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TODAY IN KENTUCKY HISTORY

Kentucky Trivia ● Kentucky Tweets

March 22, 1782, in the Battle of Little Mountain, seven of Captain James Estill’s axmen, out of 25, died in desperate hand-to-hand fighting with a band of 25 marauding Wyandots.

On March 22, 1857, Sheriff James Land and Deputy Jessie Arvin, Estill County Sheriff’s Department, was killed by a prisoner near Old Landing while taking the man to jail. The murderer hung on May 29, 1857.

March 22, 1871, Governor Stevenson, to protect African-American voting rights, received a bill, that he requested, that offered rewards for “the apprehension of perpetrators of election-related violence.”  Stevenson also recommended that carrying concealed weapons on Election Day be outlawed. 

March 22, 1873, the General Assembly passed “an act to provide for a geological survey and mineralogical survey of the state.”

Localtonians wish a Happy Birthday to Louisville native Rudy Rucker, born in 1946. 

March 22, 1953, Army SGT Johnie B. Bullock from Pulaski County and Army PFC Charles Coleman from Jefferson County died in the Korean War.

March 22, 1954, the General Assembly passed a joint resolution, honoring the many contributions of Matthew Lyon (1749-1822).  He founded the town of Eddyville, which he made into a commercial center, largely through his own enterprises.  Matthew Lyon was the 2nd U.S. Congress member to represent two different states in the House, Vermont then Kentucky.

March 22, 1958, Kentucky’s Fiddling Five basketball team won the school’s 4th NCAA Tournament beating Seattle 84-72 for Coach Rupp’s last NCAA championship.  Temple and Kansas St. completed the final four in Freedom Hall.  The win gave Rupp his most coveted title, the one he vowed to win after the NCAA had suspended UK’s 1953 season.  This NCAA tournament involved 24 schools.

March 22, 1962, Lexington native Hal Price Headley, owner of Beaumont Farm, passed away at the Keeneland Race Course.  He died of a heart attack while returning from the track to Barn Q with his horses and daughter.  Headley was considered the guiding force in Keeneland’s foundation.  The Alcibiades Stakes, named for Headley’s foundation broodmare, was won by his “Rash Statement” in 1959.  He bred 88 stakes winners in all.

March 22, 1967, Muhammad Ali (29-0) fought Zora Folley (74-7-4) in Madison Square Garden.  Just before the fight, Ali lost his appeal against his 1-A classification for the draft and was ordered to appear in Louisville on April 11 for induction into the U.S. Army.  In the first heavyweight title fight in the Garden in 15 years, Ali dropped Folley in the fourth round, then knocked out the 35-year-old in the seventh round with a quick right.  This would be Ali’s last fight for three-and-a-half years.

March 22, 1967, Army PFC Jacob A. Horn from Inez in Martin County died in the Vietnam War.

March 22, 1968, Army MSG Estevan Torres from Hopkinsville in Christian County died in the Vietnam War.

March 22, 1969, Army SGT Steven D. Hooper from Louisville died in the Vietnam War.

March 22, 1971, Army SP4 Terry W. Doan from Elizabethtown in Hardin County died in the Vietnam War.

March 22, 1971, celebrating their 2nd KHSAA State Basketball Championship, the Louisville Male High School retired the players’ numbers for both championship years.  Before he let the entire student body out early for the day, Principal Sanders also spoke of the school’s Brook and Breck newspaper which won national recognition.

March 22, 1984, Kentucky played Louisville in the NCAA Mideast Regional Semifinals in Rupp Arena.  Joe B. Hall defeated Denny Crum 72-67.  Kentucky would lose to Georgetown in the Final Four.

March 22, 1985, less than an hour after his Kentucky team had been eliminated from the West Regional in Denver, Coach Joe B. Hall announced that he was retiring from coaching.

March 22, 1986, Monticello native Harriette Simpson Arnow died.  She attended Berea College, the University of Louisville, and then worked two years as a rural Pulaski County teacher before moving to Cincinnati.  In 1935 she published her first works in Esquire, two short stories, “A Mess of Pork” and “Marigolds and Mules,” under the pen name H. L. Simpson, sending a photo of her brother-in-law to disguise her gender.

March 22, 1986, Pulaski County defeated Louisville’s Pleasure Ridge, by two points in Rupp, for the Boys’ State Basketball Championship in front of an estimated 18,000.

March 22, 1991, General Colin Powell informed America that U.S. troops would probably stay in Iraq for several more months to keep the pressure on Saddam Hussein.

March 22, 1991, a group of architects and engineers who contributed $60,000 to Martha Layne Collins gubernatorial campaign received a lucrative, no bid design contract for a state prison.  There was a dispute if the money was given all in one day.

March 22, 2003, Chris Lofton and the Royals beat Ballard in the Boys’ Sweet 16 Basketball Tournament finals in Lexington.  Lofton led Mason County to its 1st state basketball title with a record-tying nine three-pointers in the 86-65 championship game.

March 22, 2008, the Mason County Royals defeated the Holmes Bulldogs of Covington 57-48 in Lexington with 17,663 spectators.  It was the 2nd KHSAA Boys’ Sweet 16 State Basketball Championship for the Royals.

Sweet 16 Trivia: 2008-Darius Miller of Mason County vs. Elliott County: Clinging to a two-point lead with 7 seconds remaining, Miller hit two free throws to cap the Royals’ rally from a seven-point, fourth-quarter deficit against Elliott County, 66-62.

March 22, 2008, Elizabeth Whitcomb Lampton died on her farm, Elmendorf, at age 74, from a carriage accident.  Her husband, who bought the Fayette County farm in 1997, died six months later, also on the property.

March 22, 2013, to help the stressed state treasury, the Kentucky Lottery Board voted to sell scratch-offs, sell lottery tickets on-line, and start a new game called Keno.

Kentucky Trivia: On the first day of sales in 1989, over 5,000 licensed retailers sold more than $5 million in tickets.  The first week of sales generated $27 million, this placed Kentucky’s lottery as a leader in first-week sales per capita.

March 22, 2015, Owensboro handily defeated Bowling Green 74-58 to win the KHSAA High School Basketball Sweet 16 Tournament in Lexington with 11,435 spectators.

March 22, 2015, Senator McConnell reiterated that the Senate would not consider President Obama’s nominations to the U.S. Supreme Court and the 6th Circuit Court of Appeals.  President Obama made little pushback.

March 22, 2020, Senator Rand Paul became the 1st sitting member of the U.S. Senate to test positive for coronavirus.  Kentucky reported 103 news cases, the highest one day total.  Governor A. Beshear also told non-essential retail business to close by 8:00 p.m.

On March 22, 2021, the Kentucky coronavirus positivity rate continued to drop for the 10th week.  After a controlled start, Frankfort began to let all 18-year-olds or older sign up for the vaccine months ahead of the original date scheduled.  The reason, not enough citizens were lining up for the shot.

March 22, 2021, Governor A. Beshear vetoed bills limiting his power to pardon and the right to appoint a U.S. Senator.  Meanwhile, two Centre College students raised money to remove Confederate Capt. Robert Logan’s statue from a church.