TODAY IN KENTUCKY HISTORY

On March 18, 1813, Rebecca Boone passed over. Her family laid her to rest in the Boone Family Cemetery overlooking Tuque Creek, on a farm owned by her cousin David Bryan in Missouri.

Localtonians wish a Happy Birthday to William O’Connell Bradley, the 32^nd governor, born in 1847 in Garrard County. Key Democrats backed him to become the 1^st Republican governor.

On March 18, 1859, a runaway slave wrote his former master, To Mr. Wm Riley Springfield, KY., Sir: I take this opportunity to dictate a few lines to you. I am happy to inform you that I am in Canada in good health and have been here for several days. He then gave his former owner a piece of his mind.

Localtonians wish a Happy Birthday to Beverly native Edgar Cayce, born in 1877 in Christian County.

On March 18, 1879, facing foreclosure, the Kentucky Association (a.k.a. KY Racing Association or Kentucky Association for the Improvement of the Breeds of Stock) went up for sale. Charles Green of St. Louis, MO, a trustee for the stockholders, purchased the track in 1901 for $1.00 plus other considerations.

On March 18, 1925, 17 Kentuckians lost their lives when a series of tornadoes swept across the Commonwealth. The twisters killed 750 in neighboring states.

March 18, 1966, Army PFC James S. Williams from Munfordville in Hart County died in the Vietnam War.

On March 18, 1967, a buzzer-beater decided the state basketball championship. Earlington had the ball, down one, with six seconds left. Out of timeouts, Justin Sharp forced a 35-foot shot. It missed but bounded to Earlington’s Tyrone Hopson, whose follow-up shot with one second remaining went in. Tyrone got to keep the ball. Coach Rupp watched Hopson’s semi-final game and congratulated him on an outstanding performance afterward.

March 18, 1968, Army PVT William D. Price from Samuels in Nelson County, Army PFC Thomas R. Ramey from Tomahawk in Martin County and Army 2LT Jimmy L. Sherrill from Morgantown in Butler County, all died in the Vietnam War.

March 18, 1970, Army PVT Dorris W. Trainer from Hopkinsville in Christian County died in the Vietnam War.

March 18, 1971, Army SSG John R. Champlin from Hebron in Boone County died in the Vietnam War.

March 18, 1971, in the schools’ 1^st basketball game against each other, the WKU Hilltoppers defeated Kentucky in the NCAA Mideast Regional semi-finals 107-83 to advance to the Elite Eight. Governor L. Nunn and 10,999 other fans filled the stands in Georgia. WKU placed 3^rd in the tournament.

On March 18, 1974, while seven of nine Arab countries dropped their five-month U.S. oil embargo that caused upheaval, a Lexington man sat behind bars after he shot the Phoenix Hotel bartender the night before. The bartender who lived, refused another drink to the shooter.

Kentucky Trivia: Locals established the Phoenix Hotel in the 1820s. After several reincarnations, the hotel closed in 1977 and demolished in 1987. Two generals in different armies used the facility during the Civil War. In 1891, the Kappa Alpha Order at Transylvania University initiated its 1^st members inside. In 1961, coffee shop servers refused service to Boston Celtic players because of their race.

On March 18, 1972, Adolph Rupp coached his last game at UK, a 73-54 loss to Florida State in the NCAA Tournament. He started in 1930 and had to leave at 70, the mandatory age for UK employees.

On March 18, 1976, Kentucky finally ratified the 14^th Amendment, 107 years after the U.S. government ratified it and eight years after Dr. Martin Luther King’s assassination. The Amendment granted citizenship to all persons born or naturalized in the United States. It officially freed the former slaves after the Civil War.

Kentucky Trivia: Rep. Mae Street Kidd (Louisville) was one of three Blacks in the Kentucky legislature who finally filed the resolution in 1976 to pass the 14^thAmendment.

March 18, 1985, Capital City Communications bought ABC for $3.5 billion, at the same time Texaco closed their gas stations in Kentucky due to severe competition.

March 18, 1989, Pleasure Ridge Park defeated Wayne County 75-73 in the KHSAA Boys’ Sweet 16 High School Basketball Tournament at Rupp Arena with 16,650 people in the stands.

Sweet 16 Trivia: Clay County reached the Sweet 16 with an unblemished record (33-0) only to fall to Marshall County in the opening round. No undefeated team has made the state tourney since.

March 18, 1992, Sheriff Cecil E. Cyrus, Johnson County Sheriff’s Office, died while arresting a suspect who had escaped during a rape trial. Locals convicted the suspect of capital murder.

March 18, 1995, Breckinridge County defeated Pleasure Ridge Park 70-63 to become the Boys’ Sweet 16 Kentucky State Basketball Champions. Rupp Arena hosted 15,965 for the finals.

Sweet 16 Trivia: Exactly 30 years after Butch Beard coached Breckinridge County and NBA star Donnie Morris to the 1965 Sweet 16 title, the school won its 2^nd boys’ state tournament with an unexpected Cinderella march under Coach D. Morris.

March 18, 1996, an employee for the state’s largest health insurance company told Frankfort lawmakers the 1994 Health reform law would drive up health insurance rates. An actuary testified and vehemently disagreed. No one suggested the salaries of health insurance executives drove up costs.

March 18, 1997, Gallatin County students gathered for a pep rally in the junior high gym to celebrate the high school ending a 38-year-old drought. The Lady Cats returned as the girls’ Sweet 16 basketball tournament champions. The only other Gallatin team to become state champions was Jock Sutherland’s boys’ team in 1959.

March 18, 2000, Elizabethtown won the 83^rd KHSAA Boys’ Sweet 16 Basketball Tournament. Ray Vencill’s Panthers beat Lexington Catholic 79-69, with 17,442 fans watching the final game in Rupp Arena.

Sweet 16 Trivia: En route to the state title, Elizabethtown trailed Russellville by 15 points in the 4^th quarter in the semifinals and got behind Lexington Catholic by 13 at halftime of the championship game but rallied to win both.

March 18, 2005, the average gas price in Kentucky reached $2.20 a gallon.

March 18, 2006, the Jeffersontown Chargers defeated the Apollo Eagles 61-48 at Rupp Arena with 16,263 spectators for the 89^th KHSAA Sweet 16 Basketball Tournament.

Sweet 16 Trivia: Jeffersontown Coach Jeff Morrow was the 2^nd team student manager for the UK men’s basketball team to coach the Sweet 16 champions. Lafayette’s Donnie Adkins (2001) was the first.

Scotty, an African elephant, born on March 18, 2007, at the Louisville Zoo, became the 1^st known elephant born in Kentucky.

On March 18, 2009, a congressional hearing addressed $165 million in bonuses given to corporate executives that caused the 2008 global financial crisis. The hearings helped calm the public outrage over the amount of control corporations have, and still do, over the American government.

March 17, 2011, Demonte Harper drained a three-pointer from the top with 4.2 seconds left to give Coach Donnie Tyndall’s #13 Morehead Eagles a 62-61 NCAA tourney stunner over intrastate power #4 Louisville.

March 18, 2013, the Kentucky Executive Branch’s Ethics Commission charged Richie Farmer with a record 42 state ethics violations, the most against a single individual in Kentucky state government; the previous high was 16.

March 18, 2017, Oaklawn’s GII $900,000 Rebel Stakes for three-year-olds was another Keeneland graduate trifecta.

Sunday, March 18, 2018, Covington Catholic defeated Scott County 73-55 for the 101^st Boys’ Sweet 16 State Basketball Championship in Rupp Arena with 12,637 fans watching. CJ Frederick received MVP honors. He also picked up Player of the Year and was a finalist for Mr. Basketball; however, Mercer County’s Trevon Faulkner took the honor.

On March 18, 2020, President D. Trump signed the 2^nd Coronavirus Relief Package (CRP) for $192 billion. Twelve days earlier, he signed one for $8.3 billion, and days nine days later, he signed another CRP for $2.2 trillion, which made three CRPs in three weeks to combat the coronavirus. Many say the economy needed the jolt.

March 18, 2020, the state reported nine new coronavirus cases, one an infant, for a total of 35 positive cases. Kentucky screeched to a halt with one virus related death.

March 18, 2020, Dr. Alexandra Gerassimides, Louisville Mayor Greg Fischer’s wife, tested positive for coronavirus. She supposedly contracted the virus at the March 6 Speed Art Museum fundraiser attended by Kentucky dignitaries.

March 18, 2021, Governor A. Beshear announced Kentuckians over 16 years of age could receive the vaccine starting April 12. He also announced, “the state would dramatically ramp up its vaccine rollout in the coming weeks, in time to immunize all willing adults by the end of May.”

On March 18, 2022, Dr. Fauci hinted at retirement after Rand Paul introduced an amendment to break his job into three positions. Fauci claimed, “I can’t stay at this job forever,” he eventually retired in December.

March 18, 2022, the Senate 70-23, prohibited transgender girls from competing in girls’ sports at the post-secondary, middle, and high school levels. The Kentucky House passed it a week earlier. “God…hates sin,” state Rep. Bill Wesley R- Ravenna said in explaining his yes vote. The other nonjudgmental, rational lawmakers who sin, possibly thought it made common sense.

On March 18, 2023, Jordan Zakarin tweeted, “Developing: Amazon workers in Northern Kentucky planned a big rally to kick off their union campaign, and Amazon is doing whatever it can to stop them. The company hired a private security company and set up new checkpoints to prevent supporters and reporters from attending.

TODAY IN KENTUCKY HISTORY

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