September 21, 2024
Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey circus, 1950
Spectators under the big top during a July 27, 1950, Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey circus performance in Lexington. The circus was in town for a one-day, two-performance stand at the show grounds on Newtown Pike. After nearly 150 years, the Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey circus will perform its final show Sunday, May 21, in New York. Photo by John C. Wyatt | Staff
Felix Adler, known as “The King of Clowns,” prepared for a show in Lexington on July 27, 1950. The world-famous clown also was known as “The White House Clown” because of his many appearances for U.S. presidents. Photo by John C. Wyatt | Staff
WKYT-TV meteorologists, 1999
WKYT-TV Channel 27 meteorologists from left, Chris Bailey, Brian Collins and T.G. Shuck on Feb. 12, 1999. Collins, the ever-smiling longtime Lexington television weatherman, died May 20, 2004, of complications from lung cancer. He was 62. A beloved television personality, Collins often was often called on to be the master of ceremonies at pageants and the grand marshal of parades. He had been an emcee at spelling bees. He even played Santa Claus, posing for pictures with people’s pets at the Lexington Humane Society. He frequently visited schools to give talks to children. He was WKYT’s “social butterfly,” and he graciously accepted the requests to help out at community events, friends said. Collins started as as a reporter at WLEX-TV Channel 18 in 1981. His contract wasn’t renewed in 1992, partly because he wasn’t a meteorologist at the time. Collins then joined the staff of Channel 27, working part-time at first. He studied meteorology at Mississippi State University and eventually moved up to chief meteorologist at WKYT. Co-workers said they would never forget an incident with a dog up for adoption that was featured on one show. Just as the camera cut away, “the dog lunged at Brian and tore his pants off, ” WKYT news anchor Bill Bryant said. Collins took it in stride. “Brian looked up and said, ‘This dog has ruined a perfectly good suit,'” Bryant said. “It ripped one leg completely down, completely off.” “Anyone else would have just absolutely positively had a coronary. Here you have a five- or six-hundred dollar suit, at least,” said Shuck, who left WKYT in 2012. Bailey, the current WKYT chief meteorologist, said he became a meteorologist because of Collins. Collins made Bailey one of his “weather watchers” when Bailey was in fifth grade in Salyersville. Collins would send Bailey weather books to study, and years later, Collins gave Bailey his first chance to be a weather forecaster. “Had he never moved up to chief meteorologist, I may never have had the opportunity to do what I’ve always wanted to do,” Bailey said. Photo by Mark Cornelison | Staff
State track and field meet, 1987
Brent Chumbley of Paris High School advertised his specialty with his haircut on May 30, 1987, at the Kentucky State High School Track and Field meet at the University of Kentucky’s Shively track. This year’s state meet gets underway Friday at the UK outdoor track complex. Photo by Charles Bertram | Staff
Drag racer and her Corvette Stingray, 1964
Mrs. David Ranck with her trophy and her winning Corvette Stingray after she took first place on Labor Day 1964 at Mountain Parkway Drag Strip near Clay City. The photo ran with a story in the Sept. 15, 1964, Lexington Leader about women competing in the fast-growing sports of stock car racing and drag racing. Ranck said she “always wanted to try and see what it felt like” to drive a car wide open on a straight stretch. “It was the first time I ever ran,” she said. “I don’t know one thing about what’s in that car.” Herald-Leader file photo
Adolph Rupp, Lawrence Welk at Rupp Arena’s first concert, 1976
Former Univeristy of Kentucky basketball coach Adolph Rupp, left, and musician and bandleader Lawrence Welk during the first first concert in Rupp Arena, Oct. 17, 1976. The concert featuring Welk and his orchestra, was attended by about 20,000 fans on a Sunday afternoon. Welk, then 73, and Rupp had been friends for many years. Welk, told the crowd that Rupp had promised him a chance to play at the opening of the arena named in his honor. He thanked Rupp and gave him a baton as a memento. Rupp died a little more than a year later, on Dec. 10, 1977. Welk died May 17, 1992. Click here to see more images from our archives of that concert. Photo by Chela Richardson | Staff
Alfalfa restaurant, 1975
Mary Martin served customers at Alfalfa in February 1975. The iconic Lexington restaurant opened here, on South Limestone across from the University of Kentucky, in 1973, started by six twenty-somethings with about $3,700. The restaurant’s menu was modeled after that of a health-food store. Items on the chalkboard in this image include eggplant stew with rice for $1.50, potato pudding with salad for $1.75 and a slice of cranberry loaf for 45 cents. Click on the image for a closer look. “Most of the things we cook are things we like to eat,” co-owner Artie Hoard, 26, said in 1975. In 1973, Alfalfa employed 25 people and didn’t have enough chairs. On opening day, the restaurant promised a free meal to anyone who contributed a chair. Alfalfa moved in 2005 to its current address, 141 East Main Street. In May 2017, new owners said they will update the restaurant’s offerings but keep their local-food roots. Photo by David Perry | Staff
Chess masters at National High School Champion Chess Tournament, 1992
World chess champion Garry Kasparov signed a chess board for Steve Kreyenbuhl on May 10, 1992, at the National High School Champion Chess Tournament at the Lexington Center. Kasparov, who at age 22 became the youngest ever undisputed world chess champion in 1985, was the star attraction on the final day. Hundreds of competitors stood in line for a chance to shake the grandmaster’s hand, and four members of the Bryan Station Middle School chess team got the chance to lose to the 29-year-old Russian citizen, whom many consider the greatest chess player of all time. Lesley Brashear, 13, was one of the lucky Bryan Station students who got to play the champ. “It was really cool. Every move I made, he always had a comeback. There was no way to get around him,” Lesley said. Kasparov let each student dictate his opening move, allowing the youngsters a strong start. He quietly suggested good moves. Kasparov said chess gives young people self-confidence and self-esteem by teaching responsibility. “You win, you lose; it’s your responsibility.” Photo by Tim Sharp
International chess grandmaster Gregory Kaidanov played 59 games simultaneously on May 7, 1992, during the National High School Champion Chess Tournament. About 1,100 students from more than 30 states came to the Lexington Center for the weekend tournament. More than 150 of them were Kentuckians. Even though it was a high school tournament and most of the players were from that age group, students of all grades were allowed to enter. The defending champion was an eighth-grader from New York. The youngest participant was a fifth-grader from Arizona. A senior from New Jersey won the tournament, during which almost 400 trophies were awarded. Two Kentuckians finished 12th and 26th in the championship division. In team competition, South Oldham High in Crestwood finished 14th in the championship division, and Lexington’s Henry Clay High School finished 21st. Henry Clay also finished fifth in the five-minute speed chess blitz contest. Photo by Tom Marks | Staff
Hillary Clinton eats lunch at Lexington school, 1992
Tiffany Jackson listened as Hillary Clinton told a story during lunch at Lexington’s Arlington Elementary School on May 14, 1992. Clinton was in town to campaign for her husband, Bill, while getting a firsthand look at the 1990 Kentucky Education Reform Act in action. “I have followed the reform act from afar for a number of years and have been very impressed and encouraged by what I have seen. I have been particularly pleased at the emphasis on early childhood education, ” she said. “No state that I’m aware of has done as much as Kentucky has.” Arlington Elementary had put into practice many aspects of the education reform act, including school-based decision-making councils, a family resource center, preschool programs for 3- and 4-year-olds, and a system where pupils weren’t separated into grades during their first four years of school. During a lunch of sausage pizza and mixed vegetables, Clinton talked with pupils about ungraded classrooms. “I was in a mixed class myself, second and third grade,” she said. The more advanced children would have an opportunity to help their classmates. She laughed, told stories and entertained the 11 children at her table for nearly half an hour. “I’d love to go down to the deepest, deepest, darkest part of the ocean and see what it’s like down there,” she said. At the time of this picture, her husband was the front-runner for the Democratic nomination. He would go one to become the 42nd president of the United States. Several months before this picture, Bill was in Frankfort campaigning. Photo by Charles Bertram | Staff
Regional AAA track meet, 1988
Bryan Station High School’s Sterling Ward won the triple jump at the Boys Regional AAA track meet on May 14, 1988, with a jump of 47 feet, 7 inches at the University of Kentucky. The 2017 Class AAA Regional meet is Saturday at Bryan Station. Photo by Stephens Castleberry | Staff
Georgetown’s Main Street, 1990
Downtown Georgetown, overlooking Main Street, Feb. 14, 1990. The Scott County Courthouse is at left. It was the county’s fourth courthouse since Scott County was founded in 1792. The building is on the United States National Register of Historic Places and is no longer used for for trials. Today it houses county government offices, and the district and circuit courts are on North Hamilton Street, just off Main Street. At the time of this picture, Georgetown’s population was 11,000. Today it is 32,000. Click here to see other images of Georgetown from our archives. Photo by Michael Clevenger
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Kentucky.com news feed
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- Body found in woods, believed to be I-75 shooter, died by suicide. Final ID to come
- Eastern Kentucky sheriff charged with shooting, killing district judge inside judge’s chambers
- Who are the McCoys, the Kentucky couple who found the I-75 shooters body?
- The McCoys found the I-75 shooter’s body. Why wouldn’t they get full $35,000 reward?