Father takes over baseball team for late son at Estill County High

IRVINE, Ky. (WTVQ) – The former head coach of the Estill County High School baseball team is coming out of retirement to take over the program under unimaginable circumstances.

When Brian Crowe retired as the Engineers head coach, he was succeeded by his son, Blake Crowe, a former star player at Estill County High.

Blake’s first season as head coach last season was canceled by the pandemic.  He finally realized a dream by following in his father’s footsteps, hitting the field with his team this season only to be tragically killed in what the Estill County coroner called freak accident at the Crowe home last week.  The coroner says a flagpole outside Crowe’s home fell onto an electric line, knocking it to the ground.  It had been raining, so the ground was wet and the coroner says Crowe was electrocuted while in his yard.

The Estill County Board of Education announced on its Facebook page Friday that Brian Crowe would take over the high school baseball team for the rest of the season.

The post says practice will resume this weekend.  Weather permitting, the team is scheduled to host Breathitt County at 6:00 p.m. on Monday, May 17.

The social media post thanked everyone across the 14th Region and Kentucky for their support over the past week to honor the memory of Coach Blake Crowe.

In addition to his parents, Crowe left behind a wife and two children.

A Gofundme account was created for Blake Crowe’s family.  For a link to that page, click here.