Bringing new life to Wayland Gymnasium: Floyd Central welcomes Lyon County for throwback double-header

FLOYD COUNTY, Ky. (WYMT) - Standing outside of the historic Wayland Gym, you can hear the echoes of “King” Kelly Coleman and the Wayland Wasps playing back in the 50s.

“When you walk into that Wayland gym, it kind of throws you back into those stories that you have heard or those movies that you have seen,” J.R. VanHoose, 1998 Mr. Kentucky Basketball, said. “The tiny, small-town gyms were packed every game night [in that era]. I definitely know you are going to see a crowd like that on Saturday.”

New life will be brought into the Wayland Gym this weekend when the Floyd Central boys and girls basketball teams host Lyon County for a throwback game put on by the Mountain Sports Hall of Fame.

With the Lyons in Wayland territory, Travis Perry, the only player to break “King” Kelly Coleman’s state scoring record of 60 plus years, will be playing on the same court the local legend did from 1952-1956.

“As soon as we became aware that Travis was very close to breaking [Coleman’s] record, the discussion started immediately,” VanHoose said. “Wouldn’t it be great if we could get Lyon County here to play in this game?”

Bringing life back into the old Wasps’ gym was something number 66 hoped to see before he died in 2019.

“[Coleman and I] would talk about those things,” VanHoose said. “To see him get excited and get that twinkle in his eye that we are talking about hosting games. Even though he passed away and wasn’t able to see those games that we have had, the discussion that ‘yes’ this is what we want to do moving forward. We want to have games here. We want to bring people back to the gym. It did excite him.”

VanHoose hopes opening the gym doors this Saturday to a new generation inspires pride and gratitude to all those who join the Jaguars and the Lyons for a journey back in time.

“I think it gives hope to these kids who may have never thought about that before and may not have known that people have paved the way for them to do things athletically.”

Saturday’s time travel begins with the girl’s game at 6:00 p.m. The boy’s game will follow at the conclusion of the Lady Jaguars and Lady Lyons game. Doors open at 5:00 p.m. on Dec. 16.