A Letter to the Editor

Editor:

The hills and valleys of East Kentucky have made us a special kind of people. We are clannish but hospitable. We are a proud people, and yet we are humble. Of course, we are also a people that loves a winner.

This would explain our love for Johnson Central Coach Jim Matney, and our sadness with his passing. For Jim Matney can only be described as a winner. He was winner on the fields of competition, and he was a winner in life. He began winning as a young man at Belfry High School. Jim was a star running back, and a state champion wrestler. In younger days, he just missed a trip to the Olympics, and was an alternate for the U.S. wrestling team.

As a coach, Jim won state championships in wrestling for two East Kentucky high schools. In the 90s, the coach guided Sheldon Clark to a pair of titles. More recently, he directed Johnson Central to the top of the sport.

In 2016 and 2019, Matney took his Golden Eagle football team to state championships. And while at Sheldon Clark, the Cardinals were one of very few teams in Kentucky to play the entire decade without a losing season.

These accomplishments beg a question or two. How did he do it? What enabled him to be such a successful coach?

During the late 80s and most of the 90s, I had the privilege of pacing the sidelines, under those Friday night lights, with Coach Matney. I observed the coach and kept a few statistics. I lacked the knowledge to be an assistant coach. That was not my role. I covered his teams for a weekly newspaper in Martin County.

“Coach” had an amazing understanding of the game of football. He had an ability to know which position a young man was best suited to play. He knew what expectations to place on his players. Jim Matney was confident, with no air of arrogance.

It can be said that numerous people possess all the skills mentioned in the previous paragraph. But “Coach” was in possession of other attributes and gifts that made him unique among his peers.

To be confident is certainly necessary to be a winner. However, the ability to instill confidence in others is a gift. Coach Matney had the ability to make his players believe in themselves. More importantly, he loved “his kids.” His love was genuine, and his kids knew it.

Young men who had the privilege of playing for Coach Matney would go to war for him, much because they knew they would be going to war with him.

Jim Matney lived a life that could, and should be, used as a road map by others. He was a winner on and off the field of competition. He will be remembered as such. He is missed by all who knew him.

Vernon Robinson

Shelbyville