Throwback Thursday: Dr. Newton Thomas of Horse Cave

February is Black History Month — a time to remember the people whose courage shaped our communities, even when their stories weren’t widely recorded. Today we visit Horse Cave in nearby Hart County, where one educator and coach left a legacy.

If you’ve ever taken the self-guided Horse Cave Cell Phone Tour, you’ll hear about Dr. Newton Thomas — teacher, principal, coach, and pioneer. Newton S. Thomas was born in Georgetown, Ky. The 1920 U.S. Census showed a household led by his mother, Fanny Thomas, raising six after her divorce.

Education became his path forward. He attended Kentucky Normal and Industrial Institute — now Kentucky State University — at a time when opportunities for African American students were limited. Thomas came to Horse Cave to teach at the Horse Cave Colored School — a four-room building serving more than 100 students. In 1936, he became the school’s principal. But students also knew him by another title: Coach.

His basketball team had only nine players. They didn’t even have a gym. Yet in 1944 and 1945, his squad won about 65 games each season and captured the Negro League State Championship both years. He later coached a team that finished national runner-up,  and two of his players would go on to become members of the world-famous Harlem Globetrotters.

The Globetrotters were global ambassadors who challenged racial barriers through sport and entertainment. They also had ties to southcentral Kentucky — often stopping in nearby Bowling Green, where players were known to visit Shake Rag, one of the city’s historic African American neighborhoods. For young athletes in Horse Cave, that connection made the impossible feel reachable, and Coach Thomas helped them believe they belonged on those courts.

Then came 1957 — one of the most difficult turning points in local history. Caverna integrated all 12 grades in a single year. The Cave City Colored School and the Horse Cave Colored School were closed, and African American students were reassigned to Caverna. Dr. Thomas, along with Caverna Superintendent Ralph Dorsey, worked to make the transition smooth.

In 1954, the U.S. Supreme Court had ordered integration to proceed “with all deliberate speed.” In many places that meant slow change — even Bowling Green took a decade to integrate. But at Caverna it happened quickly, making it one of the first Kentucky school systems with an integrated teaching staff. Dr. Thomas himself became the first African American teacher to teach at an integrated school in Kentucky when he joined Caverna Independent High School.

The transition, however, was complicated. Some African American students struggled in the new environment. Some left school altogether. A generation of students lived through a difficult cultural shift — one filled with hope, uncertainty, and deeply mixed emotions. Through it all, Thomas remained what he had always been — a mentor who believed education could open doors that society sometimes tried to close.

Thomas lived to the age of 92, leaving behind generations of students, athletes, and educators influenced by his example.