INEZ – Former Sheldon Clark girls’ basketball coach and athletic director Robin Newsome remembers the day she helped bring late coach Tim Rice from Pulaski County back to the hills of eastern Kentucky.
It’s a friendship that began long before that day and remained intact up until Rice’s tragic death in an automobile accident along new Route 3 on the morning of April 23.
“I’m taking this position with mixed emotions,” Newsome said after it was learned she had been named the Lady Cardinals new head coach.
She said how the opportunity came about was “so tragic.”
Newsome, who has been in coaching, all in Martin County, since 1982, said her new role was simply “stepping in for a friend.”
“He would have done the same thing for me,” she added. “I always referred to him as ‘Big Tim’, not for his size, but for his heart.”
The long-time coach, who will be inducted into the Kentucky High School Hall of Fame this fall, says the transition back into coaching comes at an exciting time for the community.
“We are returning four starters and fixing to enter into our new state-of-the-art high school,” she said. “I’ve had so many people come to me and ask me to return to coaching. For that I’m humbled and honored.”
The new school will become Martin County High School.
She said Rice’s legacy with the school and community will live on forever. She plans, hopefully this season but if not the next, to create a Tim Rice Memorial Tournament.
“He touched so many people, not just here, but in Floyd County where he lived and far beyond. It will be a fitting tribute to my dear friend.”