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The WUKY SportsPage

It's time to turn to the WUKY SportsPage with your host Keith Elkins. . .revealing conversations and stories you thought you knew from prominent Kentucky sports figures.

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  • Marc Logan was a star running back at Kentucky in the mid-1980s. He was an outstanding rusher, receiver, and kick returner. A graduate of Bryan Station High School, he also had great success as a sprinter, including a win over Willie Gault, a 1980 U.S. Olympic qualifier and a star receiver at Tennessee and in the NFL. After much extra work to improve as a receiver, Logan led the Wildcats in receptions in his sophomore, junior and senior seasons. He was the Most Valuable Player in the Hall of Fame Bowl as Kentucky defeated Wisconsin following the 1984 season. He went on to an 11-year career in the NFL with Cincinnati, Miami, San Francisco and Washington, and was a part of two Super Bowl teams, including the champion 49ers in Super Bowl XXIX. He is a member of the Kentucky Pro Football Hall of Fame and the Lexington African-American Sports Hall of Fame. In this interview, he talks about favoring track over football before college, his accomplishments at UK, his Super Bowl teams, some of his NFL teammates, including Jerry Rice, Steve Young, Dan Marino and Boomer Esiason, and how a surprise call from coach Don Shula led to his signing with the Dolphins.
  • Derrick Ramsey had an outstanding career as an athlete, and has continued to make his mark in business, athletics administration, and government service at the state cabinet level. He is a member of the UK Athletics Hall of Fame, the Kentucky Pro Football Hall of Fame and the Kentucky Sports Hall of Fame. As the UK quarterback, he led the Wildcats to the Peach Bowl in 1976 and a 10-1 season in 1977. He went on to a nine-year career in the NFL, including a Super Bowl championship with the Oakland Raiders, and another Super Bowl appearance with the New England Patriots. He has served as Kentucky’s Secretary of the Labor Cabinet, Secretary of the Education and Workforce Development Cabinet and before that, Deputy Secretary of Commerce. He also has served on the UK Board of Trustees. He tells his story in a book titled “They Call Me Mr. Secretary” written with Dr. John Huang. Derrick’s start in the small town of Hastings, Florida, his UK and NFL careers, including his interactions with John Madden and Al Davis, are covered in this conversation, as are his longtime friendship with his high school and UK teammate Art Still, his relationship with coach Fran Curci and more.
  • Dave Kindred has been a columnist for the Louisville Courier-Journal, Washington Post, Atlanta Journal Constitution, National Sports Daily, Sporting News, and Golf Digest. He has won three of the sportswriting profession’s most prestigious honors: The Red Smith Award, the PEN America ESPN Lifetime Achievement Award for Literary Sports Writing, and the Dan Jenkins Medal for Excellence in Sports Writing. He won the Curt Gowdy Award presented for excellence in writing by the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame. He is a member of the National Sports Media Hall of Fame and the Kentucky Journalism Hall of Fame.He has covered Super Bowls, World Series, Olympic Games, the Masters, heavyweight championship fights, and many other major sporting events all over the world. During his time with the Courier-Journal, he got to know and cover Muhammad Ali, and continued to do so for 50 years. Now, after retiring from newspapers, he has found a new direction in his career that has turned into an important chapter of his personal life as well. He is back in his native central Illinois, writing about the games of a high school girls basketball team, the Morton High School Lady Potters. That started as a way to stay active in sports writing, but has gone far beyond that. His connection to the team and the community has been a great source of support for him during difficult personal times, including the loss of his wife, his mother and a grandson all within a few years. He talks about that in this podcast, and tells the story (also featured on CBS' 60 Minutes), in detail in his latest book, “My Home Team: A Sportswriter’s Life and the Redemptive Power of Small-Town Girls Basketball.”
  • Marty Brennaman was the play-by-play broadcaster for the Cincinnati Reds for 46 seasons, from 1974 through 2019. He was named baseball’s Ford Frick Award winner in 2000, making him a member of the broadcasters’ wing of the baseball Hall of Fame. He is best known for his long tenure in Cincinnati, but he was also a prominent college basketball broadcaster. His assignments included two seasons as the television voice of the University of Kentucky Wildcats, 1986-87 and 1987-88. He broadcast NCAA tournament games for 17 years.Before joining the Reds, he called the games of the Triple-A Tidewater Tides. He was also the voice of Virginia Tech football, and of the Virginia Squires of the American Basketball Association. He was the Virginia Tech broadcaster when the Hokies played Kentucky at the first game at Commonwealth Stadium in 1973. In March of 1992, he called the Kentucky-Duke regional final for NCAA radio.
  • Dick Parsons was recently inducted into the University of Kentucky Athletics Hall of Fame. He was a two-sport star at Kentucky. He played basketball for the Wildcats under Adolph Rupp, and was an All-American in baseball. He later returned to UK as head baseball coach for three seasons before joining the basketball staff on a full-time basis under Coach Joe B. Hall. He was on the coaching staff of the 1978 NCAA championship team. Parsons is a native Kentuckian from Harlan County, and is a member of the Kentucky High School Athletic Association Hall of Fame. Parsons is Keith's guest this week on the WUKY SportsPage.
  • Leroy Byrd, listed at five-feet-five, but as he says, “no more than five-three,” played basketball for the University of Kentucky and UNLV after finishing a high school career in which he earned state and regional honors while leading Bryan Station to the Sweet Sixteen. He later played professionally for the Harlem Magicians and in the World Basketball League. Known as “Baby Magic,” Byrd contributed to his team’s offense with scoring and assists and disrupted opponents with ball-hawking defense.In this interview, he talks about getting his start in basketball, his confidence and motivation to succeed, his high school and college coaches (Bobby Barlow at Bryan Station, Jerry Tarkanian at UNLV, Joe B. Hall and Eddie Sutton at Kentucky), and some of his keys to success in a tall player’s sport.Byrd will be inducted into the Lexington African-American Sports Hall of Fame September 23rd.
  • Dennis Johnson is a former All-American and all-SEC defensive end at Kentucky. He played in the NFL for the Arizona Cardinals and the San Francisco 49ers, and today is in his ninth season as head football coach at Woodford County High School, where his teams have a combined 24-3 record over the last two years. He was named Kentucky’s Mr. Football for 1997, and was also a star in basketball and track and field at Harrodsburg High School. He was the USA Today National High School Defensive Player of the Year in 1997. In this interview, he recalls his early start — a really early start — in football (he was on the high school varsity roster when he was in the second grade), his recruitment to UK, which had to beat out Notre Dame for his signature, playing defense on Kentucky teams coached by offensive-minded Hal Mumme, his NFL teammates with the Arizona Cardinals, and his success as a high school coach.
  • The Mountain Sports Hall of Fame recognizes athletes from eastern Kentucky – the 13th, 14th, 15th and 16th regions. It’s housed in the old Wayland High School gym in Wayland, Kentucky — the hometown of basketball legend King Kelly Coleman, whose career high school scoring record stood for 67 years. He was Kentucky’s first Mr. Basketball, earning that honor in 1956.Jerry Fultz, who played for Wayland in the 1960s and is now the mayor of Wayland, founded the Mountain Sports Hall of Fame, which was chartered in 2005.Among the stars supporting the Hall is 1998 Kentucky Mr. Basketball J.R. VanHoose of Paintsville, who serves on the board of directors. Both are featured in this podcast, almost all of which was recorded in Wayland.
  • Derek Anderson’s life experience goes well beyond his outstanding basketball career.
  • Chris McCarron is a Hall of Fame jockey and a two-time Kentucky Derby winner. He won six Triple Crown events in all. He won nine Breeders Cup races, including five Classics, and many other major races. He led North American jockeys in earnings four times, and led in wins three times. He won an Eclipse Award for Outstanding Apprentice Jockey in 1974 and another Eclipse for Outstanding Jockey in 1980. He was inducted into the National Museum of Racing Hall of Fame in 1989.He retired in 2002 with 7,141 wins – currently seventh all-time – and purse earnings of nearly 264 million dollars, a record at the time. He served as technical advisor, racing designer, and had an acting role as Hall of Fame jockey Charlie Kurtsinger in the 2003 film “Seabiscuit.” He also founded the North American Racing Academy to help develop the skills of young riders.