By: Dave Clark , dclark@cincinnati.com
CovCath guard Cole VonHandorf reacts as he runs down the court after making a 3-point shot.(Photo: Jim Owens for The Enquirer)
Covington Catholic senior guard Cole VonHandorf, the subject of a feature by The Enquirer's Rick Broering earlier this week, is one of five nominees submitted by courier-journal.com's Jason Frakes for Kentucky's Mr. Basketball award.
Frakes on VonHandorf:
Consistent guard is averaging 18.1 points and 3.9 rebounds per game. He has signed with Fairmont State, an NCAA Division II school in Fairmont, West Virginia. After receiving nominations, the Kentucky Lions Eye Foundation and Kentucky Association of Basketball Coaches will send out the final ballot on Feb. 17. Coaches and media will have until Feb. 24 to submit their ballot. The Mr. Basketball winner will be announced March 14 during an awards ceremony in Lexington.
Frakes' other four nominees are from outside Northern Kentucky.
An excerpt from Broering's feature about VonHandorf, who recently became the first player in CovCath history to score 2,000 points:
Assistant coach Joe Fredrick said he knew VonHandorf had a special work ethic before he ever arrived at CovCath. The two developed a close relationship over the last four years while Fredrick was constantly rebounding for him or putting him through individual workouts.
"What comes to mind when anyone asks me about Cole is a situation I witnessed when he was in seventh grade," Fredrick said. "I have a full court in my backyard and a lot of neighborhood kids are always coming over to play ball and work on their games there. One day there's a torrential downpour going on and lightning's cracking while I'm in my office paying bills, and I happened to look outside and see a kid shooting on my court. I walked out to see if he was OK and it was Cole out there as a seventh-grader soaking wet just wanting to work on his jump shot. I knew right then he was going to be a special player. He's just wired differently. He reminded me of myself at that age. He's old-school. He deserves all the success that comes his way."
CovCath is currently ranked No. 1 in the Courier-Journal's statewide Litkenhous Ratings and top three in pretty much every major poll across the state so VonHandorf has spent most of his time focusing on the task at hand as opposed to reflecting on his career as a Colonel to this point. He's determined to add another great memory to a trophy case full of them.
"The best thing about playing for CovCath is playing the sport you love with all of your best friends," he said. "The memories and lifelong friendships I've made are incredible. It's been a really special four years and I just want to keep it going."