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One time high school basketball phenom Barry Jackson to be inducted into Bell County (KY) Sports Hall of Fame
TOP PHOTO: Here’s a photo snapped on Thursday at the old Henderson Settlement High School Gym. This is where fans packed the stands to watch Barry Jackson, the leading scorer in Kentucky, pour through points during Jackson’s senior season, 1971-72.
By Jim Freeman
FRAKES, KY (WLAF) – “He was always double teamed and faced all kinds of gimmick defenses to try and stop him, but that never worked. He still averaged almost 40 points a game,” said former teammate Conda Maiden. Maiden was a high school teammate of Barry Jackson at Henderson Settlement High School at Frakes, Kentucky, about seven miles north of the Tennessee state line.
The former Henderson Settlement Bear wore jersey number 35 in the green and white, and tonight at Bell County High School, he, along with a few others, will be introduced as the newest members of the Bell County Sports Hall of Fame.
Jackson’s high school career as a HSHS Bear spanned from his 8th grade year (at Fonde Elementary School) through his 1971-72 senior season. His career crossed paths with La Follette High’s very own all-star, Gary Gray. Jackson was 6-3 and jumped center for the Bears, while the 6-6 Gray also was in the center circle for his Owls. Jackson’s old high school gym still stands and is used while Gray’s LHS Gym was razed in 2001.
HSHS’s basketball coach in those days, was Zeke Smith. Smith, at 6-6, went against Jackson each day in practice keeping him at the ready for taller opponents like Gray.
“I remember him as a physical player who aggressively went after rebounds. He had a nice rhythm when shooting; not as smooth as Barry Kincaid, but close. (Kincaid is from La Follette and played at Powell Valley High School and Marshall University.),” said Gray.
“Barry Jackson liked to go to his right. So we overplayed when he got the ball. He was better shooting from a zone than man-to-man, but he challenged any defense,” said Gray.
“I watched Barry Jackson score a lot of points while on the floor with him and, at times, from the bench,” said Maiden. Jackson’s former teammate recalls that there were several times when Barry would hit a long, as time was running out, shot right before halftime. “Each day after practice, he’d take 20 or more long shots, half court shots and the like, in preparation for those long range buzzer beaters,” said Maiden.
“He was a great sportsman even after we beat them. Barry Jackson was a great athlete and is well deserving of this recognition!,” said Gray.
Wynn High School at Habersham had the State of Tennessee’s leading scorers in back-to-back seasons, 1970-72, and Jackson’s Bears played Wynn twice each year during the regular season. Larry Meadows and Jerry Walden were tops in the state in scoring. “Those players were two of the best,” said Jackson. There were even a couple of showdowns with Tennessee’s high scorer, Walden, and Kentucky’s top point man in Jackson.
Jackson’s career was long before the three point shot. His era was also one of which played before packed gyms at most every venue, especially at Frakes.
Maiden describes Jackson as a heck of a ball player and all around good guy. “What impressed me the most was that he wasn’t your typical star ball player. He’d take time to give me, a younger player, a ride home, and he was so nice,” said Maiden.
Henderson Settlement was a school of all grades through 12 with a total enrollment of around 150.
“I’m sure I appreciated watching and playing alongside Barry as best I could. But I have so much more of an appreciation all these years later. To this day, I can still see the other teams having a chaser on Barry all night long with another defender sagging off nearby in the lane. They still couldn’t stop him,” said Maiden.
Here is a republished story from the Louisville Courier Journal about the Henderson Settlement versus Red Bird Mission game where Jackson score 52 of the Bears 100 points. It was Jackson’s last home basketball game.
Jackson Leads Win Over Rival Red Bird
By Walt Johnson
Henderson Settlement – Ky. – It’s not always the largest schools or the most prominent teams that provide the most exciting games as was illustrated last night at Henderson Settlement as the Bears took a thriller from the Red Bird Cardinals 100-76.
The game was ready made for the spectators as both teams played wide open, run and shoot basketball and ran neck and neck until the Bears exploded for 43 points in the fourth period.
The Cardinals seemed to have a rally going as with the 3:10 showing on the clock, their full court 1-2-1-1 press had trimmed the score to within seven points at 75 – 68. At 2:32 on the clock, the Cardinal’s six-foot five center Steve Gavin fouled out and the Bears’ were sparked by Barry Jackson 25 points in the final two and one-half minutes.
Jackson, started the game able to find room underneath for his back-handed lay up but when that door closed, he changed to shooting a hook shot from about ten feet, and when that was stopped he went outside and under heavy pressure burned the nets from 20-25 feet.
To say that Jackson was unstoppable, borders on the ridiculous for the senior center hit shots and drew fouls from all corers of the floor and with amazing consistency. He hit 21 of 38 shots from the field and the ten of twelve from the foul line. His nightly total – 52 points and 18 rebounds.
Gary Gambrel added 20 points and 22 rebounds and Johnny Partin chipped in 13 points.
Red Bird was led in the scoring department by Don Collett who tallied 22 points. Following Collett was Garvin with 17 points and Tracy Green with 13 points.
Henderson Settlement led Red Bird 39-33 at half time, a lead that it got only in the waning moments. Both teams came out pressing in the second half and with the inevitable fouls holding up to the clock the two teams raced to a 61-43 second half score.
The capping of the evening came when with :02 left in the game, Jackson took a pass at mid-court, took two steps and sank a 35 foot jump shot to send the Bears over the century mark in his last home game.
As two young fans were heard in remark concerning Jackson and the amount of time left on the clock, “If they can just get it to him,†There was no doubt in their minds, just the stated fact, then it was once again – “Jackson for two.â€
| Red Bird | Henderson |
| Bieg Collett 9 | B Jackson 52 |
| Steve Garvin 17 | Gary Gambrel 20 |
| Paul Turner 5 | Rocky Cobb 3 |
| Tracy Green 13 | Johnny Partin 13 |
| Don Collett 22 | Ralph Teague 0 |
| Dan Taylor 5 | Ray Harm Jr 9 |
| James Asher 5 | Fred Partin 2 |
| James Hickman 1 | |
| Total 76 | Total 100 |
(WLAF NEWS PUBLISHED – 09/29/2023-6AM)