[Congressional Record Volume 169, Number 211 (Friday, December 22, 2023)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E1260]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                        IN MEMORY OF BILLY HICKS

                                 ______
                                 

                             HON. ANDY BARR

                              of kentucky

                    in the house of representatives

                       Friday, December 22, 2023

  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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