April 19, 2024
Kentucky fans welcome national champions home, 1978
About 7,000 Kentucky basketball fans packed into the terminal of Blue Grass Airport March 28, 1978, to welcome the Wildcats home after winning the 1978 NCAA National Championship in St. Louis a few hours earlier. By defeating Duke 94-88 behind Jack “Goose” Givens’ 41 point performance, the Wildcats earned their fifth national title. “It was a whole lot of fun to be a part of it,” said Kyle Macy recently, who was a member of that team. “Unfortunately they (the fans) did a lot of damage to the airport. I think the lot was full so people would park out on Versailles Road.” Signs proclaimed “Joe Hall for President” and We Won This One for Adolph,” while strains of “Goose” calls filtered through the air. The wait was exhausting for the fans who left their television sets at 11:30 p.m. and raced to the airport to stake out the front spots to greet the Cats. The night dragged on until that magic moment near 3:30 a.m. when the crowd picked up the hum of a landing jet. Catching first glimpse of the screaming fans, the scene was almost too much for the Wildcats themselves to comprehend. “This is unbelievable; this is something you think about in your wildest dreams and it finally came true for us,” exclaimed forward Rick Robey after he failed in his first attempt to reach the airport balcony to address the screaming throng. According to airport security chief George Laessig, the only known issues besides a few fainting women were three students who fell through a roof and suffered bloody noses. Even 79-year-old former Governor A.B. “Happy” Chandler made his way through the crowd to deliver a personal congratulations to the team. Later that day, 15,000 fans filled Memorial Coliseum for a pep rally celebrating the victory. Click here to scroll through every UK basketball image posted on our blog. Photo by David Perry | Staff
Jack Givens leads Kentucky to national title, 1978
Kentucky’s Jack Givens cut down the net after the Wildcats defeated Duke 94-88 in the NCAA National Championship game, March 27, 1978 at the Checkerdome in St. Louis. Givens scored 41 points and was named that year’s Final Four Most Outstanding Player. Givens was 18 of 27 from the floor, marking a career-high in points for the senior forward. Givens’ 41 points are the third most all-time in a championship game and the 182 points scored by the Cats and the Blue Devils are the most ever scored in the NCAA finals. The win gave Kentucky’s their fifth national title and their first in 20 years. Click here to see an image from our archives from the Final Four win two days earlier over Arkansas and click here to scroll through every UK basketball image posted on our blog. Photo by Frank Anderson | Staff
Louisville celebrates ‘Dream Game’ win, 1983
Louisville’s Lancaster Gordon celebrated March 26, 1983 after the Cardinals beat rival Kentucky, 80-68 in overtime, during the NCAA Mideast Regional Finals in Knoxville. Dubbed the “Dream Game,” it was an emotional, much anticipated battle before a capacity crowd of 12,489 at the University of Tennessee’s Stokely Athletics Center. The two schools had not meet on the hardwood since the 1959 NCAA Tournament and not in the regular season since 1922. Kentucky was following a policy set by Adolph Rupp; they refused to play other in-state foes regardless of the strength of their teams. By 1983, U of L coach Denny Crum had already taken Louisville to four Final Fours, won the 1980 national title and clearly built a program that, on the floor, was at the least UK’s equal if not its superior. Yet the Cats wouldn’t play the Cards, but on this day, they had to to advance to their ninth Final Four. U of L missed 16 of its first 20 shots but turned up their press in the second half. Within two minutes, an 11-point second-half UK lead was cut to one. Kentucky’s Jim Master made a game-tying shot to force overtime but the Cards scored the first 14 points of the extra period. Gordon led all scorers with 24 and was named Most Valuable Player of the Regional. Facing pressure from fans and even the state legislature, the teams renewed their regular season match-up the following season and have faced each other every year since. Click here to see more images from our archives from the first “Dream Game,” including Kentucky Governor John Y. Brown Jr., wearing a sport coat that was half Wildcats blue and half Cardinals red. Photo by Charles Bertram | staff
Family dog honorably discharged from U.S. Army, 1946
In early January 1946 Army Sergeant Edward Johnstone, 22, and his brother Marine Lieutenant William F. Johnstone, 24, posed with Pinch (christened Bena Von Strathmoor), 7, veteran of the K-9 Corps, after all were honorably discharged. Pinch, the Johnstone’s family dog, was loaned to the K-9 Corps and served three and a half years with the Quartermaster Corps, United States Army. The three had just returned home to Lexington and posed for a photo at their parents, Mr. and Mrs. William C. Johnstone’s home, 111 Johnston Boulevard. Herald-Leader Archive Photo
Scott County’s A.W. Hamilton, 1998
Scott County guard A.W. Hamilton glided past Lexington Catholic’s Matt Heissenbuttel for a basket during the Fifth-Third Bank Holiday Classic championship game, helping the Cardinals to a 89-76 win over the Knights on December 30, 1998 in Lexington. He helped the school win a state championship in 1998 and finish second in 1999. Hamilton was named first-team All-State following his senior season. Eastern Kentucky University announced Friday that it has hired Hamilton as it’s head basketball coach. Hamilton was the head coach of one of the top prep basketball programs in the country, Hargrave Military Academy, from 2011 to 2017. He spent the 2017-18 season as an assistant coach under Kevin Keatts at North Carolina State University. Photo by Mark Cornelison | Staff
Cardinal Valley street signs, 1976
The Urban County Government’s traffic engineering department replaced old street signs in the Cardinal Valley subdivision with new ones in March 1976. At work are Bill Windburn, left, and Bob Johnson. Photo by Ron Garrison | Staff
Kentucky’s first Sweet Sixteen game under John Calipari, 2010
University of Kentucky coach John Calipari talked to his team during a timeout of its NCAA Tournament Sweet Sixteen game against Cornell, March 25, 2010 at the Carrier Dome in Syracuse. Kentucky, the No. 1 seed of the East Region, beat No. 12 Cornell, 62-45, giving the Cats their 35th win of the season and setting up a date with West Virginia in the Regional Finals. This was Calipari’s first season guiding the Cats. In nine seasons under Calipari, UK has advanced to the Sweet Sixteen of the NCAA tourney seven times. That’s more than any other team during that time and the Wildcats are a perfect 6-0 in those games. Tonight they will try to make it 7-0 when they take on Kansas State. Photo by Charles Bertram | staff
Entrance to Hampton Court, 1953
A photograph taken in August 1953 of the entrance to Hampton Court at West Third street accompanied a story in the Lexington Herald about a group of twenty-one residents petitioning the Board of City Commissioners to remove the top center of the arch. The petition, presented by Mrs. Lucy Young Fisk, asked the the section be removed to permit the entry and exit of large vehicles such as moving vans. The arch was erected in 1907 and remains intact. Herald-Leader Archive Photo
President Nixon and First Lady visit Lexington, 1971
First Lady Pat Nixon waved to the crowd after she and President Richard M. Nixon and other dignitaries, including Kentucky Governor Louie B. Nunn, left, arrived at Blue Grass Field March 17, 1971. President Nixon and the First Lady traveled to Lexington to attend the funeral of Whitney Young, Jr., executive director of the National Urban League. The President delivered the eulogy at graveside services in Greenwood Cemetery. Photo by Frank Anderson | Staff
Blue ribbon Hereford bull, 1946
H.H.F. Real Domino, two-year-old bull owned by Eugene Boyd and Son of Highview Farms, Dover, KY, was awarded the blue ribbon in annual Hereford show held at Tattersalls by the Kentucky Polled and Horned Hereford Association On April 13, 1946. He was also named first in class for bulls calved between January 1 and September 1, 1944. Holding Real Domino is Ward Boyd, secretary of the association and owner with his father. Beside the animal is Boyd’s three-year-old son, Charles. Herald-Leader Archive Photo
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