Only a month into his first season of coaching in the first season of the Breathitt County High School football program in 1975, a 20-something Dudley Hilton had to wonder if he had chosen the correct profession as he watched the Cawood Trojans dismantle his young squad 48-0 on the way to a regional championship season.
A Cawood student on horseback celebrated each touchdown with a lap around the playing field.
“No way,” said Hilton, when asked earlier this summer if he had any idea he’d still be coaching a half century later. “I didn’t know if that horse was going to make it through the night.”
By the time Hilton left Jackson for his next job at the new Bell County High School, Breathitt County had taken control of the district away from the Trojans. Hilton had to get past Cawood once again in his new district in the mid 1980s, and four years later they did just that on the way to becoming a state power.
Heading into his 50th season of coaching, Hilton has put together one of the most impressive careers in Kentucky high school football history with a record of 432-135, along with two state championships at Bell County (1991, 2008) and one at Bourbon County (1997), along with 11 regional titles and 24 district championships.
“I think hard work and staying consistent and the drive to keep working,” Hilton said when asked the keys to his success. “Starting Breathitt County’s program was a big step, then to see what they’ve done. Then I came over here to Bell. The Lord’s blessed me and gave me good health. I’ve been a lucky man.”
Hilton has coached at Bell County on three separate occasions, returning for the third time in xxx after leaving Taylor County. He left Bell the second time to take his first and only college job at the University of Pikeville.
“I think the change has helped me a couple of times, going to a different school,” he said. “It demotivates me a little bit. Some people get stale. I almost got stale when I went to the University of Pikeville. I thought it was all over with because I didn’t think I’d go back to high school.”
Hilton did return to the high school game after three years at Pikeville and has turned the Bobcats into a state power again, making two trips to the 3A state finals in five years, including last November when Bell finished 13-2 and lost to Christian Academy-Louisville in the championship game.
“When somebody calls you and tells you they really need you. The Taylor County superintendent did that, so I took off in the middle of the year,” Hilton said. “Being in the right situations helped. I think if I had to maintain a program it would have been a little harder. Some of these well-to do schools in Kentucky can maintain. It’s not because of the coach. I’ve never been in one of those situations. I’ve been where they have to have a football coach or their football program would die and go away.”
Hilton notes that several of the current Bell County players are the sons of his former players from his first stint on Log Mountain. Hilton’s son, John Dudley, was a standout linebacker on Bell’s second state championship team and is now on his coaching staff. John Dudley’s two sons were on hand for the Bobcats’ picture day in early August.
“I’ve heard about him my entire life,” said junior quarterback Blake Burnett, whose dad, P.J., and his brother, Cameron, also played for Hilton. “Even when I was young, I was so excited to hear he was coming back to Bell County. I think I was in the fourth or fifth grade. It gave everyone excitement because they know he has always brought winning to this county.”
As the starting quarterback on last year’s state runner-up team, Burnett, like his older brother, worked with the legendary coach
“It’s awesome,” said Blake Burnett said. “He’s great to be around. We never have any problems. He just wants you to work, and he gives everything he has to us.”