Tony “Sumo” Sapp (middle) with longtime friends Brian “Rabbit” Littleton (left) and Tracy “Opie” King (right). (Submitted Photo)
When you’d walk into The Fieldhouse during basketball season, you’d be sure to see Tony “Sumo” Sapp at the scorers table.
He was a fixture at The Fieldhouse.
Sumo dedicated so much of his time as the bookkeeper for Mason County for over 30 years, logging over 1,000 games. It didn’t just stop with games though. Sapp was THE guy to go to for previous records and logged books for years and years of not just Mason County, but area schools like St. Patrick, Maysville, Bracken County and Augusta.
Sapp died last Friday with health complications, he was 64.
He was a graduate of Mason County High School in 1976, attended Maysville Community College and Murray State before a long working career spent at Dayton Power and Light.
He started keeping the clock for the Lady Royals during the 1988-89 season, then switching over to the book in the 90’s. He then started doing it for the Royals in 2006. Prior to that he was traveling quite a bit with the Calvary Temple softball team, a local team that was quite successful around not only in the area, but the country.
That’s where the stat collecting started.
“I joined the team around 1984 and Sumo was already there and playing for them,” longtime friend Brian “Rabbit” Littleton said. “He was an assistant coach under Ernie Elliott and Sumo would pitch for us sometimes. He was also the third base coach and kept all the stats from the time we started playing to the time we were done. By the end he had a book of each individual player and had our record down to a T. It was just amazing, you wouldn’t believe how well kept up it was. He had everything.”
Those were some of Sumo’s fondest memories, according to his obituary. The Calvary Temple team traveled the country playing softball often in tournaments throughout the year, winning state championships and even a national title.
“He was my ride, had a van and would haul 4-6 of us, we traveled a bunch of tournaments overnight and he took care of me,” Littleton said, one of the pallbearers for his funeral.
Sumo’s claim to fame with the team was when he came into pitch during a national tournament in Indiana due to Elliott having to leave the tourney because his wife was in an accident. Sumo came in, took a line drive off the chest and then held the team to two runs. Calvary Temple would go on to win the national championship.
“He took credit for that,” Littleton said with a laugh. “He still talked about that 20 years later.”
Sumo was an avid sports fan.
Putting the history books together for area basketball teams was no easy task. Keep in mind he started doing this in the 90’s, prior to the internet days where information is easily accessible.
Summers were spent finding box scores all across Kentucky.
“Those books are pre-internet days. Him and Rick Swartz went to several libraries across Kentucky to get box scores and go to several different places. If they couldn’t find it here through the Ledger, they would travel around just to get box scores. They spent some summers looking for that stuff. It was a great commitment,” former Royals coach Chris O’Hearn said.
Sumo was well liked by not only the basketball family of Mason County, but also had good relationships with officials, opposing teams and fans. Sumo wasn’t afraid to speak his mind. He’d let you know about it too.
“He definitely did not mind sharing his opinion and had a great sense of humor. All the officials loved him, except that one time at a JV game when he got thrown out. Had great camaraderie with coaches and officials. He’d get all the refs for us for summer basketball and had a close relationship with those guys and he did such a good job with that and all the referees really liked him. There were just so many things behind the scenes that he did,” O’Hearn said.
The scorers table will have a piece of emptiness at The Fieldhouse without Sumo.
He’ll be missed not only by the Mason County community, but the 10th Region lost a dedicated and fun loving soul.
RIP Sumo.
