With his dad serving as the basketball coach at Oneida Baptist Institute for 20 years, Larry Gritton Jr. literally grew up on the basketball court at OBI and eventually became one of the school’s all-time great players.
He never imagined that one day he’d be the person who had to make the decision to suspend the program for a year due to limitations on enrollment caused by the coronavirus
“It breaks my heart, but it’s the reality of where we are as a boarding school,” said Gritton, who now serves as the school’s president.
Gritton said the school will not have enough students to field most of its teams, but does have a cross country team and will have a girls basketball squad, along with tennis and track.
“We made the tough decision not to have boarding students,” Gritton said. “We’re a different animal. It’s much easier in a day school setting, but there were so many things involved, including Homeland Security due to our international students.”
In a normal year, Gritton said OBI has around 300 students in kindergarten through 12th grade, but only has 165 students this year with 70 on campus and 95 online. There are only 79 high school students enrolled, most residents of Clay County who can travel to the school on a daily basis.
Gritton said the school could have fielded a boys basketball team last year with quite a few local students on the team, but that isn’t possible with four seniors graduating from that team. Gritton noted there was a slight chance that an abbreviated schedule could be played starting in January if the situation improves and the Kentucky High School Athletic Association approves a late start.