March 17, 2025
The University of Kentucky basketball team arrived at Blue Grass Field on March 2, 1954, after completing the regular season without a defeat (25-0). The traveling party for the two-game trip to Auburn and Alabama included (not in order) assistant coach Harry Lancaster, Bill Bibb, Linville Puckett, Cliff Hagan, Frank Ramsey, Peggy York (center, hostess for Capital Airlines), Gayle Rose, Coach Adolph Rupp, Bill Evans, student manager Mike Dolan, Willie Rouse, Dan Chandler, Harold Hurst, Phil Grawmeyer, Hugh Coy, sports publicist Ken Kuhn, athletics director Bernie Shively and Lou Tsioropoulos. Published in the Lexington Leader.
Two Louisville basketball fans mocked UNLV coach Jerry Tarkanian with Tark masks during the Cards’ 97-85 loss to the Runnin’ Rebels on Jan. 26, 1991, in Louisville. The loss dropped U of L to 7-9. For the season, the Cards finished 14-16 and did not make the NCAA Tournament. The Hall of Fame basketball coach died Wednesday, Feb. 11. Photo by Ron Garrison | Staff
UNLV coach Jerry Tarkanian gave his famous towel a workout during the Runnin’ Rebels 97-85 win over Louisville on Jan. 26, 1991 in Freedom Hall. The win improved UNLV’s record to 15-0, and they went on to enter the NCAA Tournament undefeated. The Runnin’ Rebels, who had won the national championship the previous season, were upset in the the national semifinals to eventual champion Duke, 79-77. The Hall of Fame basketball coach died Wednesday, Feb. 11. Photo by Ron Garrison | Staff
Martin Sherrod, left and Clint Sherrod of the Sherrod Sign Co. changed the sign on Gratzi’s, on North Broadway in Lexington, to its new name, Fazoli’s, on Feb. 10, 1989. Jerrico’s first Italian fast-food first restaurant on North Broadway near the Interstate 75-64 interchange had been operated by Jerrico as Gratzi’s name since September 1988. But surveys of potential customers showed that they confused the name — taken from the Italian word for “thank you” — with the name of Canadian-born hockey player Wayne Gretzky, said Robert L. Sirkis, Jerrico’s executive vice president. After hiring three naming firms and looking at tens of thousands of names, Jerrico decided to replace Gratzi’s with Fazoli’s, which means … nothing. “It is completely made up,” Sirkis said. Fazoli’s, based in Lexington, currently operates 217 restaurants in 26 states. Photo by Clay Owen | Staff
The Chevy Chase neighborhood of Lexington, looking down Euclid Avenue from East High Street, on Feb. 26, 1980. At right is Tas-T-O Donuts, a popular 24-hour shop for many people, including bar patrons from Chevy Chase Inn, next door. About the time of this photo, Tas-T-O charged $1.89 for a dozen assorted doughnuts that included six glazed, two filled and four assorted cake donuts. A small coffee was 30 cents. Photo by John C. Wyatt | Staff
Tubby Smith, with Tayshaun Prince and Keith Bogans, defied a hostile crowd on Jan. 29, 2002, after No. 10 Kentucky pulled out a two-point victory in Florida’s O’Connell Center. After a plastic bottle was hurled in their direction, the trio were hustled off the floor. Bogans led Kentucky with 20, and Prince had 19 against the Gators, who were ranked fifth in the nation at the time. The win gave Smith just his second win on Florida’s home court in five tries. In the 10 years he coached at Kentucky, Smith went 4-6 against the Gators in Gainesville. Photo by David Perry | Staff