Eller enjoying 50th year as scorekeeper

Kevin Eller has been keeping the scorebooks at basketball games for 50 years. It started when he was 13 years old, and now he's in the midst of the golden anniversary season. As the scorekeeper for Unicoi County High School, his heart bleeds blue, but most important is to be fair and accurate. It seems no two scorekeepers are the same, and there are tricks Eller uses to keep up with the games easier. "There are adjustments I've made, certain ways I mark things down, where if there's a question I can go back and show the officials," he said. "That has made it easier to keep up with times, jump balls, how many fouls in a particular quarter. It's about making things easier for me and the officials." If he's not keeping the book, he's often running the clock and scoreboard. While it's usually smooth sailing, both he and the opposing fans got a little aggravated during Unicoi County's season-opening games against Cherokee. Eller was getting accustomed to a new setup, and there were some glitches. But, everything got straightened out and now it's back to normal. He definitely works to be fair as he has an outstanding reputation with coaches and officials. He's even been called by opposing coaches to help out from time to time. "I've got a good reputation with the officials and coaches," Eller said. "I've kept the scorebook before some of them were born. One time I was at Crockett and their clock operator couldn't show up. Coach (John) Good asked if I could run the scoreboard. Chuck Babb did the same on occasion at Happy Valley even though they were playing against Erwin." Eller actually went to school at Happy Valley where he kept the books for legendary Warriors coach Charlie Bayless. Once he lived in Unicoi County as an adult, he was approached by then coach Mike Williams about doing the same for the Blue Devils. Bayless recommended Eller and he kept the role through a succession of coaches. There was a temporary break from the high school team due to shift work at Eastman and taking off for his son's YMCA, elementary and middle school games. During that time, he kept the books for those various programs. Eller, who also serves as a bus driver, doesn't do it for the money. He donates so many hours to the task. He sees it as giving back to the kids and the community. "I'm proud that I've never taken a nickel for anything I've done," Eller said. "That's my contribution to the program. I want them to use the money they'd pay and put it back into the program for uniforms or whatever they need. I enjoy being around the kids and enjoy the relationships with the coaches, officials and media. It's like a sanctuary in the winter. I like being in the gym." Now retired after 38-plus years as an electrician at Eastman, he's teaching part-time at the regional manufacturing center in Kingsport. A division of Northeast State, they train people for over 30 different industries. Between that, helping family, mowing over six acres in the summer and his roles with the sports programs, he's even busier than when he was a full-time employee. In the fall, he is a bus driver and does other duties for the Unicoi County football team. "I've been with Coach (Drew) Rice ever since he took over," Eller said. "I will take care of the scores, timeouts and the statistics on the scoreboard. We even have a traditional thing. I'm not an assistant coach, but he'll have me talk to the team after we win. It started out as a joke, but now when we win, they expect it."