Kentucky Trivia
October 29, 1877, Patrolman Martin Roth, Louisville Police Department, succumbed to injuries sustained one week earlier when a subject assaulted him during an arrest for being drunk in public.
October 29, 1898, Kentucky State College (later known as UK) played the Louisville Athletic Club in Louisville. Kentucky won 17-0.
Localtonians wish a Happy Birthday to Mt. Victory native Vermont Garrison, born in Vermont in 1915. One of only seven Americans to achieve ACE status during World War II, he participated in three wars: World War II at 28, Korea at 37, and flew Rolling Thunder missions at 51 years old in Vietnam. Peers nicknamed him “The Gray Eagle.”
On October 29, 1921, Centre defeated Harvard 6-0. Harvard had not lost a game in four seasons; however, Happy Chandler scouted the Ivy League team, and before the match, folklore states he sang Down the Road T Home Sweet Home to the team in the locker room. Scoreless at half, the Praying Colonels’ QB Alvin “Bo” McMillin ran for the only TD early in the 3rd quarter. “C6 H0” graffiti could be found on Centre’s campus for generations. The Old Kentucky Almanac, 1994 No. 1. Col. Claude E. Hammond II, editor, pg 26.
October 29, 1927, Chief of Police John E. Miller, Jackson Police Department and Constable Henry Spencer, of the Breathitt County Constable’s Office, died by gunshots while raiding a home on the outskirts of town while searching for illegal liquor.
October 29, 1929, the Great Depression officially began.
Localtonians wish a Happy Birthday to Roark native Sonny Osborne, born in 1937 on Jack’s Creek in Leslie County. He is a master of the style developed by Earl Scruggs, called the “Scruggs style” and is best known for his collaboration with his brother Bobby Osborne as the Osborne Brothers. In the video below, Sonny is in the middle.
October 29, 1940, Turnkey Joe R. Tuggle, Whitley County Detention Center, died after a Whitley County prisoner came out of his jail cell to talk to a visitor. The prisoner suddenly grabbed Turnkey Tuggle’s pistol from its holster and shot him twice, killing him.
October 29, 1950, Army CPL Virgil Boggs from Harlan County and Army SFC Albert Knox Jr. from Campbell County died in the Korean War.
On October 29, 1960, 18-year-old Muhammad Ali (0-0) made his professional debut in his hometown of Louisville. He won a six-round unanimous decision over the Fayetteville, West Virginia’s Police Chief, Tunney Hunsaker (15-9-1). Hunsaker’s eyes swelled shut by the end of the fight, and afterward, he said, “Clay was as fast as lightning. “I tried every trick I knew to throw him off balance, but he was just too good.” In his autobiography, Ali said Hunsaker dealt him one of the hardest body blows he had ever taken during his career. Ali and Hunsaker became good friends and stayed in touch through the years. Hunsaker said he disagreed with Ali’s decision to refuse military service, but he praised him as a great humanitarian and athlete.
October 29, 1966, Army PFC Phillip R. Coleman from Wayland in Floyd County and Army SP4 Raymond Doss from Totz in Harlan County, died fighting in the Vietnam War.
On October 29, 1975, the U.S. National Register of Historic Places added the Francis M. Stafford House at 102 Broadway Street in Paintsville. They accepted the house not only for its architecture but for its family’s importance in the founding and development of Paintsville. In 1843, John Stafford, the house’s original owner, helped establish Paintsville’s city. In the 1930s, the Stafford family sold most of their 1,000 acres farm to the town, doubling its size.
By J654567October 15, 1977, Alydar and Affirmed met for the 6th time, this round, at Laurel Park in the Grade 1 Laurel Futurity. The presence of the two 2-year-old stars accounted for a field of just four. Though Alydar surged to a short lead while running inside of Affirmed, in the stretch, Affirmed forged to a narrow advantage and held off the persistent Alydar by a neck to wrap up the 2-year-old championship. They would next hook up in the Kentucky Derby. Affirmed had four wins to Alydar’s two.
On October 29, 1981, less than a week before he planned on being re-elected, former Judge-Executive Carroll Fugate received a federal prison sentence for stealing $14,000 from Perry County. Fugate’s lawyer requested federal prison over county jail on the grounds of “taste and dignity” than out of fear.
October 29, 1985, the remains of Hart County native Arthur Thomas Finney, an Air Force Colonel shot down over North Vietnam in 1966 and listed as missing in action, returned to America. Finney was one of 26 American servicemen whose remains were returned to the U.S. by Vietnam in August of 1985. Finney’s final resting place is the Arlington National Cemetery. His hometown of Canmer provided a memorial service in his honor.
On October 29, 1992, Governor B. Jones announced his plans to restrict smoking in all state offices to designated areas by January 1. Governor Jones, who grew tobacco on his Woodford County farm, implemented the state’s 1st smoking policy for state employees.
October 29, 1993, the jury of seven women and five men began deliberation in the federal bribery trial of State Senator David LeMaster, 44, of Paintsville. The charges also included extortion, interstate travel in aid of racketeering, and lying to the FBI. He was one of 14 defendants charged in the FBI’s investigation of public corruption known as BOPTROT. The 13 prior defendants were guilty.
October 29, 1996, President Clinton’s NAFTA took another bite out of Kentucky employment as OshKosh B’Gosh, Inc. announced their plant closure in Columbia. The 411 jobs lost were 5.5% of all the jobs in Adair County. The state lost 4,000 apparel jobs from 1991 to 1996.
Tuesday, October 29, 1996, police arrested a Moore High School football player on a Fourth-degree assault charge after allegedly hitting an official during a Friday night game. The referee of the Class AAA district game took out the warrant against the 18-year-old, who the jail released on a $5,000 bond.
On October 29, 2005, Belmont Park hosted their 4th Breeders’ Cup, the 22nd edition. Jockey Garrett Gomez won his 1st two career BC races in the Juvenile and the Mile. Intercontinental dueled defending champion Ouija Board in the Filly & Mare Turf. The 1st German horse to win a BC race won the Turf. The winner of the Classic later received Horse of the Year honors. It was Jerry Bailey’s 15th and final Breeders’ Cup win, retiring as the all-time leader in BC victories the following year.
October 29, 2006, Derek Cowden from Corbin caught a state record Northern Pike weighing 10.53 lbs. in the Laurel River Lake.
October 29, 2007, Chief of Police Randy Wells, Forest Hills Police Department, died when a box truck rear-ended his patrol car on the Snyder Freeway near La Grange Road.
October 29, 2016, Kentucky bred noble Bird with Julien Leparoux set a new Keeneland track record for 1 1/8 on the dirt, going 1:47. 75 in the GII Hagyard Stakes in a field of eight.
On October 29, 2019, Murray Energy Holdings Company, the largest underground coal mining corporation in the U.S., declared Chapter II bankruptcy, in another blow to the coal industry. Murray had three subsidies in Kentucky with 367 employees: the Muhlenberg County Coal Company, the Western Kentucky Coal Company, and Western Kentucky Resources Murry Energy declared $2.7 billion in debt.
On October 29, 2020, the meeting software company Zoom reported record profits. The shutdowns benefited the big hitters while they shared nothing with their employees. Not only did the drug dealers rake in record profits, but Jeff Bezos and the Walton’s grew $116 billion richer over the previous year. Meanwhile, domestic abuse, drug use, mental illness, and depression increased as people stayed isolated.
Positives: 1,821 / 103,305
Deaths: 19 / 1,461 – 1st Death 3/16/20
50&over: 1,423 / 49-30: 36 / 29&under: 2
October 29, 2021, Governor A. Beshear “tweeted,” Unemployment rates have fallen in 116 of Kentucky’s 120 counties. Our economy is on fire, and as we continue to build on that economic momentum we’re prioritizing the creation of quality jobs for our people.
October 29, 2022, Thomas Massie “tweeted,” Congress spent trillions of dollars that the Fed created out of thin air. That is why we have inflation. You can slow down the economy by raising interest rates. You can temporarily lower the price of gas by selling strategic oil reserves. But those are stopgaps, not solutions.