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TODAY IN KENTUCKY HISTORY

September 15, 1875, Isaac Murphy won his 1st race.  The win came at the Lexington Crab Orchard track aboard B. F. Pettit’s chestnut filly Glentina.  Crab Orchard, located 46 miles south of Lexington, was the oldest circular track in the state and was a testing ground for potential stake winning horses and the talented jockeys.  

On September 15, 1890, the Kentucky Post, Covington’s daily newspaper, printed its 1st edition.  The small and inexpensive paper had four pages for two cents a copy.  Nevertheless, it found a ready niche.  It grew by fighting for the working classes.  In 1899 and 1900, the Kentucky Post published many editions covering the turbulent campaign, election, and assassination of Governor W. Goebel.  The owner, Edward Willis Scripps, created forty-five such “penny papers” from coast to coast and became filthy rich.

September 15, 1950, Army PVT John L. Winchester from Hardin County died in the Korean War.

September 15, 1952, Army CPL Arthur Joseph from Woodford County and Marine Corps SGT Donald Baily from Stanford, both died in the Korean War.

September 15, 1951, Police Officer William M. Carrico, Sr., Carrollton Police Department died while responding to a disturbance call at an ex-convict’s home.  As Officer Carrico and his partner were driving towards the suspect’s house, the ex-convict shot Officer Carrico with a high powered rifle through the windshield, striking him in the head.

On September 15, 1963, Bobby Nichols won his 3rd PGA event by beating Raymond Floyd by two shots in the Seattle Open Invitational for his only win of the year.

September 15, 1970, Army CPL David Bruce Toler from Ashland died in the Vietnam War.

On September 15, 1972, Secretary of the Interior Rogers C.B. Morton (Louisville) returned to his native Kentucky to officially designate five sites in the state as National Historic Landmarks.  These included “Shakertown (Mercer County),” which hosted the event, “Old Frankfort State House,” “Liberty Hall (Frankfort),” Louisville’s “Old Water Company pumping Station, and the “Old Bank of Louisville.”  Morton reminded everyone the Shakers gave us the metal pan, cut nails, the one-horse wagon, the flat broom, and the everyday clothes pen.

On Friday, September 15, 1972, Mr. and Mrs. C.V. Whitney hosted a GOP fundraiser on their Lexington Farm.  Some attendees included Mr. and Mrs. John A.  Bell, III, and former Governor and Mrs. L. Nunn.  Nunn, the candidate for Kentucky’s Class II senate seat, lost to Walter D. Huddleston, who lost to Mitch 12 years later.

On September 15, 1973, Commonwealth Stadium hosted their 1st UK football game.  The Wildcats defeated the Virginia Tech Hokies 31-26.  During this season, Fran Curci coached future NFL players Sonny Collins (who scored the 1st TD in Commonwealth), Warren Bryant, and Doug Kotar.

On September 15, 1976, the National Basketball Association (NBA) owners paid $3.3 million for the Louisville Colonels and $3.3 million for the Spirits of St. Louis.  The American Basketball Association (ABA) teams faced escalating player salaries and lacked television contracts so the six strongest ABA teams tried to merge, but the NBA owners only allowed the Nuggets, Pacers, Spurs, and Nets to join.

On September 15, 1978, 36-year-old Muhammad Ali won the heavyweight title back by beating Leon Spinks in a 15-round unanimous decision, making him the 1st man to reign as champion three times.  After this fight, Ali retired for the first of two times.

September 15, 1987, J.C. Lawson posed in his marijuana patch near his home in Clay County.  The day after the Herald-Leader story ran about Lawson, the state police destroyed hundreds of his plants near his home.  In the story, Lawson said he no longer sold his marijuana retail and sold it all to Ohio dealers for $1,200 a pound.  He went on to say that, “a lot of the money in Clay County comes from pot.”  Lawson made it clear that he was a good citizen who provided jobs for as many as 22 people.

September 15, 1989, Patrolman Terry Lee Sanders, Mayfield Police Department, died in an aircraft accident while on duty.  The plane crashed as a result of heavy fog and rain.

September 15, 1989, Robert Penn Warren of Guthrie, in Todd County, passed away.  From the 1950s until his death from cancer, Warren lived in Connecticut and at his summer home in Vermont.  He rests in Stratton, Vermont; however, a memorial marker is situated in the Warren family gravesite in Guthrie at his request.

Kentucky Trivia:  In 1921, Mr. Warren, 16, suffered a severe injury that led to his eye removal.  In the same year, a magazine published his 1st poem while he attended the Citizens Military Training Corps, Fort Knox.  Because of the eye, Mr. Warren entered Vanderbilt University and graduated in 1925 summa cum laude, Phi Beta Kappa, and as a Founder’s Medalist.  In 1939, he published his 1st novel, Night Rider.

September 15, 1990, as the smokeless tobacco increased dramatically among Kentucky youth, a populist and combative Dr. Floyd G. Poore, 53, announced his candidacy for governor.  His mother introduced him to the crowd in his hometown of Williamsburg.

September 15, 2006, Dan Uggla from Louisville hit his 25th MLB home run, breaking Joe Gordon’s record for most home runs by a rookie second baseman.

On September 15, 2007, the Green Monkey made his racing debut in a six-furlong maiden race at Belmont Park in Elmont, NY.  The public made him the 2–5 betting favorite, but the colt finished 3rd.  The Green Monkey started his career for $16,000,000 in 2006; and ended with a 3-0-0-1 lifetime record.

September 15, 2007, with one perfectly thrown pass, Andre Woodson erased years of agony against Brian Brohm and turned Kentucky’s border battle with Louisville into a real rivalry again.  Woodson threw a 57-yard touchdown pass to Steve Johnson with 28 seconds left, and Kentucky shocked the #9 Cardinals 40-34.  It was the Wildcats’ 1st victory over a top-10 team in three decades and halted a four-year losing streak to Louisville.  It also ended Woodson’s even longer skid against Brohm, a nemesis since high school.  The record now stood at 11-9, advantage Kentucky.

On September 15, 2009, police made Rep. Steve Nunn’s arrest warrant public.  The details showed he killed her for revenge.  He didn’t like that she pressed charges.  He apologized for not finishing the job when he slit his wrist in the cemetery.  Hours before he reached his parent’s grave, he stopped by Borders Monument Company to edit his tombstone, which “freaked” the owner out.

On September 15, 2009, current and former state legislatures, county judge executives, mayors, family, and friends gathered to mourn Amanda Ross, 29, at Lexington’s Carrick House.  Steve Nunn gunned her down as she left for work.

On September 15, 2008, Lehman Brothers went bankrupt under the weight of $619 billion in debt, much of it due to investments in subprime mortgages.  In two weeks, the stock market fell 777.68 points in intraday trading, the biggest point drop in history.

September 15, 2016, fifteen contestants travelled to a farm near Lancaster for the 35th annual Garrard County Tobacco Cutting Contest.

On September 15, 2017, Johnny Deep’s 41-acre Kentucky horse farm went on the auction block near Keeneland.  He listed the 6,635-square-foot house, two barns, a four-car garage, a guest house, five paddocks, and an in-ground pool for $2.9 million; the bidding started at $2.5, and one person offered $1.4.  Depp originally purchased the property in 1995 for $950,000, sold it in 2001 for $1 million, and then repurchased it in 2005 for $2 million.  He eventually sold it during his 2020 divorce for $1.3.

September 15, 2020, the city of Louisville settled with the family of Breonna Taylor for $12 million and agreed to take steps toward police reform.  Taylor, 26, died in March.  Meanwhile, in Frankfort, the governor reported nine new deaths.  He allowed bars and restaurants to close an hour later at 11:00 p.m.

September 15, 2021, unsurprisingly another doctor, this time from UofL, touted the experimental vaccine, telling his listeners to ignore the side effects and concentrate on the good effects.  Jefferson County Schools required all their employees be vaccinated or regularly tested, while Louisville prisoners outnumbered jailers for “dangerous levels.”  For many organizations, the shutdown exaggerated underlying issues, such as manpower.

September 15, 2022, Churchill Downs Inc. (CDI) announced an agreement to purchase Ellis Park in Henderson from Enchantment Holdings for $79 million in cash.  CDI also assumed Ellis Park’s opportunity to construct a track extension facility in Owensboro, Kentucky.

On September 15, 2023, Governor A. Beshear hit a Grand Slam, with assistance from the legislators.