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Paul Sankey “Old School” Bingham is a father, a husband, a lover of basketball, and a man who loves his community and its children. 

On the weekend of August 23, Nicholasville-Jessamine County Parks and Recreation honored Bingham at the newly named Bingham Courts at City-County Park. According to a Facebook post published after the ceremony, friends and family came out to the parks to support Bingham for “this long-awaited and deserved moment,” the Post reads. “Mr. Bingham has been a longtime friend, supporter, and legend of Jessamine County, and we appreciate everything he has done for our great community.” 

Bingham is from Jessamine County. Besides serving in the Air Force, which took him away for a short time, he’s been in Nicholasville his whole life. Bingham has children of his own who played basketball. “I had great people to support [his children] during their careers, so if I could just be there to help one, I’ll have helped the community,” Bingham said. 

The courts at the City-County Park have been a second home for Bingham, where he has played with middle school and high school students on basketball teams in Jessamine County. With some of the kids he’s played with, he also has gotten on the court with their fathers and grandfathers.

Bingham calls his time at the park his “calling.” As a mentor, Bingham would play with the kids on the courts and attend their basketball games– whether they were in middle school or high school or whether they went to East or West Jessamine Schools. He also followed these young people into their college careers, visiting different colleges to watch those games.  

Bingham said that one student he played basketball with before COVID shut down group activities is preparing to graduate. “Their success is my success.” 

“So I just sort of bounce around to these children– wherever these young men and women are playing, I try to go and support them. This has been part of a routine for me,” he said. 

Bingham said receiving this honor has been one of the most gratifying experiences ever in his life. “I was just so grateful and appreciative of the staff, as well as the city and the county officials, to recognize me in that manner, as well as the Parks and Recreation staff,” he said. “For this type of honor to be bestowed upon me…was just overwhelming and I’m just so appreciative and thankful for those kind hearts who made this event possible.” 

Ruby Mason, the president of the Nicholasville Rotary Club, and a member of the Planning Commission and the Chamber of Commerce, said Bingham is “the best. He’s been such a role model for the young people in Nicholasville. We appreciate him so very much.”

As he remembers his decades of playing ball, and handing out either Coca-Cola or water to the kids after each game on the Bingham Courts, he shares that he is truly grateful that these young people have “kept me out of the doctor’s office because I was able to run and play basketball with them.”

“We just went out and played, and had good times,” “Old School” Bingham said. “Overall, it’s been a glorious ride through, and like I tell the young men, I said I’m no role model, but if you do see something good and positive, then you take that and make it better.”