Localtonians wish a Happy Birthday to Franklin native John William “Honest Dick” Tate, born in 1831. He served as Kentucky’s state treasurer for 21 years, beginning in 1867, comfortably winning re-election every two years. Citizens gave Tate free reign in his job until 1887 when people started to ask questions about his bookkeeping records. He managed to delay the process by saying he needed time to get his papers in order. Finally, in March of 1888, Tate boarded a train in Frankfort, with $100,000, never to be seen again. The state then created the state examiner and inspector’s office to oversee the treasurer and auditor and imposed term limits on elected officials.
January 2, 1900, Democrats, with the backing of William Goebel and his Lieutenant J.C.W. Beckham, formally challenged Republican Governor William S. Taylor’s election victory in the General Assembly. The Democrats wanted the November 1899 election reversed, and Goebel named governor.
January 2, 1903, Carnegie Corporation of New York awarded Paris $12,000 to build a new city library.
Localtonians wish a Happy Birthday to Middletown native Governor Lawrence W. Wetherby, born in 1908 and governor from 1950-55. He and Governor A. Beshear are the only two governors from Louisville.
Localtonians wish a Happy Birthday to La Grange native William James Crowe Jr., born in 1925. William was a U.S. Navy Admiral who served as Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff under Presidents R. Reagan and G.H.W. Bush and as the ambassador to the United Kingdom under President B. Clinton.
January 2, 1939, Patrolman Frank Beard Bell, Kentucky Highway Patrol, died in a motorcycle crash at the intersection of U.S. 60 and Kentucky 151 in Graefenburg.
January 2, 1950, Bear Bryant lost his 1st bowl game as UK’s coach in the Orange Bowl when Santa Clara upset the Cats 13-21. It was also Kentucky’s 1st major bowl appearance. The Miami Orange Bowl hosted 64,816 spectators.
January 2, 1951, Army 1LT Earl Evans from Whitley County died in the Korean War.
January 2, 1960, Governor B. Combs, with his close friends’ urging, asked the General Assembly to change a judicial redistricting plan that gave Franklin and Anderson Counties a new judicial district. Long-time Judge W.B. Ardery was out; Judge Hogg would now preside over Kentucky’s most powerful district.
January 2, 1970, Gradyville native Coach Edgar Allen Diddle passed away. Coach Diddle became the 1st to coach 1,000 games at one school. He coached Western Kentucky University’s (WKU) basketball team from 1922 to 1964 and was one of the early pioneers of the fast break. He is also known for waving a red towel around along the sidelines which is now part of WKU’s official athletic logo. Diddle experienced only five losing seasons in 42 years.
January 2, 1974, the Kentucky Democratic Party acknowledged they refunded $18,873 in illegal corporate gifts. They also named the individuals who gave $128,071 in the controversial spring fundraising drive. A senate watchdog group had questioned the illegal money.
January 2, 1980, Kyle Macy watched as his game-winning, last-second shot go in against Auburn in Rupp Arena. The Cats won 67-65 behind Macy’s game-high 21 points on 9-of-13 shooting.
January 2, 1987, Officer Russell Jay Estep, Louisa Police Department, suffered a fatal heart attack after pursuing two suspects on foot and then transporting one of them to jail.
On January 2, 1988, Ashland Oil created a diesel oil spill into the Monongahela River approximately 20 miles upstream from Pittsburgh. Their refurbished four-million-gallon tank broke on its 1st day in operation. At 4:58 p.m., a worker checked the full tank levels; four minutes later, he heard a loud boom and turned to find the tank’s roof collapsed. The tank dumped nearly 1 million gallons of diesel oil into a storm sewer that led to the Monongahela River. Ashland took full responsibility for the incident.
Localtonians wish a Happy Birthday to Louisville native to R&B singer Bryson Tiller, born in 1993. His debut single titled Don’t, peaked at #13 on the Billboard Hot 100. His debut studio album Trapsoul reached #8 on the Billboard 200. Before his fame, he worked at Papa Johns and made music at home.
January 2, 1996, Governor P. Patton signed the death warrants of five individuals, for February 1, upon the request of Attorney General Ben Chandler.
January 2, 2001, Coach Smith’s unranked Cats defeated Coach Crum’s unranked Cardinals 64-62 in Freedom Hall with 20,061 spectators. Louisville (4-9) was off to their worst start in Denny’s 30 years.
On February 2, 2004, former Governor Louie B. Nunn lain in state in the Capitol Rotunda, the 18th person to have done so.
January 2, 2005, Boone County High School product Shaun Alexander, after the Seahawks beat Atlanta, stated that Coach Mike Holmgren “stabbed him in the back.” Shaun needed one more yard for the 2004-05 NFL Rushing Title and the Seahawks need one more yard for a touchdown with time running out. Holmgren called a quarterback sneak and the Seahawks beat Atlanta 28-26.
January 2, 2006, #15 Louisville lost to #12 Virginia Tech, 24-35, in the Gator Bowl.
January 2, 2007, #5 Louisville defeated #12 Wake Forest, 24-13, in the Orange Bowl. Jeff Brohm finished 24-for-34 for MVP honors.
January 2, 2008, Senate President David Williams used scary words like “crisis” and “quandary” in describing the pension funds for state retirees and teachers. He stated legislators needed to resolve the issue or the state would go bankrupt. In 2008, Kentucky had an $18 billion shortfall that affected 432,000 state employees and still does.
January 2, 2009, Kentucky defeated East Carolina 25-19 in the Liberty Bowl. Coach Brooks won his 3rd bowl game a row. Kentucky’s DT Ventrell Jenkins won the MVP.
January 2, 2010, #3 Kentucky defeated Louisville 71-62 in Coach Cal’s 1st game against Louisville. The Cats had lost two in a row to the Cards, and both teams played passionately. Kentucky took an early lead and never looked back. BBN had its best start in 40 years at 15-0 with Jon Wall at the helm.
January 2, 2013, #22 Louisville scored one of their greatest football victories and a huge BCS shocker when they stunned #4 Florida 33-23 in the 79th Allstate Sugar Bowl. Sophomore and game MVP Teddy Bridgewater slashed the nation’s #5 defense for 266 yards and two touchdowns in New Orleans’s Superdome, where 54,178 attended.
January 2, 2020, former UK football star Houston Hogg an iconic player who integrated UK and SEC football passed away at age 71.
On January 2, 2021, Governor A. Beshear, late into the coronavirus endemic, “With more vaccines arriving in 2021, we have a new sense of hope, but right now, we must all continue to do our part to stop this virus including wearing a mask and avoiding large in-person gatherings.” Meanwhile, vandals spray-painted Mitch’s Louisville house. They were upset the senate leader stopped the $2,000 relief checks, the amount many legislatures and almost all citizens wanted.
January 2, 2022, Louisville’s chief health strategist claimed the omicron variant would drive up coronavirus cases and place the city’s hospitals in “crisis mode.” Although a record rate of people tested positive, it never happened. Louisville hospital officials stated they had the capacity, and the new variant never caused the problems the delta variant did.
On January 2, 2023, Rex Chapman made 49 tweets starting at 2:55 p.m. His 1.2 million followers liked a retweet about U.S. police killings the most with 1,700 likes. “Police killed more people in America in 2022 than any other year on record. At least 1,176 people were killed by police nationwide – 3.2 killings per day.”