Saving Stories

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.