Published: August 30, 2007 10:26 am      

Rivalry game to honor legendary EKU coach

RICHMOND — Roy Kidd’s accomplishments as football coach at Eastern Kentucky University earned him a well-deserved place in the College Football Hall of Fame.

The legendary coach won 315 games in 39 seasons and led the Colonels to 16 Ohio Valley Confer-ence titles, two Division I-AA national championships (1979 and 1982) and two runner-up finishes (1980 and 1981).

But, before Kidd took over at EKU in 1964, he spent six seasons as the head football coach at Madison High School.

“A lot people know the success (Coach Kidd) had at the college level, but a lot people don’t know that he’s probably the most successful high school coach we’ve had in the county,” Madison Southern football coach Doug Carter said.

So, it only seemed fitting to Carter that when Madison Central and Madison Southern agreed to renew their football rival after almost 20 years that Kidd should be honored in some way.

The first-ever Roy Kidd Bowl is scheduled for 7:30 p.m. Friday at Madison Southern High School. The former EKU coach will be on hand to present the winning team with a trophy and will also award an offensive and defensive player of the game award.

“I’m more than happy to do anything I can do to help promote football in the county,” Kidd said.

Kidd had an amazing run of success during this tenure at Madison High School. He compiled an astonishing 54-10-1 record and between 1959 and 1961 his teams put together a 27-game winning streak.

During that stretch, Madison High posted 15 straight shutouts.

“That was a great six years,” Kidd said. “I’ll never forget them. We had some great kids and it was great to see them go on and into the professional world. Some of those ex-players are now good friends of mine.”

The Indians and Eagles have played just once — in 1989, the year after Southern was founded. The Indians rolled to a 32-0 victory in that game.

The two schools have agreed to play each other again next year and Carter is hopeful that the Roy Kidd Bowl will become a yearly tradition.

“This being a county championship, when you think of football in Madison County, the first name that pops up is Roy Kidd,” Carter said.

Officials are expecting an overflow crowd for Friday’s game and Madison Southern athletic director Doug Sallee is encouraging fans to bring their own chairs.

Central opened the season last week with a 26-7 win over Danville in the Bob Allen Bowl, while Southern suffered a 49-12 setback on the road at Breathitt County.