Rodger Bird stood in his own end zone waiting for the Virginia Tech kicker to get the 1963 University of Kentucky football season underway. He was a sophomore playing his first varsity game (freshman were ineligible back then) and a sold out Stoll Field in Lexington was waiting...

Joel Ray Sprowls Lincoln Jamboree in Hodgenville is about as old school as it gets. It’s a throwback to days gone by in the entertainment world even in Kentucky. Although it has never attained the global status of Nashville’s Grand Ole Opry, it has left a deep footprint in the...

Do you ever go back to the old neighborhood where you grew up?  Is it recognizable?  Is the house you lived in still standing?  Have all of the neighborhood families moved away? Read this story and more for just $.99 cents today, or subscribe to get access every day! Please login...

It was April 3,1974, and the morning had begun as expected with an April shower that soon turned to sunshine. It was nice enough for some of those in Brandenburg, Kentucky, to crank up lawnmowers for their first seasonal mow. A couple of hours later, shortly after 4 p.m. the...

Anyone who has ever lost anything in a big city airport knows it’s pretty much a lost cause. The chances of getting it back are slim and none, and you know which one left town. Heck, getting a suitcase back from “lost luggage” is difficult enough, but walking off and forgetting...

No matter where you live in Kentucky or what month it is, Kentuckians are ready to talk a little basketball. With summer all-star games, college recruitment and NBA playoffs in the news, it seems fitting to tell a basketball story that has been lost to the ages. If you will step...

Gary West is an author and News Journal columnist. Walter Tevis, in spite of an Ichabod Crane look and often wearing ill-fitting clothes, was popular in the Carlisle community. Shortly after coming to the school he met another new teacher, Jamie Griggs, a Home Economic...

Wes Strader doing what he loved best; broadcasting for Western Kentucky University. Wes Strader may not have been a household name throughout Kentucky, but for any fan of Western Kentucky University basketball, or anyone who has listened to or attended the Boys High School...

Gary West is an author and News Journal columnist. I have been writing this column for well over a decade in multiple newspapers from Paducah to Corbin and towns in between, publishing it on a monthly basis. Read this story and more for just $.99 cents today, or subscribe to get...

Johnny Podres celebrates with teammates following the Brooklyn Dodgers first-ever World Series in 1955. There are three sporting events that attract non-traditional sports fans annually. Without question the Super Bowl ranks number one, the NCAA basketball tournament probably...

Free-roaming horses in eastern Kentucky interact with visitors who come to see them and often feed them. For more than 30 years horses have been roaming the hills and mountains of eastern Kentucky. And it’s not just a few either. Read this story and more for just $.99 cents...

Ervin Stepp from little Phelps High School in Pike County holds the national prep two-year scoring record with a 50.3 average. In 1979 he averaged 53 points per game. March in Kentucky means its basketball frenzy time. Even for those who don’t eat and breathe the sport, there’s...

Gary West is an author and News Journal columnist. Kentucky is proud of its 38 State Parks, but it also likes to pump up its relationship with a handful of significant national park attractions that have become beacons while drawing visitors here. Of course most Kentuckians are...

Kentuckian Kenny Davis was captain of the U.S. Olympic mens’ basketball team in 1972. When the men’s Olympic basketball team takes the court in Rio this month few of its players, and perhaps even fewer of the fans, will remember what took place 44 years ago at the 1972...

Gary West is an author and News Journal columnist. Who would have thought when the Cleveland Browns won the NFL title back in 1964 that it would be another 52 years before the city would claim another major professional sports championship? Though it might have seemed like 100...

I can’t let a baseball season go by without telling of my connection to Babe Ruth. No, I didn’t actually know him . . . never met him . . . never saw him play. But in a round-about way I really did have a connection to the Sultan of Swat. In 1969, I was working for Uncle Sam at...

In the 1930s, 40’s, and well into the 50’s dining out was considered a luxury, something done on special occasions. But as lifestyles began to change so did the restaurant business. With more women stepping out of the kitchen and into the workforce, local eateries emerged as did...

It’s a good thing that Frankfort is much more than politics. If it was just all of the chit-chat that comes out of our state’s capital city, I’m not sure many would want to visit. For sure this city of 27,000 permanent residents is steeped in as much history as any place in...