The earliest recorded basketball team in Covington was in 1904 in which was at the time a club team consisting of high school aged players. Coach by James Bartmess, a graduate of 1904, the team was then known as the Cubs. Covington continued with the club program until it was officially introduced as a school sport in time for the 1925-26 season.

Since, Covington has recorded six 20-win seasons beginning with a 20-2 record in the 1940-41 season under Hall of Fame coach Burr Simpson. Bob Huelsman is the only other coach in the history of boys basketball at Covington to win twenty games in a season as he accomplished the milestone five times: 20-3 in 1976-77, 20-2 in 1978-79, 22-3 in 1979-80, 24-1 in 1980-81, and 20-5 in 1983-84. Huelsman’s 1980-81 team was one of six Buccaneer teams to win a district championship and was inducted into the Covington Athletic Hall of Fame as a group.

Huelsman is also program’s most winningest coach as he recorded 228 wins against just 68 losses in 13 years of coaching from 1972-73 through 1985-86. He also owns the highest career winning percentage in school history by winning 77% of his games.

Covington has also had some great players over the years, beginning with arguably the best player in school history, Tom Dunn. Dunn, who went on to a stellar basketball career at Wittenberg University after high school, played from 1968-1972 and still remains the school’s all-time scoring leader with 1,721 points in 78 games for a 22.1 per-game average.

Six other Buccaneers have reached the 1,000-point milestone in their careers; Jason Meyer (1998-02) with 1,492 points, Lane Evans (1984-1988) with 1,129 points, Darin Rhoades (2002-06) with 1,125 points, Ed Hartley (1967-71) with 1,105 points, Mike Schmidt (1976-79) with 1,027 points and Jay Meyer (1974-77) with 1,000 points. Ed Hartley also owns the career record for rebounds with 816 rebounds in 73 games for an 11.2 per-game average.