Our Rich History: Ghosts of Christmas Past — a brief history remembering Christmases of long ago
By David Childs
Special to NKyTribune
Ever since I can remember, I have loved Christmas. I grew up in a very large family and my father (the late Rev. Hezekiah Childs) always made sure that my siblings and I had great Christmases. Even though my family did not have a lot of resources, dad would say “God will provide” and each year miraculously we would have an amazing Christmas. Dad knew all the...
Our Rich History: The Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky ‘Christmas Top Ten’ music and media moments
By John Schlipp
Special to NKyTribune
Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays, NKyTribune readers. Here’s a special gift for you for this holiday season — a revised version of one of our most popular Christmas articles, first published in December 2020.
A number of Christmas tunes and holiday-themed movies are tied to personalities and places of the Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky region. Some...
Our Rich History: The Robert Anthony Breinich Award and TMU’s men’s basketball program
By Raymond G. Hebert, PhD
Thomas More University
In the Connor Convocation Center, at the entrance into the Basketball Office corridor, there is a large plaque—not honoring national championship game Teams nor Most Valuable Players (MVPs), nor even each team’s highest scorers but instead, it simply reads:
The Robert A. Breinich Award plaque in the Saints Center at Thomas More University (Photo...
Our Rich History: Rugby’s rise to national prominence at Thomas More University
By Raymond G. Hebert, PhD
Thomas More University
In 2015, not long after David Armstrong arrived on campus as the new President of Thomas More, he proposed a strategy for expanding the number of sports available for student-athletes. Many that he mentioned — such as Lacrosse, bowling, and track—were known locally but the biggest surprise was rugby.
Rugby Head Coach John Fox. Coach Fox is currently...
Our Rich History: Regional history is flourishing — here are two great books for Christmas
By Paul A. Tenkotte, PhD
Special to NKyTribune
Robert D. Webster and Dr. James C. Claypool, A Tradition Reborn: From Old Latonia Race Track to Turfway Park Racing and Gaming—A 140-Year History (Privately printed, 2023). 282 pages.
Donald J. Sanders, The River: river rat to steamboatman, riding ‘magic river spell’ to 65-year adventure (Cincinnati, OH: Cincinnati Book Publishing/The Northern Kentucky...
Our Rich History: The story of intercollegiate tennis at Thomas More College/University
By Raymond G. Hebert, PhD
Thomas More University
According to limited institutional records, Villa Madonna College (later renamed Thomas More) had an intercollegiate Men’s Tennis Team in 1957–1958. Women’s competitive tennis arrived 20 years later, in 1982–1983. Overall, tennis became an up-and-coming sport in high schools during the last quarter of the twentieth century. Even then, in Northern...
Our Rich History: Kentucky’s bookmobile project had enormous impact on children in rural communities
By Wayne Onkst
Special to NKyTribune
In the mid 1940s, as Kentucky celebrated its 150th birthday, University of Kentucky faculty worked with a broad range of Kentuckians to write Kentucky: Designs for Her Future. This report noted that libraries “play an important part in the total education programs of their communities, serving adults as well as children. But 64 per cent of the adults of Kentucky...
Our Rich History: Thomas More baseball in the era of Coaches Russo, Asalon, and Hetzer
By Raymond G. Hebert, PhD
Thomas More University
Traditionally, when remembering Thomas More Athletics in the 1990s, most of the focus is on the beginning of the new Football program and especially its incredible undefeated Year II team in 1991.
Simultaneously, however, and often forgotten, the next few decades and into the 21st century also showed great success in both basketball (see this NKyTribune...
Our Rich History: Depression brought economic devastation and birth of pack horse library project
By Wayne Onkst
Special to the NKyTribune
The Great Depression of the 1930’s brought economic devastation unlike anything experienced before. To alleviate suffering and provide jobs, the Federal government created many programs. Among the most successful of these programs was the pack horse library project.
As the Depression engulfed Eastern Kentucky, the beautiful but rugged mountain terrain offered...
Our Rich History: Hitting the mats — the start of Thomas More wrestling to success in short time
By Michael Pagano
Special to NKyTribune
On November 24, 2015, the Thomas More Saints wrestling program was officially born. At the time the program was started, Vice President and Director of Athletics Terry Connor had this to say about his new sport, “with many successful wrestling programs in the Greater Cincinnati area, wrestling is a natural addition to our NCAA athletic program (“Thomas More...
Our Rich History: History is all around us; presenting local history on a national level
By David Childs
Northern Kentucky University
In expressing his stance against slavery, Kentuckian Abraham Lincoln stated, “the world has never had a good definition of the word liberty, and the American people, just now, are much in want of one. We all declare for liberty; but in using the same word we do not all mean the same thing.”
David Childs
Lincoln’s statement rings just as true today...
Our Rich History: Dan Tieman, elite basketball player, teacher, and coach
By Raymond G. Hebert, PhD
Thomas More University
“I’ve been taking care of business every day… Taking care of business every way.” Those words, said by the music teacher in Mr. Holland’s Opus, were illustrative of Mr. Holland’s life and used by Don McNay to describe Dan Tieman at the time of his retirement as a teacher at Covington Catholic High School after 46 years (Don McNay, “A teaching...
Our Rich History: ‘The Greatest Play’ in Thomas More football history as Greg Stofko plays ‘for his brother’
By Raymond G. Hebert, Ph.D.
Thomas More University
In 2000 Ted Mandell, a Professor of Film, Television, and Theater at the University of Notre Dame, published a book entitled Heart Stoppers and Hail Marys: 100 of the Greatest College Football Finishes (1970–1999). It included a Foreword by the legendary Doug Flutie, who is said “to have deserved to own the patent on Hail Mary passes” (Mandell,...
Our Rich History: How softball joined the ranks of elite sports at Thomas More — Bors and Wegman stand out
By Michael Pagano
Thomas More University
The Saints softball program is one of the most successful on the Thomas More University campus.
Bors delivers a pitch against Trine University. (Photo by Richard Fields.)
Eight conference tournament championships and 10 NCAA tournament appearances since 2005 will put any program on the map not only regionally but nationally.
That said, it was a rocky road for...
Our Rich History: Olivia Huber Bryant, a standout Thomas More performer in soccer and basketball
By Raymond Hebert
Thomas More University
Sources for this article include: Statistics provided by Michael Pagano Co-Director of Sports Information, TMU Athletics, and print media as noted.
In the spring 2016 issue of Moreover, the Thomas More alumni magazine, Judy Crist described Olivia Huber’s athletic successes as a “sports career for the ages,” adding that “Olivia Huber’s college athletic...
