On Sunday, April 26, at the Central Bank Center Ballroom in Lexington, the Kentucky High School Athletic Association will induct its Class of 2026 into the Dawahares/KHSAA Hall of Fame. Amongst the 13-person class are Owensboro Catholic’s Jody Hamilton and Daviess County’s Curtis Turley.
The 2026 class will also include Makayla Epps, Gwen Doyle Howard, James Haire, Chuck Medley, Joe Morris, Glenn Napier, Larry Pursiful, Lynn Ray, The Riherd Family, Bill Mike Runyon, and Emma Talley.
An Ashland native, Hamilton’s coaching career has spanned over 40 years, and with a record of 1,038 and 409, he is the fourth-winningest baseball coach in the state. He is also the only baseball coach in Kentucky to win two State Championships with two different schools – having done so with Boyd County in 2001 and West Jessamine in 2015.
“Its really, really humbling,” Hamilton said. “God is good for granting me all of these years to be part of athletics, whether it be high school or college, here in the state of Kentucky. We have seen just about everything, whether we started down in college coaching as a graduate assistantship down there for a year and then these past 40 years in high school. To imagine being one of just a little over 500 people in the KHSAA Hall of Fame is amazing and tremendously humbling.”
Hamilton arrived as the Head Coach of Owensboro Catholic’s baseball program in 2022, leading them to two 3rd Region titles, a State Tournament Semi-Finals appearance, an All-A State title, and an All-A State Finals appearance.
While Hamilton is most known for his time on the diamond, he has also coached a multitude of sports- most notably leading West Jessamine’s golf team to four consecutive Region titles from 2007-2010. He also spent time as an Athletic Director.
Hamilton played baseball at Morehead State and was named the OVC Player of the Year in 1979, and upon graduation, held career records in eight categories.
“I have always considered athletics really important in the school system,” Hamilton said. “…Coaching other sports really helped me. I was around a lot of great coaches who taught me some stuff. How you can coach and push the kids, how you can talk to the kids, and the way you should talk to them. I just think being around those people was really beneficial for me.”
Turley arrived at Daviess County at the start of the 1999-2000 season and spent five years with the program. Over his tenure, he coached many program legends, including Matt West and Johnny Worth. The 2003 season marked the first time in almost 50 years that Daviess County had returned to the State Tournament.
“It is obviously a tremendous honor for me, but I also consider it an honor for my family, and all of the players that I have had the privilege to coach,” Turley said. “The coaches, managers, administrators, and cheerleaders. Everyone who played a role in my career supported and encouraged me. I think it is an honor for everyone.”
Joining the coaching ranks as just a 22-year-old in 1976, Turley started his career as the Head Coach at Berea. Over his 32 years at the helm with over a dozen schools, Turley became one of the very few to reach the Sweet 16 of the State Tournament with three different programs – Warren Central in 1982 and 1983, Henderson County in 1990, and Daviess County in 2003.
Turley was a co-founder of the Kentucky Association of Basketball Coaches and was previously inducted into the Kentucky High School Basketball Hall of Fame in 2019 and the Kentucky All-Star Basketball Hall of Fame in 2025.
“For me, it was a blessed career,” Turley said. “I think God put people in my life throughout my entire career, which made it a wonderful career. Basketball and coaching were something I dreamed of doing since I was a young guy. I think I was able to fulfill my lifelong dream of being a coach.”
