Kentucky Trivia ● Kentucky Tweets

March 20, 1780, the town trustees appropriated “the sum of thirty pounds gold and granted one acre of ground to build a courthouse, prison, and office, provided that court was to be held in Lexington.”  The pioneers finished the 1^st courthouse in the spring of 1782.  The two-story building was built of logs, with two rooms per floor (each 18 by 18 feet).  A fireplace heated rooms on each end.

March 20, 1782, Wyandot Natives tomahawked 14-year-old Jennie Gass at Estill’s Station, southeast of Richmond in Madison County.

March 20, 1798, locals swore in Henry Clay, who studied law in Virginia, as a member of the bar in a two-story stone courthouse on Lexington’s Main Street.  The Squire’ Sketches of Lexington by J. Winston Coleman, Jr.; pg: 23

March 20, 1868, the Jesse James Gang stole approximately $14,000 when they hit the Nimrod Long Banking Co. of Russellville.  One person received wounds.  This story is according to legend.

March 20, 1902, the 1^st marine (ship-to-shore) demonstration of the “wireless telephone,” now commonly known as the radio, occurred on the Potomac River near Washington D.C. by Calloway farmer Nathan B. Stubblefield.  The 1^st words ever to be heard over the air were, Hello Rainey.

On March 20, 1926, the Kentucky Racing Commission took drastic action against seven owners, trainers, and jockeys.  Owners and trainers R.D. Williams, P.J. Williams, and Thomas Devereux were ruled off the turf for life.  They handed the same fate to four jockeys.  The commission did not provide a reason other than for the best interest of the turf.

March 20, 1927, Deputy Sheriff Alvin D. Tackett and Deputy Sheriff Albert Phipps Floyd County Sheriff’s Office, succumbed to gunshot wounds sustained while attempting to arrest several men for moonshining in Weeksbury.  Deputy Tackett had deputized Deputy Phipps to assist him with the arrests.

March 20, 1932, a motorcade led by the school band met the Hazard Boys’ State Basketball Champs two miles from the city and formed a parade to the public square where 1,000 people celebrated.

March 20, 1942, Kentucky defeated Illinois 46-44 in Fogelman Arena, New Orleans, LA., to advance to their 1^st Final Four in the 4^th NCAA tournament, where eight teams participated.  Stanford beat Colorado, then Dartmouth, for the title.

March 20, 1943, Hindman defeated St. Xavier 29-26 to win the Kentucky State Boys’ High School Basketball Championship in UK’s Alumni Gym.  From 1939 through 1953, Hindman made six trips to the Sweet 16.  For Hindman Coach Pearl Combs, a mountain basketball legend (761-320), the 1943 state title eased the sting of a narrow loss (42-39) to Brooksville in the 1939 state title game.

March 20, 1946, Ralph Beard’s free throw with 40 seconds left lifted the Wildcats to their 1^st NIT national title, beating Rhode Island 46-45.

March 20, 1951, Kentucky played Louisville in the NCAA East Regional 1^st Round at Raleigh, NC.  Adolph Rupp’s team won 79-68 on the way to their 3^rd championship title.

March 20, 1954, the Inez Indians defeated Newport Wildcats 63-55 for the 37^th Boys’ State Basketball Championship in Memorial Coliseum.  Inez star Billy Ray Cassaday would go on to win an NCAA championship as a member of Kentucky’s 1957-58 Wildcats.

March 20, 1967, Army SSG Freddie D. Jones, Jr. from Louisville died in the Vietnam War.

March 20, 1968, Army SP4 Wince I. Overton, Jr. from Pineville in Bell County died in the Vietnam War.

March 20, 1969, Kate Smith performed My Old Kentucky Home on The Dean Martin Show with Mickey Rooney and Barbara Eden.

March 20, 1970, Army SP4 Tinsley J. Wells, Jr. from London in Laurel County died in the Vietnam War.

March 20, 1971, Lt. Governor Thelma Stovall, acting as governor in the absence of Governor J. Carroll, vetoed a resolution that would have rescinded the state’s 1972 ratification of the ERA.  She had the backing of the state attorney general.

March 20, 1993, Marion County defeated Paul Dunbar 85-77 in front of 22,175 fans for the Boys’ Sweet 16 State High School Championship.  Future Wildcat Anthony Epps earned MVP honors.  Marion County’s state title was the 1^st for a team from the 5^th Region.

March 20, 2005, Elizabethtown native Kenny Perry won the Bay Hill Invitational by two strokes over Vijay Singh in Bay Hill, Florida, to pocket $900,000.

March 20, 2007, Cordell native Ricky Skaggs released an album with rock musician Bruce Hornsby.

Localtonians wish a Happy Birthday to Kentucky bred Animal Kingdom, born on Denali Stud in Paris in 2008.  He won the 137^th Kentucky Derby before a record crowd of 164,858.

March 20, 2010, Pikeville’s Shelby Valley High School defeated Ballard of Louisville 71-63 for the Boys’ KHSAA State Basketball Championship in Rupp Arena.  Shelby Valley became the 3^rd team from the Eastern Kentucky mountains, Clay County (1987) and Paintsville (1996), to win the Sweet 16 since 1956.

March 20, 2015, the Prince of Wales and the Duchess of Cornwall visited Louisville as a guest of Christy Brown, widow of former Brown-Foreman Chairman Owsley Brown.

March 20, 2016, Dunbar High School defeated Louisville’s Doss 61-52 in Lexington’s Rupp Arena for the Boys’ Sweet 16 Basketball Championship.  Around 88,170 attended the tournament; the lowest since the 1994 state tournament in Freedom Hall drew 84,278.