March 15, 2025
Dr. Mack Roberts made a house call on Span Hill in Monticello in summer 1987. Dr. Roberts practiced medicine in Wayne County for 61 years, making house calls until he retired in 1993. He died in March 2001 at age 97. That year, his wife, Alma Dolen Roberts, published House Calls: Memoirs of Life with a Kentucky Doctor. Photo by Charles Bertram | Staff
The graduating class at Transylvania College filed up the steps at Old Morrison for the commencement ceremony in June 1950. 204 students of the class of 2015 will receive their bachelor’s degrees on May 23 during a ceremony on the front lawn of historic Old Morrison. Transylvania College became Transylvania University after 1969. Published in the Lexington Leader on June 12, 1950.
Six-year-old Ellis Harfford Jr. had a look at University of Kentucky basketball player Bill Spivey’s crutches on Nov. 13, 1951. The Wildcats All-American center underwent a knee operation three weeks before this photo. Spivey, UK’s first 7-foot-tall player, had dreams of playing for the National Basketball Association, but those dreams were dashed after he was implicated in a point-shaving scandal in the early 1950s. Several UK players and former players of the era admitted that they accepted money to shave points. But Spivey, who was indicted for perjury in the case, was adamant to the end of his life that he never had any part in attempts to fix college games. A New York trial jury voted 9-3 for acquittal, and the district attorney’s office said it saw no use in trying the case again. But the damage was done. Although Spivey was never found guilty of any wrongdoing, he was barred from the NBA for life before he had a chance to play his first pro game. He went on to play for some minor professional teams, including a stint with a team opposing the Harlem Globetrotters. Spivey died in 1995 at age 66. Herald-Leader Archive Photo
Television personality Chuck Woolery, a Morehead State University alumnus, sang My Old Kentucky Home during halftime of a Morehead home football game on Oct. 15, 1977. Woolery was the original host of the game show Wheel of Fortune. He also hosted more than 2,000 episodes of other shows, including Love Connection, Scrabble, The Home and Family Show, The Chuck Woolery Show, The Dating Game, Greed, and Lingo. Woolery who was born in Ashland, studied economics and sociology at Morehead. Photo by David Perry | Staff
Firefighters from Clark and Madison counties fought to save Allman’s Restaurant on Athens-Boonesboro Road on May 15, 1976. The popular restaurant overlooking the Kentucky River had previously burned in 1974. It burned again in 1978 and did not reopen. No one was hurt in the 1976 fire, which was caused by a water boiler. The restaurant is known as the home of the original beer cheese, which can be traced back to the 1940s and the restaurant known as Johnny Allman’s. Owner, John Allman had a cousin named Joe Allman, a chef living in Phoenix, who is said to have created the original beer recipe. Herald-Leader Archive Photo
Owners Bob and Beverly Lewis after their horse, Charismatic, won the 124th Preakness Stakes on May 15, 1999, to claim the second leg of horse racing’s Triple Crown. Charismatic would fall short of the Triple Crown, finishing third in the Belmont Stakes after jockey Chris Antley eased Charismatic up in the final furlong of the race because he felt the horse’s leg break. The Lewises, who made their money in the beer industry, did not get into horse racing until the 1990s. They had had six Eclipse Award-winning horses, including Silver Charm and Charismatic. The couple were awarded the Ecplise Award of Merit in 1997, the industry’s highest honor. Other notable horses owned by the Lewises included Timber Country, Serena’s Song, Folklore and Orientate. Bob Lewis died in 2006. In 2007, a Kentucky Derby prep race was renamed in his honor. Photo by Mark Conrelison | Staff
“Pioneer Jim” Williams, left, and an unidentified assistant placed the cornerstone for the Lexington Civic Center on a wooden carrier during Lexington’s bicentennial celebration on June 14, 1975. The cornerstone came from the 200-year-old John Hancock House in Lexington, Mass., and Williams transported it in a horse-drawn covered wagon. Lexington celebrated its 200th anniversary with a three-day festival that included a flag-raising, a parade, the cornerstone dedication, six music stages and a prayer service. Photo by Ron Garrison | Staff