TODAY IN KENTUCKY HISTORYMarch 31, 2023March 31, 2023Kentucky Trivia ● Kentucky TweetsMarch 31, 1842, with tears in his eyes, Henry Clay bid the Senate farewell to make a run for the presidency.March 31, 1851, during her U.S. tour, the famous Swedish opera singer Jenny Lind performed in Mammoth Cave, one of the most highly regarded singers in the 19th century. In 1850, Lind came to America at the invitation of P.T. Barnum. She gave 93 large-scale concerts for him and returned to Europe in 1852.March 31, 1862, officers arrested Russellville native George Bibb Crittenden for drunkenness and relieved him of his duties as commander of the 2nd Division of the Army of Central Kentucky. They reinstated him more than two weeks later. Still, General Braxton Bragg ordered a court of inquiry that summer and Crittenden resigned in October. After the war George served as the state librarian until 1871.What possibly led to his arrest? The Union defeated his troops at the Battle of Mill Springs two months earlier in the 1st battlefield setback for the Confederate war effort. The loss significantly weakened the Confederate hold on Eastern Kentucky.March 31, 1892, Deputy Sheriff Floyd Slusher, Leslie County Sheriff’s Office, died after two brothers retaliated against the Leslie County Sheriff’s Office. Three weeks earlier, Leslie County Deputies raided their families still.March 31, 1919, Patrolman Charles West Hatfield, Ashland Police Department, died from a gunshot while he responded to a report of an armed robbery of a hotel.March 31, 1931, Knute Rockne, the famed Notre Dame football coach, died in a plane crash. Six months earlier, the coach took a keen interest in UK football and personally found the Wildcats a reputable assistant coach where he felt they needed one.March 31, 1931, Governor Sampson appointed 42 Kentuckians to plan Kentucky’s participation in George Washington’s bi-centennial celebration. Washington, D.C. would host the grand affair in 1932.March 31, 1944, Coach Rupp received word that one of his former players went MIA, Jim King. On February 24, Lieutenant King and his crew set out once again on a bombing mission of a German aircraft assembly factory. The pilot, Lieutenant Bell, knew of eight men bailing out, but only four of them survived. King passed a few hours after hitting the ground.March 31, 1951, Army PFC Robert E. Patton from Daviess County died in the Korean War.March 31, 1952, while the press pressured V.P. Barkley to comment on if he would run for president, the state postponed a decision to destroy or keep 142 slot machines seized in Lexington. V.P. Barkley declined to comment the same day President Truman announced he would not seek re-election.March 31, 1967, the Kentucky Colonels officially entered the ABA. The franchise would last till 1976.March 31, 1968, Army SP4 Wayne A. Hokenson from Louisville, Army SP4 John P. Matlock from Louisville and Army SFC William Vance Jr. from Oak Grove in Christian County, all died in the Vietnam War.March 31, 1968, the 1st passenger jet flight flew out of Blue Grass Field. The Delta Air Lines DC-9 flew to Detroit.Kentucky Trivia: The Louisville Muhammad Ali International Airport is the 3rd busiest cargo airport in the world. The busiest is just 384 miles south in Memphis. #2 on the list is in Alaska.Localtonians wish a Happy Birthday to Kentucky bred Bold Forbes, born in 1973 on Eaton Farms outside Lexington.March 31, 1973, Sham won the GI Santa Anita Derby.March 31, 1975, Coach John Wooden closed out his coaching career by leading the Bruins to their 10th NCAA title in 12 years, over Kentucky 85-92 in San Diego. Louisville beat Syracuse to place 3rd.March 31, 1984, Georgetown outscored UK 23-2 at the start of the 2nd half to defeat the Wildcats, 53-40, in the NCAA semifinal game in Seattle.March 31, 1986, the Louisville Cardinals won their 2nd NCAA Championship by defeating Duke in Dallas, 72-69. Coach Denny Crum also won his 2nd title. Pervis Ellison earned MVP honors. Johnny Dawkins scored the most points during the tournament. New rules introduced the shot clock for the 1st time, set initially at 45 seconds. It changed to 35 seconds in 1994, and 30 seconds in the 2016 NCAA Men’s Tournament. The 1986 tournament had no three-point shot, for the last time.March 31, 1992, “You got, you got a, you got a tape of him giving me $500.00?” A memorable BOBTROT quote after the F.B.I. told a legislature they have him on tape taking a bribe.March 31, 2000, Hazel King, 80, rented a helicopter for the 4th time to fly over Black Mountain. On each trip, she took an environmentalist to document the 26-mile mountain, much of it on the KY/VA border. But, unfortunately, the fight to save Black Mountain from timber and coal interest would end in court. Ms. King had fought strip mining over 40 years, with her crusade starting when timber companies cut her trees without permission.March 31, 2008, long-time Kentucky basketball manager Bill Keightley passed away at 81. Affectionately known as Mr. Wildcat, he manned the “Bill Keightley Equipment Room” in Memorial Coliseum since 1962. A Rupp Arena crowd of over 3,000 paid their respects in a tribute to Mr. Keightley.March 31, 2012, Kentucky 69 defeated Louisville 61 in the New Orleans Final Four, one of two matchups in the 2012 season. In a defense-oriented game, the Cats slid past the Cards late in the 2nd half. Anthony Davis led UK with 18 points, 14 rebounds, and five blocks. They won the 74th National Championship two days later. The Cats also won the December 2011 matchup 69-62.On March 31, 2015, a leading U.S. energy consultant stated the collapse of energy prices dealt another blow to the struggling Appalachian coal industry. His firm estimated that two-thirds of Eastern Kentucky’s coal output was now unprofitable.March 31, 2016, while Governor M. Bevin told all Kentucky universities and colleges to cut their budgets by 4.5%, while the Berea Chamber of Commerce voted to cancel the annual Spoonbread Festival. The Chamber made the decision after Mayor Connelly banned merchandise with the Confederate Flag.On March 31, 2018, President D. Trump fired the 69th U.S. Secretary of State after 13 months and 13 days on the job. The ex-CEO of a big oil company got caught up and spit out during Russiagate.March 31, 2018, the GI $1,200,000 Florida Derby for three-year-olds ran at Gulfstream Park.On March 31, 2019, UK lost to Auburn in the Elite 8, failing to reach the Final Four again. The Cats had beaten the Tigers twice before in the season, including a 27-point drubbing in Rupp Arena.March 31, 2019, a 5-year-old gelding, Arms Runner, fell during a race. Veterinarians euthanized him after an injury to his right front leg. This made the 23rd horse death at Santa Anita since December 26, 2018.March 31, 2020, Kentucky added seven deaths and 114 positive cases of coronavirus bringing totals to 17 and 594 respectively. State officials predicted more than 1,000 Kentuckians may die from the coronavirus and federal officials said 250,000 nationally.On March 31, 2020, as corporate news stations conveyed that healthy people do not need masks, a Kentucky nonprofit organization stopped making Army gear face masks. Instead, due to a shortage of masks, the organization produced cloth masks for Kentucky 1st responders.On March 31, 2021, Governor A. Beshear announced that every Kentuckian, 16 and older, could take coronavirus vaccines. Only one vaccine was available to 16 and 17-year-olds. Two other vaccines were for people 18 or older. Meanwhile, basketball fans returned to the Sweet 16 at Rupp Arena with restrictions and masks.March 31, 2022, Hillary Clinton’s 2016 presidential campaign agreed to pay $113,000 to settle a federal investigation. The Clinton campaign, after lying for two years, finally admitted they paid for the research that eventually became the infamous Steele dossier.On March 31, 2022, the Oxford Academic Journal of Infectious Diseases published an article in which Dr. Fauci and his coauthors suggested herd immunity was no longer a strategy to deal with coronavirus. For the previous two years, the doctor claimed herd immunity would be attained if enough people got vaccinated. Dr. Fauci stated humans would live with the presence of COVID while “optimizing population protection without prohibitive restrictions on our daily lives.”
