Skip to content

TODAY IN KENTUCKY HISTORY

Localtonians wish a Happy Birthday to Kentucky’s 10th leader, Governor Thomas Metcalfe, born in 1780.  At age 16, Metcalfe was apprenticed to his older half-brother, John Metcalfe III, to learn stonemasonry, a craft that would carve a place for him in Kentucky’s architectural history.  Among his notable creations was a tavern in Versailles for Henry Clay’s mother and stepfather, the Kentucky Governor’s Mansion (now the Lt. Governor’s Mansion), and the Green County Courthouse, the oldest courthouse west of the Allegheny Mountains.

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 1st 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’s 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 1st 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 1st 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, 1940, the General Assembly approved an act “to provide for the regulation of aeronautics within this Commonwealth in the interest of public safety and aeronautic progress.” The legislatures called the new Kentucky Aeronautic Commission an “urgent need.”

March 20, 1940, Harlan County Deputy Sheriff Joseph Pruitt died from a beating while arresting an escapee from the State Prison Farm in LaGrange.  The convict escaped from prison again in September 1945.

March 20, 1942, Kentucky defeated Illinois 46-44 in Fogelman Arena, New Orleans, LA., to advance to their 1st Final Four in the 4th 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 1st NIT national title, beating Rhode Island 46-45.

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

March 20, 1954, the Inez Indians defeated Newport Wildcats 63-55 for the 37th 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, 1971, Western Kentucky University came back from 14 and beat Ohio State in OT to advance to the Final Four.

On March 20, 1971, Louisville Male won their 2nd Boys’ Sweet 16 State High School Basketball Championship over Anderson County with 17,000 fans in Freedom Hall.  Male and Coach Jim Huter were the 1st to win back-to-back Sweet 16 titles since Seneca and Bob Mulcahy in 1963 and ’64.

March 20, 1981, state environmental chief Ms. Jackie Swigart imposed a $1.7 million fine against a Bell County coal company.  The penalty went unnoticed due to the chief’s new policy against publicizing the penalties.

March 20, 1981, at least 19 Lexingtonians’ names appeared in a notebook containing the names, occupations, and sexual preferences of customers of a Louisville-based prostitution ring.  The red spiral notebook contained 891 names, many of whom were prominent Kentuckians.

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 1st for a team from the 5th Region.

March 20, 2000, UK’s athletic department named Larry Ivy to replace C.M. Newton as director.  He would hold the position until 2002.

Kentucky Trivia:  Kentucky has employed ten athletic directors since 1912.

March 20, 2004, the Warren Central Dragons defeated the Mason County Royals, 66-56, for the Boys’ State High School Sweet 16 Basketball Championship in Rupp Arena.

Sweet 16 Trivia:  Mason County star Chris Lofton ended his high school career having scored more points (252) in Sweet 16 games than all but two players in history; Clay County’s Richie Farmer (317) and Paintsville’s J.R. VanHoose (272).

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 137th 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 3rd 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.

On March 20, 2017, the Judicial Conduct Commission started the 2nd suspension for Fayette Family Court Judge Kathy Stein.  She was the 1st Kentucky judge in 32 years to be suspended more than once.  She is the only judge to be suspended twice in a year and the first Fayette judge to be suspended.  Ex-governor S. Beshear appointed her in 2013.  They claim she violated the due process of three families.

On March 20, 2017, Adam Schiff, the ranking Democrat on a House intelligence committee, laid out the public evidence on Russian meddling in 2016 before a Congressional hearing.  He relied on the findings of Christopher Steele, a former British intelligence officer.  Two years later, the House took the rare step of censuring one of its members, Schiff, for using the Steele dossier, which was proven false. 

On March 20, 2020, Governor A. Beshear announced that the number of positive coronavirus cases in Kentucky “ballooned” to 64.  The state also requested that public schools stay closed until April 20. 

On March 20, 2020, the Federal Reserve moved with unprecedented force and speed to pump vast amounts of cash into the financial system to ease disruptions from the viral outbreak.  The bank said it would offer $1 trillion of overnight loans a day to large banks through the end of this month in addition to $1 trillion in 14-day loans it provided weekly.

On March 20, 2021, many Kentuckians waited for the state government to work out the kinks so that locals could receive jobless benefits after the virus shutdowns.  Meanwhile, Kentucky kids adjusted to wearing masks, contract tracing, hand sanitizing, spraying desks, and other SOPs to try and stop the spread.

March 20, 2021, a Kentucky bred won the GII $1,000,000 Louisiana Derby at the Fairgrounds.  Hot Rod Charlie set a new track record for 1 3/16 miles.

March 20, 2023, America’s MIC machine made it clear there would be no cease fire and no talks of peace on the Russian border.  “U.S. is firmly opposed to ceasefire between the warring nations Russia and Ukraine,” U.S. National Security Council Spokesman John Kirby.

On March 20, 2023, Governor A. Beshear tweeted, “Kentucky’s students work so hard to excel in school and in life and it’s really important we celebrate them and their successes.  Today at the Governor’s Cup, I congratulated all those participating and reminded them to take pride in what they’ve accomplished and to have some fun!”