March 14, 2025
University of Kentucky basketball forward John Pelphrey launched a jump shot against Eastern Kentucky on Dec. 27, 1990 at Rupp Arena. Pelphrey had 12 points in the 74-60 UK win. In 2015, Pelfrey is the focus of a column by Mark Story: With an ‘amazing run’ at Florida over, John Pelphrey plots a return to college coaching. Photo by Tim Sharp | Staff
The Meyers building in downtown Lexington, at East Main Street and Martin Luther King Boulevard, on Feb. 17, 1985. For 15 years, it was a men’s and women’s fine clothing store. The Meyers building remains, with more windows in its facade, but building at right is gone, and the expanded Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard takes some of the space. Photo by John C. Wyatt | Staff
A group including Lon Rogers, left, protested the construction of a McDonald’s at 473 Main Street near Forest Avenue in Lexington on April 4, 1983. The restaurant was built, but without a drive-through window. McDonald’s later moved to another site, and Cielito Lindo Mexican restaurant moved into the old building for a few years. The building eventually was torn down, and the empty lot is now used for a seasonal flower stand. Photo by Charles Bertram | Staff
A Tucker 48 automobile on display at Adams Auto Sales in Lexington in August 1948. The Tucker 48 (named after its model year) was an advanced automobile conceived by Preston Tucker and briefly produced in Chicago in 1948. Only 51 cars were made before the company folded the following March. Some components and features of the car were innovative and ahead of their time. The most recognizable feature was a directional third headlight that would activate at steering angles of greater than 10 degrees to light the car’s path around corners. The car had a rear engine and rear-wheel drive. A perimeter frame surrounded the vehicle for crash protection, and a roll bar was integrated into the roof. The windshield was made of shatter-proof glass and was designed to pop out in a collision to protect occupants. The remaining cars are sought after by collectors and can bring more than $1 million at auction. Published in the Lexington Leader on Aug. 26, 1948. Herald-Leader Archive Photo
The check-out desk at the Lexington’s Public Library’s main branch on West Second Street, Feb. 6, 1982. The library moved to its current home, Central Library, at 140 East Main Street, in April 1989. The new $9.4 million building has 110,400 square feet of space, compared with the old library’s 18,000 square feet. The former library, which was built with a 1902 grant from millionaire-philanthropist Andrew Carnegie, is now the Carnegie Center for Literacy and Learning. Photo by Ron Garrison | Staff
Lexington Legends starting pitcher Roger Clemens was joined by the Legends mascots and 8-year-old Jonah Dixon, a member of the Southwest Lexington Reds, for the National Anthem before he pitched on June 6, 2006. Clemens, nicknamed “Rocket,” had decided to come out of retirement and signed with the Houston Astros. He was in Lexington for his first rehab start, before a record crowd of 9,222 at Applebee’s Park, an overflow media contingent, a national TV audience and his son Koby playing third base. At 7:09 p.m. — after a nearly weeklong buildup, and after the public address system had played the Elton John song Rocket Man — the 43-year-old Clemens, probably the most dominant major league pitcher of the 1980s and 1990s, took the mound for what he called “step one.” Sixty minutes and 62 pitches later, it was over. Clemens pitched three innings and allowed three hits, including a home run to Lake County’s Johnny Drennen. He also struck out six and hit a batter. “It felt great,” Clemens, sporting a Texas Longhorns cap, said afterward. Clemens ended up playing for three more seasons and retired again in 2007. Photo by Charles Bertram | Staff
A group of firefighters posed in front of a burning house in rural Fayette County during a fire school exercise on June 2, 1981. The 86th annual Kentucky State Fire School was in session in Lexington that weekend, with more than 1,200 firefighters and first-responders are in attendance. Photo by Charles Bertram | Staff