Robertson, Schwindel names to HCHS Hall of Fame
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Robertson
By Dave Taylor
Brandy Robertson returned to the gym where she once reigned on the court, this time to be inducted into the Hancock County High School Hall of Fame last Friday after a multi-sport high school career and earning a full ride to play basketball at Marshall University in West Virginia.
Robertson, a 1996 HCHS graduate, was known for her hard work and leadership, earning letters in cross country for two years, and four years in both softball and basketball.
While she excelled in cross country and as a shortstop, she really stood out on the basketball court, as a four-year starter who set records for highest free throw percentage in a game, going 11-11, highest FT percentage in a season at 81 percent, and scoring 1,203 points in her career. She was also named to the all-district team four times, first team all region, the All ‘A’ Classic team three times, named a Kentucky Junior All-Star, and all-state honorable mention.
She worked just as hard off the court as she did on it.
“So I every summer made sure I saved up money and my goal was, outside of the team camps and stuff that we did, I went to individual camps like at Western Kentucky,” she said Tuesday.
Her hard work paid off, although it didn’t go as she originally planned.
(“WKU) was my first love, I wanted to end up there and play there, so I went to summer camps there,” she said.
The WKU head coach pulled her in to his office and said he liked her game but he wasn’t sure if he would have a place for her.
“He said look… I don’t know that I have a spot because the two girls that are up for Miss Basketball are also point guards, and if either one of them even come here then we probably won’t have a spot, and he said but I will do my best to get you somewhere.”
That year’s Miss Basketball winner Jaime Walz did choose WKU, but the coach kept his promise to Robertson.
“He called me and he said hey, I’m friends with the coach at Marshall, I’m going to give her your name, I’m going to give her a recommendation, and you can take it from there,” she said. “And they came down and watched me play a few games and they started recruiting me.”
Marshall was a mystery to her in the beginning because she knew nothing about it, and as far as she knew no one else did either, but their football program, with Randy Moss starring, was well-known.
“So that’s what they were kind of known for, and still to this day are kind of known for the really good football programs they’ve always had,” she said. “But also for the plane crash in 1970. I’d never heard of anything like that so yeah, that was all new to me too.”
She also had offers from Kentucky Wesleyan, Wofford University and Mercer, but one visit to Marshall sealed the deal.
“I went for a visit at Marshall and fell in love with it,” she said. “That was it. Once I saw it and met the team and saw the town and stuff I knew it was for me.”
Her freshman year was arguably the biggest for the women’s program, where it made its only appearance in the NCAA tournament after winning their conference.
“I didn’t play a ton my freshman year because we had a senior point guard and a junior guard that was under her,” she said.
“But when we played in Colorado our first round of NCAA Tournament, our starting guard got hurt and the two-guard, just where the atmosphere is a little bit different out there, I got to play a little bit more that game,” she said.
The Thundering Herd lost 49-69 to Colorado, but their opponents had two advantages, one being at home and the other being accustomed to the thin air.
“We actually played on their home court,” she said. “Yeah, it’s a very, very different thing but also a very, very cool experience.”
Robertson went on to become the floor leader, playing point and becoming the team co-captain her junior year and the captain her senior year.
“I wasn’t the leading scorer or anything like that but I think as far as a team leader and a floor leader, I did that, and that was my job,” she said.
“Being a part of that and experiencing that at the college level. It’s a whole different thing,” she said. “I loved every part of it.”
She graduated in 2000 with a bachelor’s degree in adult fitness and earned a master’s in exercise science, where she also served as a graduate assistant strength and conditioning coach for all.
Schwindel
By Dave Taylor
Michael Schwindel, a record setter in basketball who also had a successful football career, including earning a full scholarship to the University of Kentucky, was inducted into the Hancock County High School Hall of Fame last Friday.
Schwindel, a 2005 graduate of HCHS, was given a plaque during halftime of the boys’ game against Breckinridge County, and the list of accomplishments read during his introduction was very, very long.
They included: holding the school record for most steals in a season (105), most steals in a career (303), most rebounds in a game (28), most points in a game (52), most points in a career (2,183), and tying for most steals in a game (8); making the KHSAA all-state team in basketball; a school record 22 interceptions, returning eight for touchdowns; being named to the Lexington Herald-Leader “Class of the Commonwealth” for the top seniors in Kentucky; first team all-state; first team all-region two times; named to the “Kentucky Tremendous 26” by the Kentucky Football Coaches Association; playing in the Kentucky-Tennessee All-Star game; and earning a full scholarship to play football at the University of Kentucky.
And there was more.
He had a prolific career at HCHS, where his basketball prowess was soon overtaken by his football prowess.
“Growing up I was kind of always better at basketball but then football kind of took over there in high school,” he said Monday. “I never even really considered college football as an option until probably my junior year of high school.”
A small forward and shooting guard on the court, who started varsity as an eighth grader and led the team in scoring and steals, his record setting eye for steals translated well to the football field where he played safety and wide receiver.
“I guess maybe just in sports just kind of the anticipation, sort of seeing plays develop and anticipating what’s going to happen before hit happens. I guess that kinds of carries over between the two sports,” he said.
He began to make a name for himself on the court and on the field, and colleges took notice.
Some colleges, like Army, were recruiting him for basketball, but Western Kentucky University, recruited him for both.
“I think they mentioned they would be open to the conversation if that’s something that I really wanted to do,” he said. “I couldn’t imagine trying to do both of those at the college level.”
The better offers were coming from football.
“Football offers coming in were from bigger schools,” he said. “So kind of looking at the opportunities in front of me football became kind of the college path.”
He talked to recruiters from a lot of the big schools surrounding the state, plus others.
“I got contact from Tennessee and Vanderbilt, Indiana and Purdue,” he said. “Harvard was recruiting me.”
But, he said, “the main interest was from Kentucky and Louisville… I took a visit to Louisville and it just didn’t feel right.”
A lifelong fan of UK, he wanted to go there as much as they wanted him.
“Whenever Kentucky started recruiting me and offered a scholarship they were immediately at the top of my list,” he said.
Head coach Rich Brooks brought him in as a safety, where he redshirted his freshman year.
“Fall of ’05 we were in the middle of a rebuild,” Schwindel said. “I think we were coming off of maybe consecutive two-win seasons… And then my redshirt freshman year I think we went 6-6 and went to the Music City Bowl and beat Clemson. That was just an amazing experience, that whole season and then the bowl game.”
After hitting the weight room and gaining size Schwindel moved to outside linebacker.
The 2007 was another very good year.
“I think Louisville was ranked top 10, we knocked them off at the beginning of the year,” he said.
Then he was in one of the legendary games in Wildcat football history.
“We beat number one LSU in triple overtime. That was one of those all-time games,” he said.
That year’s team finished 8-5, including a win over Florida State in the Music City Bowl.
He graduated in 2009 with a bachelor’s degree in mechanical engineering and now works for Lockheed Martin in Lexington, where he lives with his wife Meredith and their 10-month-old son.
