Tuesday, December 26, 2000
Scorekeeper's streak: 1,004 games
By Ray Schaefer
Enquirer contributor
COVINGTON — If Gary Huhn is not the most loyal supporter of Holmes High School athletics, then someone's keeping fuzzy numbers.
Mr. Huhn, 56, has kept score in 1,004 Bulldog boys basketball games, as of Friday's game at Harrison County. He has been at the press table or the bench for every Holmes game since 1974, and he has attended every Bulldogs game since 1966.
“Kids are playing; somebody ought to watch them,” Mr. Huhn said. “Faculty members who are interested in the extracurricular activities get better results from the kids in the classroom.”
For a living, he teaches math at Holmes.
He retired in 1997, after 31 years at the chalk boards, but he couldn't stay retired. He taught part time for three years and last fall returned to full-time.
Besides scoring basketball, he also works football games. Mr. Huhn calls in scores to various media outlets and the state high school athletic association.
“They say no one is indispensable. He is,” said Holmes boys basketball coach David Henley.
“He does the job ... of two or three people. It's not something I ask him to do; he enjoys doing it.”
Mr. Huhn graduated from Holmes in 1962 never having played sports. Now he regrets that. He attended the University of Kentucky's Covington campus (which became Northern Kentucky University in 1968), and finished up in Lexington before returning to Holmes High to teach in 1966.
“I was better in math than anything else,” Mr. Huhn said.
“I've taught every math course at Holmes, from advanced placement calculus to freshman general math. Math has definite answers.”
During the games, Mr. Huhns wields some of the fastest fingers this side of
Who Wants To Be A Millionaire.
Ashland Paul Blazer boys basketball coach Mike Flynn led Holmes from 1988-96. He remembers a game from the 1989-90 season, in which Holmes took 98 shots, and he couldn't believe Mr. Huhn recorded every one - until he watched the videotape that night.
“It was timely he had three pencils that night; he wore the lead out of them,” Mike Flynn said. “I don't think he made a statistical mistake in my eight years there.”
Mr. Huhn said he had help that night, but he has been a solo stats man since 1996.
Mr. Huhn said he'd like to keep score for at least another 20 years. The school might as well let him.
“Even if I wasn't teaching or keeping score,” Mr. Huhn said, “I'd still go to the games.”
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Scorekeeper's streak: 1,004 games
