5 days in Kentucky: Friday night football’s bright lights but dim future

This is the last in a five-part series, “Fed up in Kentucky,” exploring how political issues are playing out in personal ways in the Bluegrass State this election season.

BAXTER, Ky. — Teenagers in Harlan County used to count on staying here and becoming business owners, laborers, leaders and politicians. That’s how it worked for generations. But now with the coal industry crippled, the career pipeline is ruptured. Young adults are leaving either to follow parents who have lost jobs or to strike out on their own.

“My whole family revolves around coal mining,” said Steven Skidmore, a 17-year-old attending a Friday night football game at Coal Miners' Memorial Stadium, home to the Harlan County Black Bears. But no one in his family is working in the industry now. His father was laid off two years ago, he said, and his grandfather retired.

“There ain’t no jobs,” said Skidmore. “Dad, he’s a taxidermist. He started back on his taxidermy. I mean, that’s our income.”

As candidates in Kentucky’s Senate race bicker over who has economic solutions for the state’s depressed coal country, teenagers like Skidmore are struggling to see a bright future, no matter who wins. Harlan County has lost an estimated 4,500 people since 2000. In the last three years, eastern Kentucky has lost more 7,000 mining jobs. 

“You look at Harlan County — used to, you’d come here and all these bleachers would be filled,” Skidmore said, pointing his chin toward the empty seats around him. “I mean, everything is going downhill. Everyone I know has had to move to find work.”

By halftime, the Black Bears were losing 28-0.

“It could be just a bad night,” said Skidmore. “We’ve had a lot of kids move because of the coal mines. There has probably been 20 football players that played last year that had to move this year because of no work.”

Jay Phillips is also 17. He’s a member of the Appalachian Renaissance Initiative, a group of student leaders from 17 school districts in eastern Kentucky trying to improve high school education in Appalachia.

He said that as the coal industry plummets, more of his friends are interested in attending college. He wants to be a doctor but doesn’t see himself practicing in his hometown.

“That is a tough reality to face, but, no, I would not come back to Harlan,” he said.

As for Skidmore, he said he’ll probably move out of Kentucky to Indianapolis or Knoxville, Tennessee. “Become a police officer, do welding. You know, try to make a living. That’s what it’s about,” he said.

“I’ve watched Dad get jobs, lose jobs, go without and have a lot. In three months I will be 18. It’s about time to either find a job or I am going to be out here on the side of the road living in a box. And I don’t want that.”

The Harlan County Black Bears got trounced by the Johnson Central Golden Eagles, 43-14. But fans said it is a rebuilding year and the team will get better. The question is, what’s in store for the county? Can Harlan County survive if coal goes away?

That’s on the minds of these kids’ parents as they head to the voting booth in November to pick a senator for Kentucky. And they’re asking if either candidate has any solutions to improve their kids’ futures.

“It is a very good place to grow up. A very good place,” said Skidmore. “I love it here. I’d hate to leave it, but what else can a man do?”