Saving Stories

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.