Bulldogs revisit historic past in game against Central at ‘Old Dunbar’
Paul Laurence Dunbar’s boys’ basketball team will travel back in time Saturday when it plays Central at the Dunbar Community Center gymnasium, home of Lexington’s original Dunbar High School teams.
The game is being held at “Old Dunbar” as part of the Kentucky High School Basketball Hall of Fame’s “Glory Road Project” to honor “the many gymnasiums across Kentucky that have historical significance in the development of the cultural phenomenon of Kentucky high school basketball,” according to a hall of fame press release.
“I think it’s very important that we honor our history here at Dunbar and in Fayette County,” said Dunbar Coach Murray Garvin, whose team will tour the facility and practice at the old gym Friday night. “It’s a tribute to the past of Dunbar and connecting its future to the past.”
Located at 545 N. Upper Street, the original Dunbar was an all-Black school open from 1923 until 1967. It closed when the school district desegregated, becoming a junior high for a time before much of the building was razed with the structure left today becoming a community center.
It was home to the Dunbar Bearcats, who under Coach S.T. Roach made six state tournament and two state finals appearances between 1957 and 1965. Dunbar was the first all-Black school in Kentucky to integrate into the Kentucky High School Athletic Association. Prior to its KHSAA admission in 1957, it was one of the most successful teams in the segregated Kentucky High School Athletic League. Roach’s record over his 22-year career was 512-142.
Both old Dunbar and the modern school are named for the 19th century poet who was the son of former Kentucky slaves. Paul Laurence Dunbar High School opened in southwest Lexington in 1990. Its gym is named in Roach’s honor and a banner recognizing the Bearcats’ achievements hangs from its rafters alongside the modern school’s banners. Dunbar won the 2016 Boys’ Sweet 16 state championship.
Saturday’s game is scheduled to be streamed by Thomas “Truck” Bernard on his Big Things Kentucky Facebook, Twitter and YouTube channels. Featuring Bernard and co-host Buford Green Jr., Big Things Kentucky has streamed a weekly Central Kentucky high school sports show for a number of years.
“This is awesome. The whole time I’ve been here, my kids have done parks and rec and spent time at the old Dunbar Center,” Bernard said. “My kids went to the S.T. Roach camp. You see the pictures there and everything and you kind of know what Dunbar meant to the community.”
Dunbar (6-9) will be wearing its green and white throwback Bearcats’ uniforms Saturday as it takes on the Central Yellow Jackets (8-10), and will be looking to return to winning form on the heels of losing four out of its last five games after a spate of illness and injury to some of its starters.
“We caught our stride back with Tates Creek (a 65-44 win), and hopefully we can keep it up,” Garvin said.
The hall of fame’s “Glory Road,” project has been on hold for Dunbar for two seasons. The first planned game in 2021 was canceled because of COVID-19 issues. Last year’s scheduled game was canceled due to a winter storm. The project continues later this month with games at historic gyms in Prestonsburg, Hindman, Wayland and more. Visit khsbhf.com/ for details.
‘Glory Road’ Game
Central vs. Paul Laurence Dunbar
Where: Dunbar Community Center, 545 N. Upper Street in Lexington
When: 2 p.m. Saturday.
