people who made it happen. 2) He could manage one of the world's greatest industries and not have to leave home. He was devoted to his family, to Franklin in general and Franklin-Simpson High School in particular, to his church, and to his alma mater, Western Kentucky University.
Mike loved watching local sports, especially during the time that his children were playing for the Franklin-Simpson Wildcats.
The great professional golfer Kenny Perry was his close friend and a fellow leader of that church where his final service was held. In 2009, Kenny was in a three-man playoff for golf’s most coveted honor, wearing the green jacket as Masters champion. Ángel Cabrera won, defeating Kenny Perry and Chad Campbell in a three-way playoff.
I wrote this 16 years ago about one treat Mike got to enjoy:
“The '09 Masters is destined to be recalled as the one Kenny Perry let slip away. Both had leads near the tourneys' ends, only to lose in a playoff.
“Former Logan Aluminum CEO Mike Harris walked every step at Augusta with Perry, who is the world's fourth-ranked player. They have more in common than just being from Franklin or even members of the same church. Justin Harris, the son of Mike and Brenda Harris, is married to Lesslye Perry Harris, the daughter of Kenny and Sandy Perry. Lesslye is also a Tennessee Titans cheerleader. Justin and Mike have opened a Zaxby's eatery in Franklin and are in the process of building other franchises of the popular restaurant featuring chicken.
“Kenny, who set multiple course records in dominating the Russellville Country Club Invitational as a college student, made news this week for donating another $90,000 to his alma mater, Western Kentucky University, for the new Play Golf American University program. Perry has donated huge sums over the years to Lipscomb University, part of an agreement he made when Ronnie Ferguson of Franklin bankrolled his attempt to make the PGA Tour. Perry has now won over $30 million on the tour.”
It all came full circle this spring in Augusta, when nine-year-old Perri Jo Harris was one of 10 girls who qualified among the 75,000 who hoped to make it initially for the Drive Chip and Putt National Finals, a preliminary event for the Masters. She is Justin and Lesslye’s daughter.
One set of her grandparents, Kenny and Sandy Perry, didn’t get to attend because Kenny was playing in a Champions Tour event in Boca Raton, Fla. The other set, Mike and Brenda Harris, were there, even though Mike was battling serious illness.
“We weren’t sure if Dad was going to be able to make it or not but so happy he did,” Justin says. “He was always so supportive of his seven grandchildren.”
Mike Harris was 76 years old.
2) Mike Haynes, who died in Joelton, Tenn. this weekend, was one of Logan County’s most successful basketball coaches ever. The two-time regional champion coach is up near the top along with the late Gerald Sinclair, who coached the Logan County Cougars to a state championship, and Phil Todd, who won four regional titles and was a state semifinalist twice, leading the Russellville Panthers.
He was an assistant coach under Jim Thompson when the Lady Cougars were winning the first six district championships after consolidation and reaching the regional finals twice.
Mike Haynes took over the head coaching position in the fall of 1988 when Thompson was named principal at Chandlers Elementary School. Haynes responded by coaching the Lady Cougars to 50 wins the next two years. Two of them were in regional championship games. Two more were in the first round at state each year. Haynes went on to coach the Lady Cougars several more years during two stints. In between he coached the Cougar boys. He had coached girls basketball and baseball at Adairville High School before consolidation. Haynes was also an assistant principal at LCHS for nine years.
Coach Haynes was a defensive purist. He once said, “I think if I were coaching against myself, the final score might be 0-0.” He also was a disciple of the Hall of Fame coaching philosophy of ESPY winner and national champion coach Don Meyer. Mike took advantage of every opportunity he could to watch Meyer’s Bisons in action at Lipscomb University. He often attended Don’s coaching clinics.
Mike and his wife Teresa got to watch their three children play well for the Lady Cougars and Cougars. First, daughter Stephanie was a Lady Cougar. Son Chris set three-point records for the 1997 regional runner-up team. Then they watched Chris and Clint have good careers playing for their parents’ alma mater, Freed-Hardeman University.
Just before the pandemic shut everything down in 2020, Mike Haynes was inducted into the Logan County Cougars Athletic Booster Club Hall of Fame along with Coach Thompson, Cindy Huffines and three of the starters on his two state quarterfinalist teams—Kim Johnson Higgins, Carrie Horlander and Dr. Shana Dean. The two senior starters on that first team in 1989, Pam Collins Pollard and Jalee Wright Page, presented his plaque.
Shown in the accompanying photo are Coach Haynes and the starters on the 1990 regional champions, from left, Higgins, Melodie Goodman Bingham, Horlander, Dean and Gwen Dawson Barnes.
Mike Haynes was more than a basketball coach, though. He had a dry sense of humor, a way with words, and a love of outdoor sports. Publisher Randy Fuqua and I hired him to write an outdoors column for the News-Democrat & Leader. Full of truths, tall tales and wit and wisdom, it was highly popular among his readers.
Journaistl and LCHS alumnus Josh Givens says, “Coach Haynes was a pleasure to be around and had a wonderful sense of humor. His athletic contributions are remembered for good reason.”
Funeral services will be held for Coach Haynes this Friday. His obituary appears on The LoJo at http://www.theloganjournal.com/Obituary.aspx?ID=2614 ,3)
3 and 4) Two key players from Coach Ken Barrett’s first Russellville state champion football team in 1980 have died this year, not too long following the death of their coach.
Thad ‘Fish’ Covington and Bernard Bellamy were not only key contributors to the team’s winning and superb athletes, but they were both genuinely good guys.
When I think of people with winning smiles that were always present, the names Bernard and Fish jump to the top along with former LCHS baseball player Cpl. Josh Moore, who died in 2007 serving during Operation Iraqi Freedom. You just didn’t see them without their smiling at you.
Fish played defensive back for the state champs and was backup quarterback behind Keb Barrett. He could run fast and tackle hard. He played a lot of softball during his young adult years.
Fish suffered many health problems as he got older and underwent amputations of both legs. After he couldn’t do manual labor, he owned a food truck that usually was home to some of the best fish you ever ate.
I got to know Fish as a person more than an athlete as we grew older. His son Kennard and our son Trey were basketball teammates at Auburn Middle School. Kennard smiled a lot, too. One summer his food truck and our produce stand were set up beside each other often at the SEEK Museum where the statue of Alice Allison Dunnigan now presides.
Mostly, however, we saw each other in the lobby of the doctor we shared in Franklin. He was in a wheelchair and I knew he was in pain, but he always made me feel like I was someone special in his life.
Thad, the son of the late Thaddeus J. Covington Sr. and Dorothy Jean Covington, was born on Jan. 12, 1962, in Logan County. His obituary says that he ‘enjoyed cooking, fishing, and communication.” Amen to that.
Survivors include his children, Thaddeus T. Covington, Monisha Todd, Deyonna B. Nolan, JohnQuesha D. Wells, Darone A. Covington, Tasia J. Covington, and Teondre K. Covington; his siblings, Gayle (Jackie) Hampton, Karen Covington, Thelma Gaston, and Annette Covington; 28 grandchildren; and a host of nieces and nephews.
Bernice Wells wrote on his obituary page, “His presence in my life will definitely be missed . He was one of the first friends I made when I come back to Ky. in 1975 and friends from that day forward. He was not only my daughter’s dad but also my confidant, encourager when I wanted to call it quits. We would talk for hours on the phone where we've laughed and cried together. He was so humble.”
Bernard Bellamy was the leading rusher on that 1980 championship team, but he was so much more. Here’s how Russellville sports historian Greg Owens describes him.
“When I think of Bernard, I don’t think that he was an All-State football player, a captain on our first state championship team in 1980 or that he was an assistant coach on our 1990 State Championship Team or that he was chosen as one of the 50 Greatest Panther Football players or that he is a member of our Alumni Associations Athletic Hall of Fame. I remember his smile and how kind and respectful he was to everyone he met. We were blessed to know him and mourn his passing! Condolences to Rita, Sherri, Terri and the entire Bellamy Family.”
Bernard learned this spring that he had cancer, and it was very fast acting. He died shortly after that. Many Russellvillians attended his funeral in Atlanta. Many more grieved at home.
Gayle Hampton, who was Fish’s sister, says, “Bernard’s death is like losing another brother. They were together a lot. He was like family to us.”
Tom Wilkins, who was co-captain of the Panthers with Bernard before becoming a captain of the Kentucky Wildcat team, says: “Honored to have been on championship teams with Bernard. He was one of the most underrated football players I have ever had the chance to play with. He should have played at the next level. You could always count on Bernard. He had your back on and off the field. He was a great person and friend.”
Sharon Johnson Cox:”My heart goes out to Bernard’s family. He was one of a kind! He had the biggest smile and love for life.”
5) Bennie Edward Collier, 88, of Russellville, passed away Thursday, May 29, at Creekwood Place Nursing and Rehab.
Bennie was born in Olmstead on Sept. 19, 1936 to the late Morton and Eddie (Hines) Collier. Bennie was a long-time member of Oak Grove Baptist Church where he served as a Deacon for 35 years, retired from the Tennessee Valley Authority with 28 years of service and served in the United States Army for 26 months. He enjoyed quail hunting with his dogs and was a Kentucky Colonel.
Bennie played basketball for the Chandlers Bears in the mid-50s. No Chandlers boys team made it to region after 1951 until consolidation. He didn’t win a lot of honors. But he was a pretty good player, and he wore the Purple and White proudly.
I knew Bennie because I taught at LCHS with his wife, Jane Collier, and her sister, Vivian Neagle. And, of course, I knew his brother-in-law, Don Neagle, very well.
Don told me every time I wrote “former Chandlers basketball standout Bennie Collier,” it made Bennie proud and happy.
So, one more time, I’ll tell you, former Chandlers basketball standout Bennie Collier has passed on. He was a good man.
6) Donald Ray “Duck” Cowherd, 78, of Russellville, passed away Thursday, Feb. 13, at the Medical Center in Russellville. Duck was born in Logan County on Feb. 20, 1946 to the late Adrian and Mary (Pike) Cowherd. He was a member of the Stevenson Chapel United Methodist Church, a United States Army Veteran, and retired from ITW where he was Plant Manager.
I had known Ray (I called him Ray instead of Duck) since we began elementary school. We spent the most time together cleaning basketballs in the basement of the old RHS gym where the pool had been. We were trained on the proper way to clean balls under the tutelage of head manager Lee Whipple. It was a relief when Principal Roy Reynolds and Coach Howard Owens moved me out of the basement to the scorers’ table, keeping the official book my last three years of high school.
Ray Cowherd also moved up a long, long way, advancing through the ranks to become the boss at ITW-Shakeproof. I would challenge you to find anyone else here who advanced in his job status any more than my old ball-cleaning buddy Ray ‘Duck’ Cowherd did.