Kentucky Trivia
Growing up in Eastern Kentucky like I did, I’m used to having a few guns around to protect me. Loretta Lynn
August 22, 1786, George Adams held a meeting to organize the county of Madison. A group of local men met and elected the 1st justices, 1st clerk, 1st sheriff, and their 1st court. Kentucky formally accepted the county in 1785.
The Kentucky Gazette of August 22, 1789, published the 1st notice of a formal purse race, consisting of “three-mile heats, to be held at Lexington at 1:00 p.m. on the 2nd Tuesday of October, the prize money collected by subscription.” Many advertisements for purse races at the Lexington and other regional courses during the 1790s specified, “Three horses to start or no race.”
August 22, 1897, Whitley County lynched Elkanah Sullivan, a white male, for murderous assault.
On August 22, 1907, the U.S. Secretary of War, William H. Taft, spoke at the Woodlawn Auditorium. He would take the presidential oath two years later.
August 22, 1915. James Kenney, Belle’s husband of nine days, died in Lexington.
August 22, 1928, a parade of prize-winning live stock on the race track at night and the day visit of Governor F. Sampson highlighted the 4th day of the Blue Grass Fair.
August 22, 1937, Levi Hall, McDowell’s Chief of Police died from a gunshot by a suspect who held a grudge against him for an incident earlier in the night. The chief had encountered the man in town and sent him home for being drunk. The man went home and obtained a 16-gauge shotgun and drove through town. He located Chief Hall and opened fire from his car, striking him in the abdomen.
An estate auction on August 22, 1940, dispersed Belle Brezing’s personal possessions that hopefully remain hidden treasures in and about Kentucky.
August 22, 1951, Army CPL Blythe Milton from Mayfield in Graves County died in the Korean War.
August 22, 1952, Army PVT Edward Lovins from Breathitt County died in the Korean War.
August 22, 1954, Louisville’s WHAS-TV (CBS) aired the 1st color program for Kentuckians, Toast of the Town, later named The Ed Sullivan Show.
August 22, 1958, the Chesapeake and Ohio (C&O) Railway pinned up a discontinuance notice for passenger train stops at the Catlettsburg Depot without explanation. Four C&O passenger trains had been stopping daily.
August 22, 1965, Deputy Sheriff Caleb Dehart, Leslie County Sheriff’s Office, did by a gunshot from a man during a routine traffic stop. Police arrested him a short time later.
August 22, 1967, Greg Page, a UK football player, became paralyzed in practice.
August 22, 1969, Marine Corps SGT John M. Hill from Middletown in Jefferson County died in the Vietnam War.
August 22, 1972, police made the 1st large scale arrest at the Republican National Convention, hauling in 212 protestors in Miami, FL. Dr. Barton of Corbin, a husband of a committeewoman, lost two teeth from a rock thrown by a demonstrator.
August 22, 1975, Kentucky Colonels fans received an unexpected shock when John Y. Brown, Jr. and his wife Ellie, majority owners, announced the franchise lost over $3 million over the last five years. The Browns asked the Kentucky State Fair Board for financial help.
August 22, 1977, Doug Flynn, the brother of 24-year-old Melanie Flynn, who disappeared mysteriously on January 26, told the press that a “Metro police officer’s story about his sister’s role as an informant was partly untrue and declared police had concealed information about the case.” Doug, 26, a New York Met, spoke from his NY apartment by phone.
August 22, 1984, Ralston Purina announced they would close their Louisville polymer plant for several days to double check all operating systems after last week’s spill of 1,000 gallons of sulfuric acid.
August 22, 1986, state officials announced that a Japanese company would build a $15 million auto parts plant in Butler County, eventually bringing 500 jobs to an area that suffered a 12% unemployment rate.
August 22, 1992, Patrolman Charles Kirksey Todd, Mayfield Police Department, died from stab wounds at a wedding. An uninvited guest arrived and began a fight. He attempted to intervene.
August 22, 1996, Butcher Hollow native Oliver Vanetta Lynn, Jr., commonly known as Doolittle Lynn or Doo, or Mooney, died.
August 22, 1998, Stanton native and Hall of fame trainer, Woodford Cefis Stephens, died.
August 22, 2010, Marine SGT Jason D. Calo, 23, of Lexington, died in Afghanistan fighting in Operation Enduring Freedom.
August 22, 2011, a Keeneland graduate trifecta won the GI $250,000 Del Mar Oaks for three-year-old fillies.
August 22, 2014, Rep. Terry Mills took some satisfaction that a bean bag company had recalled 2.2 million chairs after his granddaughter in Kentucky and a child in Texas crawled inside and suffocated.
August 22, 2017, while a grocery store placed its name on Commonwealth Stadium, a Franklin Circuit Court Judge asked Kentucky’s lawyers, why couldn’t sick Kentuckians get medical marijuana since it’s decriminalized?” Today, it is legal by Governor A. Besehar’s March 2023 executive order.
On August 22, 2019, Luther Deaton, CEO of Central Bank, purchased the 2019 Kentucky State Fair’s Grand Champion Ham for $1 million. Last year, the ham sold for a record-breaking price of $2.8 million. Since the start of the auction in 1964, the Kentucky Farm Bureau has raised about $13 million for charity. Blake Penn of Penn’s Country Hams produced the 2019 winning ham.
August 22, 2020, the 2nd Railbird Festival at Keeneland Racecourse began featuring 32 bands, while a Keeneland graduate won Saratoga’s GI $400,000 Fourstardave Handicap Stake.
On August 22, 2020, the state’s public health commissioner, Dr. Steven Stack, reminded Kentuckians not to overlook their routine health needs during the pandemic. “An unfortunate consequence of the COVID-19 pandemic has been people avoiding care for acute and chronic illness unrelated to the virus.” On Saturday, there were 622 coronavirus patients in Kentucky hospitals, including 158 in intensive care units.
Positives: 814 / 43,066
Deaths: 8 / 872 – 1st death March 16, 2020
50&over: 845 / 49-30: 26 / 29&under: 1
August 22, 2021, Louisville announced that it may break a four-year HIV case average by the end of 2021, thanks in part to the coronavirus pandemic. Michelle Rose, of Norton Infectious Diseases Institute, “Certainly, the pandemic has had an impact on overall testing and access to care, whether it’s individuals choosing to delay care or care not being readily available.“
August 22, 2022, as Kentucky college students returned to campuses with no mask restrictions or plexiglass, Dr. A. Fauci announced he would step down as a government employee, a position he held for over five decades.