Lexington minister, former UK and NFL player take LCA football around the world on radio
By John Herndon, 110forChrist.com
LEXINGTON, Ky. – From the remarkable on-field success to those working from the perimeter, there are so many aspects of the football program at Lexington Christian Academy that can only be described as special.
The Eagles have compiled an 86-20 record over the last eight seasons. They’ve won a Class 2A state championship, been runner-up twice and have been eliminated in the semifinals twice. Their quest for a second straight state title began last Thursday with a 50-0 shellacking of Metcalfe County in the playoff opener.
And off the field, there are countless people who contribute in some way.
Greg Horn and Matt Layow are two of those people. For 13 years, they’ve taken their place in the press box to broadcast Eagle games on WJMM radio. They are always perched high above White-Greer-Maggard Stadium, taking in the action from the press box. And the almost inseparable pair make their way to wherever the Eagles are lining it up from the mountains of Pikeville to the flatlands of Mayfield.
For Horn, who serves as pastor of Lexington’s Gardenside Christian Church, it’s the fulfillment of a lifelong dream.
“It started when my nephew was playing (at LCA) as a freshman. I was going to the games and I always had a childhood dream of being a play-by-play sports broadcaster,” Horn says.
WJMM-FM (99.1) had previously broadcast LCA football and Horn had some connections to the station when everything came together for Eagle games to return to the air in 2014. Since then it’s been an incredible ride.
“Matt and I have been doing this thing together since Day One,” Horn says. “One of the best parts about it is that I get to do it with Matt. We didn’t know each other very well before this, but now I consider him a close friend.
“Matt brings a perspective to the game. He brings it in vocabulary that the listener can understand.”
For Layow, a Miami native who played defensive end for Hal Mumme’s Kentucky Wildcat teams, it was a chance to turn his knowledge and experience into helping fans understand why something did or didn’t work. Layow had a couple of stints with the New York Giants – “NFL stands for Not For Long,” he quips – and had played in NFL Europe. He’d also had some broadcasting experience.
“One of my jobs after football was with Host Communications for about seven years,” Layow says. “(Former Kentucky basketball star) Jeff Sheppard and I went to school together at UK and were really good friends. He lured me away and after my Host Communications days, I was with Wazoo Sports for a couple of years. I called a couple of games. We were kind of an ESPN, if you will, for the state of Kentucky.”
Wazoo Sports ceased operations and for the last 15 years, Layow has been involved in orthopedic device sales.
On Friday nights, he sits beside a man he barely knew at that first broadcast together. “It’s so easy to be with this guy with his heart and his humbleness,” Layow says of Horn. “The relationship we have had for 13 years has grown and grown.”
Layow’s wife, Tricia, is a member of the LCA board and their three children are enrolled at the school. The Layows are active members of Lexington’s Southland Christian Church.
The small stipend Layow and Horn receive for their work pales compared to what has truly become a ministry.
Horn, who grew up at Southland, says he regularly hears from shut-ins who can’t make it to the games. And with internet radio (WJMM.com), the Voice of the Eagles reaches far beyond central Kentucky.
“One thing that is cool is that some of our players, like Bennett Gudalis, when we featured him on our Senior Spotlight earlier this year, before we did the interview, he said, ‘I just want you to know that my grandfather in Pennsylvania listens to every game.'”
And Horn’s influence reaches beyond the microphone. “The thing about Greg is just the person he is. He is the ultimate encourager to me,” LCA head coach Oakley Watkins says. “He’s always reaching out to me. There are things to being a head coach that people don’t see. It can be stressful. But he’s always, ‘How can I pray for you. I am here for you brother.’ That’s so meaningful to me to have someone like that in my corner.”
Horn says he’s been called upon to lead the team’s Thursday night devotions on occasion while Layow serves as a mentor for players and friend to the coaches. “It’s just the relationships with the coaches and with the players over time and you get to know their parents,” Layow says. “(The broadcast) also provides a great opportunity for their parents, if they aren’t in town, or their grandparents. Over 13 years, they have been able to tune in and be a part of it.
“I was fortunate just this week to talk to one of my former high school coaches. Out of all the levels of this game, high school is just special, so impressionable. Having those relationships to pour into and encourage the coaching staff and be able to encourage the players and their families, that’s a ministry in itself when you are able to walk side-by-side with players and have a relationship over 13 years.”
The LCA Sports Network is all about ministry to Horn. For that matter, everything has been about ministry since a life-changing event nearly 30 years ago.
“I had been an assistant basketball coach at Western Kentucky University in my 20s,” says Horn, who is now 61.
(His brother, Darrin Horn, played for the Hilltoppers from 1991-1995 and was later head coach at WKU and South Carolina. He’s now head coach at Northern Kentucky University. Greg grins and says his brother got all of the athletic ability in the family.)
“After WKU, I became an entrepreneur and had a grocery store in Cynthiana, Ky. I had a 10- million-dollar company at the age of 32 with 100 employees and was doing well. I was going to be a millionaire by my mid-30s,” Greg says. “On March 1, 1997, it started raining. It rained and it rained, resulting in a Noah-type flood.
“I went from a 10-million-dollar company to being two million dollars in debt overnight. So I prayed about it and believed that God wanted me to reopen because I had 100 people depending on me for a job in a small community like Harrison County and Cynthiana. We reopened in a miraculous 21 days.”
Horn’s store was named Business of the Year by the Chamber of Commerce and his story was featured in a John Maxwell book, “Falling Forward.”
“Fast forward five years later,” Horn continues. “Because of all of the flood damage and competition from a Walmart Supercenter, I wound up filing for bankruptcy. I lost my business. I went home and my wife said, ‘I hate to add to your bad day, but I want a divorce. I’m leaving for my old high school boyfriend.’ It brought me to my knees.”
Greg Horn had hit rock bottom.
“My life was mostly about money. It was about Greg Horn. I was angry at God because of the trouble I’d had and because I’d lost my business and my marriage. I was angry at God, and for transparency, I had suicidal thoughts, but I said, ‘God, I am going to read the Bible from cover to cover, Genesis to Revelation to find out all this stuff I had hear in Sunday School and in sermons. I was also a big radio fan of Chuck Swindoll and Dr. David Jeremiah and I listened to the great Charles Stanley and people like that. So I said I am going to find out if all of this is true. Ant that is when my faith really became mine and real.”
Little did Greg know that God was already working on a new journey in Horn’s life.
“God just opened a door in Berry, Ky., at Berry Christian Church and they needed somebody to preach. There were only about 15 people there and God started doing only what God can do. The next thing you know, we had 50. And we had Bring A Friend Day. I said, ‘We can have 100 people here if you bring one person.’ We had 156 people show up on Bring A Friend Day.
“I felt like the Holy Spirit said to me – I went into the bathroom and I had tears in my eyes – God said, ‘Greg, this is not about you but it’s about Me and I can take a divorced bankrupt broken guy if you realize this is about me, not you.'”
In August of 2003, the elders of Berry Christian ordained Horn into the ministry. He served at Berry for two years and was on the staff at Lexington’s Northeast Christian Church for 10 years. He’s just completed his fourth year at Gardenside.
He says the church wondered about his ability to juggle his ministry duties with the amount of time he devotes to LCA football broadcasts but now, “I think they saw the joy for me. For me it is a great outlet. It lets me escape from some of the heaviness I deal with. And the best part, again, is that I get to do it with a close friend,” Horn says.
Last Thursday, soon after LCA had advanced in the state playoffs, Layow had already made his way to the turf to mingle with players and parents while Horn closed the shop.
And as usual, the duo’s love for LCA was on full display. “We are the LCA Sports Network,” Horn smiles, “so I don’t apologize for being a homer. We know these are young men, 15, 16 or 17 years old.”
They’ve also seen the LCA program’s impact beyond the championships.
“I think what makes this program different is the attention to detail, but it’s also about what you do. Look at the young men. It’s not just what you do on the field, but what you do off the field. They are servants in this community. It’s much more than Friday nights. It’s about building character. They point people to Jesus.
“One year they lost in the state championship, it was a heartbreaker,” Horn says of 2021 when the Eagles fell, 24-23, when Beechwood blocked an extra point in overtime. “They lost that game and yet they still gathered and sang ‘Victory In Jesus.’ Right there, it said so much. They sing that after every game, win or lose. It’s so much more than football.”
CAN LEXINGTON CHRISTIAN REPEAT AS STATE CHAMPS?
A year ago, Lexington Christian defeated Owensboro Catholic, 33-28, in the state championship game and the Eagles return much of that roster. If the KHSAA RPI ranking hold, it will be a rematch as they are at the top of Class 2A. LCA stands at 9-2, Owensboro Catholic 10-1. However, Beechwood (10-0), Belfry (10-1), Mayfield (9-2) and others may have something to say about who is playing at Kroger Field the first weekend of December.
“Coming off winning the state championship, I think there is nothing like experience in sports,” Layow says. “Experience breeds confidence and this team has confidence. They know what it took last year, so they know what it will take this year. The whole class has some great teams like Beechwood and Owensboro Catholic. It’s not going to be an easy road to take, but experience is huge.”
Horn adds, “Like anything, there is luck involved. There’s hard work, there’s preparation. Staying healthy is a huge part of it. One thing that helps is that LCA plays one of the toughest schedules in the state before the district starts. That helps and this year we will stay home as long as we keep winning, so I like this team’s chances. They have a great group of kids and are solid on both sides of the ball so I think they have a great chance.”
