In Memory of Billy Hicks

Floor Speech

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Mr. BARR. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to honor a legendary man, Billy Hicks. He was a renowned basketball coach at Scott County High School in Georgetown, Kentucky. He passed away on December 3, 2023.

Coach Hicks was born in Harlan County, Kentucky on August 23, 1952, to a coal mining family. As a child, he dreamed of coaching as a way out of the mines. He played basketball at Evarts High School in Harlan County. Coach Hicks earned a scholarship to Wofford College, where he continued to play basketball and graduated in 1974. Billy Hicks coached basketball at Evarts High School, Harlan High School, and Corbin High School. He then was hired at Scott County High School, where he coached for 25 years. Coach Hicks retired in 2019 as the winningest coach in Kentucky basketball history, with 1,023 wins. His Scott County teams won two state championships, in 1998 and 2007. He was selected at the national level to coach the 2012 McDonald's All American basketball team. Coach Hicks was inducted into the Kentucky Basketball Hall of Fame. The Billy Hicks Classic, an annual basketball tournanrent in Scott County, is named in his honor. He touched thousands of lives all across the country and was highly regarded by all who knew him. Coach Hicks is survived by his wife Betsy, his daughter Ashley, son-in-law Jed Johnson, and grandson Wyler Nash Johnson. He was preceded in death by his son Tyler.

Billy Hicks was well respected as a coach and as a man throughout the Commonwealth of Kentucky. I am honored to lift up his contributions to Kentucky before the United States Congress.

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