McKee to be honored at Wall of Fame ceremony

McKee graduated from Cynthiana High School in 1956, after transferring there from the old Buena Vista High School, one of several outlying county schools that were in existence at that time.

“Buena Vista had some pretty good basketball teams back during that time, but even then, they had to practice outdoors because we had no gymnasium,” McKee said in a 2018 interview, a little more than a year before he died on Nov. 18, 2019. “As a matter of fact, we didn’t have indoor plumbing, so we all used an outhouse.”

There was a very simple reason he chose to transfer to CHS: football.

Football was his first love, and the only schools in the county to have a team at that time were the all-black Banneker Coyotes and the Cynthiana Bulldogs.

After high school, McKee attended Centre College in Danville, where he played football for four years and baseball for two seasons.

Upon his graduation from Centre, McKee began working for Proctor and Gamble as a salesman in Rome, Georgia.

That job lasted for a brief period of time until he decided to enlist in the US Army.

“I couldn’t see myself selling soap for the rest of my life, and I knew I was going to get drafted, so I chose to enlist,” he said in that 2018 interview.

Soon thereafter, he returned to Cynthiana and soon found out that Banneker and Cynthiana High were going to merge with the Harrison County School District in 1962 and that football was going to be added as a varsity sport.

He applied for that position, even though he had no teaching certification at that time.

“Mr. R.L. Case was the superintendent of schools at that time and he was also a graduate of Centre College,” McKee said. “I’m sure that didn’t hurt me getting the job.”

He said Supt. Case provided him with a temporary emergency certification, contingent on him returning to school to get his teaching credentials.

In order to get his certification, McKee needed to earn an additional 6-9 credit hours in the teaching field, plus he had to complete student teaching. He also had Army Reserve obligations to fulfill.

In 1961, McKee fielded his first football team at HCHS, though it was only a junior varsity schedule that first year.

“We got everything ready to start, then believe it or not, my unit got activated and I missed the entire season,” he said.

He was back for the 1962 season, however, the first varsity season for the Thorobreds.

“It really was a pretty good situation at that time,” he explained. “There were a few Harrison County boys that turned out to be good players, plus you had the Cynthiana High School players who had experience and then the Banneker boys who were very good.”

That first season, Harrison County finished 8-2 and won the Mid-State Conference which began a decade-long run for McKee that solidified his place in Thorobred football lore.

In 10 years at the helm of the Thorobreds, McKee won at least eight games in every season, except for the 1971 season. During that span, the Breds won five Mid-State Conference championships and were on the brink of winning a couple of state championships.

“At that point, the best high school team I had ever seen was Hopkinsville, and they beat us in the playoffs in 1965,” McKee recalled. “Then we had an undefeated team in 1967 that got beat by a good Ashland team.”

In 1971, Harrison County finished 5-6 and McKee eventually left for greener pastures down south.

“Looking back, almost all of the reason I left, was my fault,” he said. “There were some politics in play, but that is nothing unusual. I didn’t handle it very well.”

At that point, McKee made his way to Atlanta where be began as an assistant principal and eventually worked his way up the ladder until he became the Athletic Director for all of Dekalb County.

He retired from education in 1992 but stayed in the Atlanta area with his wife Barbara and son Ross. He dabbled in real estate for about 10 years and bought a small farm in the Athens, Ga., area where his family boarded horses.

During his retirement he was a frequent visitor to Harrison County, especially during two seasons that were near and dear to his heart...football season and dove hunting season.

His nephew, Jim McKee, the son of his brother, Tom, has been the long-time extremely successful coach at neighboring Scott County High School. Bill McKee could be seen patrolling the sidelines at some of his games.

During dove season he would come to town and stay with either his brother or sister. Ever the competitor, he said with a grin in that 2018 interview, that although he didn’t bag as many doves as many of the other hunters, “I won my age group.”

On Saturday, the entire McKee family is expected to be at the ceremony, including Barbara, Ross and his wife and children, Tom McKee and his family and Betsy McKee Clyde and her family.