Saving Stories

The Lexington Legends baseball team has seen its share of ups and downs – including a head-scratching name change (anybody remember the Counter Clocks?) But now as the city gets ready to celebrate 25 seasons of professional baseball, WUKY's Saving Stories has this look back at how it all began. Nunn Center for Oral History director Dr. Doug Boyd shares audio from a 2019 interview with Alan Stein, who along with other prominent members of the community, led an effort to bring minor league baseball to Lexington. In this portion of the conversation Stein recalls a literal 11th hour curveball his group had to handle before presenting its best case to an MLB franchise expansion committee. It's a story you have to hear to believe.

It's Final Four weekend and sadly the Kentucky Wildcats came up short this year in their bid for a 9th national title. Bookending our look back at special moments in UK basketball history WUKY's Saving Stories highlights another famous shot, the one Duke's Christian Laettner hit in overtime against the Wildcats in the 1992 East Regional final in Philadelphia. The buzzer beater marked the end of an era for the team affectionately known as “The Unforgettables.” Nunn Center director Doug Boyd shares interviews with UK players Sean Woods – who hit the Wildcats' go-ahead basket with two seconds on the clock, and John Pelphrey, one of the defenders responsible for guarding Laettner on the long inbounds pass; a split-second moment that he admits misremembering. Doug even shares a clip of a song he wrote about the game and the aftermath called 1992.

For three quarters of a century the month of March in Kentucky has been tournament time with hoops fever reaching a near fever pitch. And if you're wondering why UK Basketball is sometimes considered an official religion, we submit this audio as exhibit A. In this special episode of WUKY's Saving Stories, UK Nunn Center director Dr. Doug Boyd and Deirdre Scaggs, associate dean and head of Special Collections, join Alan Lytle to re-live one of the most dramatic moments in UK Basketball history called by the legendary sports broadcaster Claude Sullivan; a thrilling triple overtime win over Temple University in Memorial Coliseum. All made possible by the recently deceased Hall of Famer Vernon Hatton who hit THE SHOT. RIP Mr. Hatton.

Lexington is celebrating its 250th anniversary this year, and Saving Stories is shining the spotlight today on lifelong educator and activist Audrey Grievous. In this 1985 UK Nunn Center oral history interview Grevious talks about her involvement in demonstrations and lunch counter sit-in's in downtown Lexington in the early 1960's.

WUKY's Saving Stories remembers former Keeneland president and trustee Ted Bassett who passed away last week at the age of 103. In the summer of 2019, the Nunn Center and the UK Libraries partnered with Keeneland, the Keeneland Association, Keeneland Library and Museum Foundation, and the Thoroughbred Daily News to conduct a series of oral history interviews called Life's Work. And one of the first interviews released was an interview with Ted Bassett. In this highlighted section Bassett reflects on the tension that exists between tradition and innovation, especially when he first came to work at Keeneland. He explains why it wasn't always easy to bring modern touches to the traditional venue and why Keeneland's place in the industry will always be unique and special.

Lexington is about to turn 250 years old in the year 2025, and Saving Stories will be featuring a number of familiar voices from our community. Jump starting that look back is this episode featuring former Vice Mayor Isabel Yates. The Nunn Center interviewed Yates in 1996 for a project involving members of the Lexington Fayette Urban County local government. Listen as she details how she got involved in local politics and talks about a number of then pressing issues that seem all too relevant today - especially issues of growth versus preservation. Isabel Yates celebrated her 100th birthday this past October.

In this Veterans Day segment of WUKY's Saving Stories Nunn Center Director Dr. Doug Boyd and Alan Lytle discuss an unlikely pairing between a researcher in Italy and the family of a World War II soldier from Campbellsville, Kentucky.

Horses are running again at Keeneland and in this episode of WUKY's Saving Stories we hear from one of the first, and one of the most successful, African American horse trainers in the modern era. In this 1986 Nunn Center interview, Oscar Dishman Jr. reflects on his rise from exercise boy / groom, his decision to become a horse trainer in 1960, and the challenges he had to overcome on his way to the top of his field. Training the winning horses for the 1973 Michigan Mile, Ohio Derby, Hawthorne Stakes, and the Widener Handicap (1977-1978) are among the highlights of his career for which he was awarded the Black Achievement Award in Lexington.

It's Olympics time again and in this edition of WUKY's Saving Stories we hear from NBC Olympics sportscaster and native Lexingtonian Tom Hammond. Doug Boyd, director of the Louie B. Nunn Center for Oral History in the UK Libraries shares audio from an interview with Hammond. He talks about one his most memorable moments from the 2000 games in Sydney, Australia. Aboriginal sprinter Cathy Freeman first had the honor of lighting the Olympic torch to open the games, then ten nights later she won 400 meters gold in a most dramatic fashion. Hammond, who called the action in 13 Olympic Games, was behind the microphone that historic day.

This Thursday marks the 80th anniversary of the D-Day invasion in Normandy, France. Doug Boyd from the Nunn Center for Oral History in the UK Libraries shares audio from a 1994 interview with Garrard County native Jesse Beazley who was among the first wave of soldiers that fought their way onto Omaha Beach that fateful day.

Over our 15-year collaboration with the UK Libraries' Louie B. Nunn Center for Oral History, WUKY's Saving Stories has brought you numerous Kentucky Derby themed segments featuring the likes of Eddie Arcaro, Penny Chenery, W.T. Young and Arthur B. Hancock III. This week to celebrate Derby 150, Center Director Doug Boyd and Alan Lytle continue that tradition by returning to a 2019 interview with another story by Hancock. In this part of the conversation the Stone Farm horse breeder and owner talks about how he used the Pythagorean theorem to calculate the perfect ride for eventual winner Gato Del Sol in the 1982 Kentucky Derby. Until that day no horse from the far outside had ever won the signature race. It's a similar scenario 5-2 morning line favorite Fierceness is facing this Saturday.

WUKY's Saving Stories commemorates the sixtieth anniversary of the March for Civil Rights in Frankfort. On March 5, 1964 thousands came toKentucky's Capitol to hear from Martin Luther King, baseball great Jackie Robinson, folk group Peter, Paul and Mary, and rally support for a public accommodations bill. To celebrate Women's History Month, Nunn Center Director Dr. Doug Boyd shares audio from three recent interviews with local women who participated in the event on that historic day.

WUKY's Saving Stories commemorates the sixtieth anniversary of the March for Civil Rights in Frankfort. On March 5, 1964 thousands came to Kentucky's Capitol to hear from Martin Luther King, baseball great Jackie Robinson, folk group Peter, Paul and Mary, and rally support for a public accommodations bill. In this segment we hear distinctly different perspectives from two Kentuckians and their respective experiences that historic day.

The University of Kentucky is commemorating the 75th anniversary of the desegregation of its campus. In our latest edition of Saving Stories, Dr. Doug Boyd with the UK Libraries Nunn Center for Oral History shares audio from a series of interviews with Lyman T. Johnson; the first African-American student to set foot on the UK campus. Johnson successfully challenged a state law that prohibited students of different races to be educated together in the same classroom. The university had been getting around the 'Day Law' by sending professors to the Kentucky State University campus in Frankfort to instruct African-American students. That all changed with Johnson in 1949.

In a special edition of WUKY's Saving Stories Nunn Center Director Doug Boyd shares interviews detailing the stories of two Kentucky couples and one lawyer who were part of the legal fight that led to the Supreme Court–and brought marriage equality to the country. The conversations come from the John G. Heyburn II Initiative for Excellence in the Federal Judiciary Project archived by Anu Kasarabada and the Nunn Center's Outsouth: LGBTQ+ Oral History Project. The interviews are also featured in the latest episode of the Nunn Center's "The Wisdom Project" podcast.

This week on Saving Stories Dr. Doug Boyd, director of the Louie B. Nunn Center for Oral History in the UK Libraries highlights an interview with Jim Green, the first African-American student-athlete to graduate from UK. In the conversation Green talks about his decision to enroll at the state's flagship university in the late 1960's, what it was like competing in the racially-charged Southeastern conference, his role in desegregating the track program, and how he'd like to be remembered by future generations.

In this special MLK Holiday edition of WUKY's Saving Stories, Doug Boyd, director of the Louie B. Nunn Center for Oral History in the UK Libraries highlights an extraordinary interview with Dr. King from March of 1964. Hear the non-violent advocate and activist at the height of his influence in a one-on-one conversation with Kentucky author Robert Penn Warren discussing the revolutionary nature of the Civil Rights movement and where he thought it should go next.

This month marks the two-year anniversary of the tornadoes that struck and devastated parts of Western Kentucky. On the evening of December 10th and into the next morning, a high EF-4 tornado directly hit the historic downtown center of Mayfield, KY. Of the 74 people who lost their lives in Kentucky that evening, 24 resided in Graves County, where Mayfield is located. In this edition of Saving Stories, center director Dr. Doug Boyd highlights two people who were interviewed in the follow-up round of the Mayfield, Kentucky 2021 Tornado Oral History Project; a partnership with Dr. Rebecca Freihaut. Tanna Thompson and Casey Jones talk about their ongoing struggles and hopes on their long journey of restoration.

December 10 & 11 marked the two year anniversary of the tornadoes that struck and devastated parts of Western Kentucky. On that evening, into the next morning, a high EF-4 tornado directly hit the historic downtown center of Mayfield, KY. Of the 74 people who lost their lives in Kentucky that evening, 24 resided in Graves County, where Mayfield is located. In this edition of Saving Stories, center director Dr. Doug Boyd highlights one of the 22 interviews from the Mayfield, Kentucky 2021 Tornado Oral History Project; a partnership with Dr. Rebecca Freihaut.

October 17 is an important day in the history of WUKY. The station formerly known as WBKY signed on for the first time on October 17, 1940. In 2015 to mark the station's 75th anniversary, we produced a special edition of Saving Stories with Dr. Doug Boyd from the Louie B. Nunn Center for Oral History in the UK Libraries. By the way the Nunn Center is celebrating it's 50th anniversary in 2023.

WUKY's award winning history series Saving Stories celebrates the fiftieth anniversary of the Louie B. Nunn Center for Oral History in the UK Libraries. Alan Lytle and Center Director Doug Boyd reflect on their 15-year radio partnership and talk about one of Doug's favorite interviews that ‘reaches back almost as far as oral history can possibly reach.' It's a 1975 conversation with T.R. Bryant who attended UK in 1902 and talks about campus life at the state's flagship university around the turn of the century. After graduation Bryant helped establish UK's Cooperative Extension Service.

To celebrate national ice cream month Dr. Doug Boyd from the Louie B. Nunn Center for Oral History highlights an interview with Crank And Boom Ice Cream's Toa Green. The interview is part of the Nunn Center's Savor: Immigrant Entrepreneur Oral History Project. Green talks about the journey from selling Thai food out of their Lexington restaurant and the decision to switch the business model to their now signature ice creams. Plus, learn about a Kentucky connection to a day and month celebrating this creamy confection.

Today is Memorial Day; a time when we pay tribute to the men and women who paid the ultimate price in defending our rights and securing our freedoms. The Louie B. Nunn Center for Oral History in the UK Libraries has a vast collection of stories from military veterans and their families. Center Director Dr. Doug Boyd highlights an interview from 1985 with Kentucky native, Judy Hartline Elbring, a nurse who served two tours in Vietnam. She describes the often gut-wrenching triage process for the wounded and dying, as well as the time she was called upon to help her own brother recover from his combat-related wounds. While he lived, many others didn't come home. We salute those men and women with this segment of our award-winning history series Saving Stories.

WUKY's award-winning history series Saving Stories celebrates the 50th anniversary of Secretariat's Kentucky Derby triumph. Nunn Center for Oral History director Doug Boyd shares audio from a 2007 interview with owner Penny Chenery conducted by Kim Lady Smith in which she talks about how the legendary champion eventually captured her heart while captivating the sporting world in 1973.

May is national Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage month and WUKY's award winning history series Saving Stories marks the occasion with a segment on a new oral history project that examines the challenges and achievements of Asians, Asian Americans, Hawaiians, and Pacific Islanders living, working, and studying in Kentucky. Nunn Center director Doug Boyd highlights an interview with Dan Wu, a member of the Lexington City Council who describes his childhood as an immigrant from China, growing up in Lexington, and how his career took him from California to New York City and then back to Lexington. Wu also talks about his identity as an Asian American, how he finds community in Lexington, and why he decided to enter into local politics.

This past legislative session the General Assembly passed a bill legalizing the sale and use of medicinal cannabis under certain conditions. This landmark legislation represented a turning point in Kentucky politics and called to mind the many efforts of Gatewood Galbraith. The colorful and seemingly perennial candidate was a vocal proponent for full-on legalization. In this installment of WUKY's award winning history series Saving Stories. Doug Boyd from UK Libraries' Nunn Center shares audio from a 1990 interview with Galbraith where the well-known defense attorney and cannabis activist lays out his reasoning and offers up his overall positive vision for the future of the state.

WUKY's Award winning history series Saving Stories celebrates Women's History Month. Nunn Center Director Doug Boyd shares audio from a rare oral history interview with Martha Layne Collins; the only woman ever to be elected governor of Kentucky. She talks about her approach to the office, convincing Japanese automaker Toyota to build a plant in Georgetown and how she hoped Kentuckians would look back on her time as governor. Saving Stories is a collaboration between WUKY and the Louie B. Nunn for Oral History in the UK Libraries.

In celebration of this weekend's Academy Awards, WUKY's award-winning history series Saving Stories, goes Hollywood. Doug Boyd, director of the Louie B. Nunn Center for Oral History in the UK Libraries, shares an interview with film producer Frank Price. He was a major figure in the field of American television from the 1950's-1970's, including as an executive producer of "Ironside," before becoming head of Universal Studios and head of Columbia Pictures in 1978. Price left television to continue his career in motion pictures. He discusses some of his movies, (Gandhi, Out of Africa, Kramer vs Kramer and Ghostbusters) and why a film like Out of Africa wouldn't even be made in today's Hollywood.

In this Black History Month edition of WUKY's award winning history series Saving Stories, Doug Boyd, director of the Louie B. Nunn Center for Oral History in the UK Libraries highlights an extraordinary interview with Malcolm X from June of 1964. The conversation with Robert Penn Warren was part of a series of interviews the Kentucky author and poet conducted as part of his book “Who Speaks for the Negro.” The Muslim minister provides his opinions of the white race and the lasting effects of slavery and oppression on both the white race and African Americans. Malcolm X also questions the effectiveness of integration as well as non-violent tactics, like those advocated by Martin Luther King in the civil rights movement. Less than a year after this interview was conducted Malcolm X would be assassinated on February 21, 1965.

This past weekend the University of Kentucky, and all of the Commonwealth lost a treasure in former dean of UK Libraries Terry L. Birdwhistell. Over a 40+ year span with the university, the Kentucky native conducted nearly 1,000 oral history interviews and was responsible for establishing the Louie B. Nunn Center for Oral History. In this special edition of WUKY's award winning history series Saving Stories, Nunn Center director Dr. Doug Boyd shares the story of how and when his colleague, mentor and friend managed to score a one-on-one interview with Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis in 1981.

In this special MLK Holiday edition of WUKY's award winning history series Saving Stories, Doug Boyd, director of the Louie B. Nunn Center for Oral History in the UK Libraries highlights an extraordinary interview with Dr. King from March of 1964. Hear the non-violent advocate and activist at the height of his influence in a one-on-one conversation with Kentucky author Robert Penn Warren discussing the revolutionary nature of the Civil Rights movement and where he thought it should go next.

A significant milestone will be observed this weekend in western Kentucky. It was a year ago that more than a dozen tornadoes ripped through the region leaving a giant trail of death and destruction. In this edition of WUKY's award winning history series Saving Stories, Doug Boyd with UK's Nunn Center shares interviews from a project featuring emergency management personnel and first responders on the front lines during and after the December 2021 tornado outbreak in Western Kentucky. They talk about the opportunity to learn about the long-track tornadic system and how Western Kentuckians successfully overcame adversity from such devastation.

WUKY is participating in this year's Public Media Day of Action on Thursday November 10th. It's a movement led by Public Media For All; a diverse coalition of public media workers of color, whose purpose is to raise awareness of the negative effects of a lack of diversity, equity and inclusion in public media while sharing solutions for individuals and organizations. To provide a historical perspective of the media landscape, Doug Boyd from the Louie B. Nunn Center for Oral History in the UK Libraries is here with a segment of Saving Stories looking at how Lexington's daily mainstream newspapers handled coverage of African American communities. In 2004 the editor of the Lexington Herald Leader apologized for the newspaper's failures in covering the 1960's Civil Rights Movement.

In this special edition of WUKY's award-winning history program Saving Stories, Doug Boyd from the Nunn Center for Oral History in the UK Libraries shares audio from an interview between the Country Music icon and a Kentucky middle school student. It's part of the Nunn Center's Bonnet Productions collection. In 1983, students at Henderson County North Middle School, under the direction of teacher Roy Pullam, began conducting videotaped interviews with prominent people in Kentucky. The Nunn Center is now in possession of all these interviews.

The recent death of Queen Elizabeth II has us revisiting an episode of WUKY's award-winning history program Saving Stories with Dr. Doug Boyd from the Louie B. Nunn Center for Oral History in the UK Libraries. Boyd and WUKY's Alan Lytle discuss a whale of a royal tale from Mark Thornewill.

A cultural center known for chronicling Appalachian life is cleaning up and assessing its losses. Like much of its stricken region, Appalshop has been swamped by historic flooding. The water inundated downtown Whitesburg in southeastern Kentucky, causing extensive damage to the renowned repository of Appalachian history and culture. Some losses are likely permanent, after raging waters soaked or swept away some of Appalshop's treasure trove of historic material. Dr. Doug Boyd, director of the Louie B. Nunn Center for Oral History and colleagues from the UK Libraries traveled this week to Appalshop to help save as many irreplaceable materials as possible. In this special edition of WUKY's award winning history program Saving Stories, Doug talks about the devastation he saw and highlights the special relationship the Nunn Center has with Appalshop.

It's Pride Month and WUKY's award winning history segment Saving Stories marks the milestone with a look back at the brief but impactful run of Cafe LMNOP; a popular nightspot which was located near the UK campus. Doug Boyd with the Nunn Center for Oral History in the UK Libraries shares an interview with the club's brainchild Bradley Pickelsimer.

Today marks the 50th anniversary of the federal civil rights law known as Title IX which changed the game for women's college athletics. Back in the spring of 2021, as part of our salute to Women's History Month, WUKY's Award Winning History program, Saving Stories, featured an interview with Sue Feamster, the UK women's basketball team's first varsity coach. We're revisiting that segment with Dr. Doug Boyd from the Louie B. Nunn Center for Oral History in the UK Libraries.

We are heading into Juneteenth weekend – a holiday where we observe the official emancipation of African American slaves at the end of the Civil War, and in this segment of WUKY's Award Winning History series, Saving Stories, Doug Boyd from the Louie B. Nunn Center for Oral History in the UK Libraries highlights an interview with long-time racial and social justice activist Jim Embry. Embry explains how the roots of his activism stretch all the way back to Juneteenth.

Memorial Day is a federal holiday where we pay tribute to the men and women in uniform who died defending our country. In this special edition of WUKY's award winning history series Saving Stories, Nunn Center director Doug Boyd tells us about their collection of powerful stories about war and remembrance. Louis Stockton Bower served as a company commander in the Army, and trained troops in the United States before he was sent to Europe. After amphibious training in England, he took part in the invasion of Normandy, where his division was almost entirely annihilated by the Germans. Bower describes his encounters with injured Americans, an enemy soldier disguised as an American, and a young German he killed in battle.

WUKY's award winning history program, Saving Stories; featuring interviews from the Nunn Center for Oral History in the UK Libraries, commemorates International Nurses' Day with a story about the Frontier Nursing Service which introduced the first nurse-midwives to the United States. Founded in Leslie County by Mary Breckinridge, the nurses of the FNS would travel by horse to some of the most inaccessible regions of Eastern Kentucky. Betty Lester, a recruit from Great Britain shares her memories of her first day in the mountains.

To some, Lexington businessman W.T. Young is known as the namesake of the University of Kentucky's iconic library building, to others he's the entrepreneur who built a peanut butter brand and sold it to P & G, and in the world of thoroughbred racing he's the man who molded Overbrook Horse Farm into a powerhouse breeding facility. In fact, in 1996, Grindstone, a three-year old colt owned by Young, won the Kentucky Derby, beating out Cavonnier by a nose at the wire. In this Derby week edition of WUKY's award winning history series Saving Stories, Nunn Center for Oral History director Doug Boyd shares audio of a 2001 interview with the now legendary Lexingtonian.

In this episode of WUKY's award winning history program Saving Stories, Dr. Doug Boyd, director of the Louie B. Nunn Center for Oral History in the UK Libraries introduces us to several women who have told their stories for a collaborative project with UK's Writing, Rhetoric and Digital Studies program on women in the bourbon industry.

In this Women's History Month edition of WUKY's award winning series Saving Stories, Nunn Center Director Dr. Doug Boyd shares audio from three recent interviews with local women who participated in the 1964 March for Civil Rights in Frankfort.

WUKY's Award Winning history series Saving Stories closes out Black History Month by revisiting a pivotal moment in Kentucky's Civil Rights Movement that happened in early March of 1964.