During a remarkably successful nine-year run of football in the 1980s when the Cawood Trojans won over 70 percent of their games, there was no debate about how the game was to be played.
There was only the Jim Cullivan Way.
The Harlan County Board of Education voted Tuesday to honor Cullivan, who died at the age of 103 on Sept. 17 at his hometown of Paris, Tenn., naming the loop through the Harlan County Soccer Complex at James A. Cawood Elementary School as Jim Cullivan Way. The complex was previously the football facility at JACHS.
Cullivan posted a 66-28 record in nine seasons, leading the Trojans to undefeated regular seasons in both 1981 and 1985. Both squads were ranked, at one point during the season, as the No. 1 3A team in Kentucky.
Rick Parsons, one of Cullivan’s former players who also served as an assistant coach, was in attendance and had worked with county school board member Wallace Napier to identify a way to honor Cullivan for his service to Harlan County student athletes, according to a story on the Harlan County Schools web site.
Parsons recalled Cullivan telling him there are “only two kinds of coaches, ones that have been fired and the ones who are going to be fired. He said it is a rough profession.”
“If not for coach Cully, I’m not sure where I would be today. He gave me a life path that would not have been possible without him,” said former all-state running back David Hensley, who was the best player at JACHS in the 1980s. “I know I share this thought with anyone one who played for coach Cully when I say “from the bottom of my heart coach, thanks, congrats and God bless.”
Hensley went into coaching after playing for the legendary Roy Kidd at Eastern Kentucky University and was the head coach at both East Jessamine and Dunbar and served as an assistant at several other schools.
“I coached and taught for 36 years in Kentucky, all of which was result of coach Cully’s influence on me,” said Hensley, whose son Brady now plays for Eastern after earning all-state honors as a senior at Lexington Christian.
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Several of the best players during Cullivan’s tenure gathered Wednesday evening at the high school to honor their coach with the unveiling of the sign to mark Jim Cullivan Way.
Parsons, Hensley and Eric Bowling, all 1983 JACHS graduates, were at the ceremony, along with board chairman Gary Farmer, a 1979 Cawood graduate. Two Class of 1984 stars, quarterback Doug Collins and receiver Tim Miniard, were also in attendance. Both went on to play at Union College in the early years of the program. Garry Henson, a 1986 second-team all-state defensive end, was there from the JACHS Class of 1987. Former assistant coach Bill Musick, who went on to lead Evarts to a regional title in 1990 before going on to coach at Johnson Central, made the trip from Ashland to honor his mentor.
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Just to show how strong Cullivan’s teams were in that era you can look at the losses. Most were against state powerhouse teams and you could argue that none were bad losses if you look at how good those teams were in the 1980s. Seven of the 28 losses in the Cullivan era were in the playoffs, including three to Danville, two to Covington Catholic and one each to Highlands and Lincoln County. The Trojans lost five times to Corbin and five times to Tates Creek. Three of the losses were to Middlesboro and two were against Cumberland in an era when the Redskins made three trips to the state semifinals. Cullivan’s teams went 4-2 against Dudley Hilton’s Bobcats when he started the Bell program in the 1980s. The other three losses were against Lafayette, Leslie County and Breathitt County one time each.Cullivan graduated from Grove High School and earned bachelor’s and master’s degrees in health and physical education from Murray State University. This is where he met Billie Gene Cantrell whom he married on June 1, 1950. Billie preceded him in death on Feb. 8, 2014.
He continued his education by attending the University of Indiana working beyond his master’s. As a means of contributing to the household income while at the University of Indiana, he served as the fencing coach. He was also a veteran who served in the U.S. Army during World War II.
Cullivan retired after a 40-year career coaching football and teaching. His beginnings in football started at Grove High School where he was a member of the very successful team of 1939. After his time spent in the military, he returned to play football at Murray State. He had a good four years there as an offensive guard.
His playing career culminated when after his senior season he played in the 1949 Tangerine Bowl. As a coach, his career began in 1949 at Fulton High School in Kentucky. He then returned to Murray State as a coach with his last four seasons (1956-1959) as head coach.
Other schools he coached at the college level include Tennessee, Wesleyan, Gilford College, Appalachian State University and Eastern Kentucky State University. At the high school level, he coached at various schools including his alma mater Grove and as the first coach at Henry County High School and concluded his career with nine years at Cawood High School, where he was voted Kentucky’s 3A co-coach of the year in 1985.
In addition to coaching, Cullivan was a cattle rancher. He began in 1967 maintaining a herd of purebred registered Charolais beef cattle and was a co-founder of the Tennessee State Charolais Beef Cattlemen’s Association.