July 15, 1858, Louisville’s earliest box scores appeared in the Louisville Daily Democrat . The “Louisville Base Ball Club” played on Tuesday and Thursday afternoons. The paper noted the club wore uniforms of blue cottonade pants, white flamed shirts with blue piping, dark blue caps and leather belts. Baseball In Louisville by Anne Jewell
July 15, 1894, Logan County lynched Edwin Trauhgber , race not known, for being a “bad character.”
July 15, 1903, Fleming County lynched William Thacker , a white male, for murder.
July 15, 1936, activist reached another milestone to create the Cumberland National Forest when Governor Happy Chandler officially granted Kentucky lands to the United States of America.
On July 15, 1943, UK President Dr. H. L. Donovan, in Memorial Hall at the general convocation charged the federal government with “unwittingly destroying the public schools in regions of low per capita wealth through its indifference to the problems of education.”
Localtonians wish a Happy Birthday to Louisville native Thomas Delmer “Artimus” Pyle , born in 1948. The Lynyrd Skynyrd drummer from 1974 to 1977 and from 1987 to 1991 entered the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2006.
July 15, 1951, Happy Chandler spent his last day as the 2nd commissioner of baseball.
July 15, 1953, Marine Corps PFC Albert F. Schildmeyer from Covington died in the Korean War.
July 15, 1955, Barbourville started building the $2 million floodwall with ground-breaking ceremonies. Over 200 feet of concrete and 18,500 feet of earth levees protect the city’s heart from the wild Cumberland River.
July 15, 1964, photographer William Gedney snapped a picture of 4-year-old Billy Cornett in Big Rock, Leslie County, smoking a rolled cigarette. One of America’s iconic photographs.
July 15, 1966, Dr. Fager won his 1st race by seven lengths at Aqueduct racetrack. The bettors sent him off at 10-1.
July 15, 1972, after finishing 4th in his racing debut, Secretariat won his 1st race by six lengths under jockey Paul Feliciano at Aqueduct.
July 15, 1975, three Russians orbited Earth with two Americans in two different rockets . The Soyuz lifted off from Baikonur Cosmodrome eight hours before Apollo left the Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, FL. Together they went to space for the 1st leg of the 1st international manned space flight.
July 15, 1976, Kentucky’s four-tier court system, established by the 1975 Judicial Article amendment to the Kentucky Constitution, took effect. The two Trial Courts consist of Circuit and Districts Courts. The two Appellate Courts contain the Court of Appeals and the Supreme Court. Clark’s Kentucky Almanac 2nd Edition , pg: 102
July 15, 1980, triple digit temperatures hit numerous cities across Kentucky , breaking many of the 1960s records.
Effective July 15, 1988, “Blue Moon of Kentucky
On July 15, 1989, IBF Light Middleweight Champion Darrin Van Horn (40-0) returned to Atlantic City for his 1st title defense against a former champion, Gianfranco Rosi (46-3). The Italian underdog won in a 12-round unanimous decision.
July 15, 1992, Perry County Central High School held its groundbreaking ceremonies, which combined M. C. Napier and Dilce Combs High Schools. Vernon Cooper said, “it brought the largest crowd that I have ever seen for a groundbreaking in Perry County,” in a WSGS broadcast.
July 15, 1994, Kentucky’s state tree controversy brewed for more than 40 years before a final decision. The legislatures finally selected the Yellow Poplar, (Magnoliaceae Liriodendron tulipifera,) a.k.a. Tulip Tree or Tulip Poplar.
By Bruce Marlin July 15, 1996, Keeneland’s small yearling select sale , which targeted elite buyers, held opening night.
July 15, 1997, the Shelby County School Superintendent fired the 1st lady of hemp , 5th grade teacher Donna Crockrel. The trouble started when Woody Harrelson visited her classroom twice within one year.
According to the statute, on July 15, 1999, all guns seized by the state had to be auctioned off to licensed dealers. The change did not sit well with mayors and police forces across Kentucky. Louisville Mayor D. Armstrong, “A gun used in a crime is a tainted gun; it should never be used again. The new law is ill-thought-out.” Kentucky used to destroy them.
July 15, 2002, Keeneland opened their library in a new location . In 2002, the library received a Special Eclipse Award for preserving Thoroughbred racing’s storied past.
July 15, 2004, the U.S. Senate approved an agreement to pay tobacco farmers $12 billion to give up federal quota propping up their prices and putting new restrictions on tobacco products and advertising. President Bush signed the “Tobacco buyout” in the 2004 American Jobs Creation Act.
July 15, 2007, Tyson Gay won the 100-meters in the British Grand Prix in 10.13 , one of his slowest times of the year. His world record goal had to wait.
July 15, 2010, BP finally capped their leaky oil well in the Gulf of Mexico . For 86 days 200 million of gallons pumped into the Gulf of Mexico.
July 15, 2015, Keeneland began their year-round simulcast wagering operations at the Red Mile .
July 15, 2019, Mitch remained silent after President D. Trump tweeted to some Congresswomen of color to go back to their country.
On July 15, 2020, Kentucky enacted 124 new laws . Kentucky distillers could now send their products to a customer’s front door. Before the law, you could receive champagne from France but not ship between U.S. states. More people than usual on Kentucky’s Bourbon Trail mailed samples home after the lockdowns ended. Kentucky announced 477 new coronavirus cases and ten new deaths while the governor stepped up his court action to enforce his mandates.
August 18, 2022 July 15, 2022, the State Board of Elections stated that registered elephants (1,612,060) outnumbered registered donkeys (1,609,569) in Kentucky for the 1st time in the state’s history. Meanwhile, the Kentucky Constable Association sued the legislative body after they diminished their power with House Bill 239.
Saturday, July 15, 2023, legendary Harrodsburg High School football coach Alvis Johnson, 77, passed. The following night, Mercer County’s Alvis Johnson Field, Woodford County’s Community Stadium, and many more turned on their lights for 23 minutes, one minute for each of his 23 seasons with Pioneers, also affectionately known as the Hogs. Mercer County football coach Craig Yeast, who starred for both Harrodsburg and UK during the 1990s: “Without Coach Johnson and Mrs. Johnson, there is absolutely no way that I could stand here today and be back in this town and speak to you about how much I love that man and how much he’s done for me.”
