Kentucky Trivia ● Kentucky Tweets
Localtonians wish a Happy Anniversary to Sarah Maxwell and John Maxwell, who wed in 1779. Historians believe it to be the 1st union inside the Lexington Fort.
April 9, 1786, William Christian died near present day Jeffersonville, IN while chasing a band of Wabash. Kentuckians named Christian County in his honor.
April 9, 1864, Lexington native Oliver Frazer passed away at Eothen, his Fayette County country home. Matthew Harris Jouett trained Oliver before he left for Europe for a more formal education. In 1938, he returned to the States to paint many famous Kentuckians. In the same year, Oliver married Margaret Bell Mitchell (1816-1903), the niece of Matthew Jouett; they had seven children.
April 9, 1880, Kentucky hosted its 1st organized football game when Agriculture and Mechanical College of Kentucky (now Transylvania University) defeated Centre College 13 ¾ – 0 in a cow pasture. Each team had fifteen players. Once an injured player left the game, he could not re-enter.
April 9, 1884, in Eastern Kentucky, possibly Breathitt County, William Strong and Henry Kilburn, two African Americans, died by lynchings. Locals accused them of murdering a white male. One source, recorded Kentucky’s 1st lynching two years earlier.
April 9, 1920, state troops, sheriffs, deputies, and the Leitchfield machine gun squad served 50 individuals warrants from the Special Night Rider Grand Jury in Mayfield. Thirty-four Knight Riders hearing of the sweep turned themselves in. The fifty “bills” included 44 arsons.
On April 9, 1930, around 1,500 students from approximately 300 high schools arrived on UK’s campus for the 10th annual “High School Week.” Activities included contests in oratory, debate, declamation, and achievement tests. The remainder of the week focused on musical events and the annual high school music festival.
April 9, 1934, Patrolman Clarence Quinton Evans and Corporal Saxton Dutschke, Louisville Police Department, died when a vehicle struck their patrol wagon at the intersection of 7th and Chestnut.
April 9, 1942, Deputy Sheriff Marion Martin, Knott County Sheriff’s Office, died from wounds he received the previous day from a gunshot responding to a disturbance at a bar. As Deputy Martin entered the building, a man shot him. Deputy Marion shot the suspect dead.
April 9, 1945, Lexington introduced its 1st parking meter. It Happened Today In Kentucky History by Robert A. Powell, pg: 42
April 9, 1951, Army PVT Charles Vickers from Daviess County died in the Korean War.
April 9, 1956, Brooklyn Dodger Jackie Robinson shivered in the dugout as they played the Milwaukee Braves in a preseason baseball game in Louisville’s Parkway Field. At 44 degrees, the California native joked, “Now I know why they call it bluegrass. It’s frozen!” It was the start of the 37-year-old Robinson’s last season in professional baseball.
April 9, 1964, Happy Chandler met with allies of his interparty rivals led by former Governor Bert Combs and sitting Governor Edward Breathitt. The unusual meeting created an unexpected shift in Kentucky politics. Prominent Frankfort attorney Clifford Smith, a supporter of Chandler but who had switched sides, called the session.
Localtonians wish a Happy Birthday to Louisville native Oliver Wesley Barnett, born in 1966. The former NFL defensive lineman played for the Falcons, Bills, and 49ers.
April 9, 1967, Gay Brewer won a green jacket by one stroke over lifelong friend Bobby Nichols in the 1st live television broadcast of a golf tournament from the U.S. to Europe. Brewer won his only major on this day and called winning the Masters “the biggest thrill I’ve had in golf.” The year before, Gay bogeyed the final hole to finish in a three-way tie after regulation but finished 3rd to Jack Nicklaus and Bert Yancy following an 18 hole playoff.
April 9, 1968, Army SSG Kenneth A. Hardin from Morehead in Rowan County died in the Vietnam War.
April 9, 1969, Army PFC’s James H. Adams from Whitehouse in Johnson County and William L. Overstreet from Elk Horn in Taylor County, both died in the Vietnam War.
On April 9, 1970, city officials told the Lexington Public Library they would lose their two Bookmobiles due to politics and lack of funding.
April 9, 1975, Muhlenberg County barely edged Pike County to retain its long-standing position as Kentucky’s top coal-producing county. The Kentucky Department of Mines and Minerals also confirmed the Commonwealth produced 136,792,843 tons of coal in 1974, an increase of 9,285,523 tons from 1973 totals.
April 9, 1984, President R. Reagan honored Sherleen Sisney from Jefferson County’s Ballard High School as the 1984 Teacher of the Year. Around 45 of her former and current students attended the Rose Garden ceremony. In 33 years of the award, Kentucky had their 1st win in Ms. Sisney.
April 9, 1989, the Harlem Globetrotters played to 4,000 fans in Rupp Arena.
On April 9, 1990, the Kentucky Derby Festival Board named General H. Norman Schwarzkopf, Jr., Grand marshal for the Pegasus Parade. Meanwhile, Bill Shoemaker laid in a Los Angeles hospital partially paralyzed and in critical condition after a car wreck.
On April 9, 2002, Citizens Against Government Waste, a group that monitors federal spending, added Kentucky to its “Dirty Dozen” list of “Porkiest States,” saying it ranked 9th regarding wasteful expenditures. One heavily criticized pork project included the $525,000 Civil War theme park in Laurel County.
April 9, 1998, President W. Clinton spoke to the Carroll County High School about reducing teen smoking. It reminded everyone of his “I never inhaled” statement.
George & HillaryApril 9, 2000, Lexington native Scott Downs made his MLB debut with the Chicago Cubs.
April 9, 2007, the University of Arkansas basketball team named Paintsville native John Pelfrey as their new head coach.
On April 9, 2012, 204 locals from Northern Kentucky University broke a world record when they all got on a seesaw, according to Guinness World Records.
April 9, 2018, a former UK basketball administrator, Leon Smith, received four years in prison for a scheme to defraud $1.3 million from professional athletes. The Louisville native played three seasons for UK football.
On April 9, 2019, Secretary of State Allison Grimes escalated her fight with the state board of elections and fired the executive director from the National Committee devoted to improving election integrity. Jared Dearing had been a long-time critic of Allison. The Secretary’s father heard the news from a federal prison.
On April 9, 2020, Governor A. Beshear announced 134 new + coronavirus cases, totaling 1,452. He also reported six new deaths for a total of 79. Nursing homes begged for help in labor and supplies of masks, gloves, and gowns.
On April 9, 2021, a Kentucky judge temporarily blocked enforcement of the governor’s executive coronavirus orders against restaurants and breweries. The issue vaulted to the Kentucky Supreme Court.