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| After 125 years, the Kentucky Derby has become synonymous with Louisville. And U of L alumni are involved in every facet of this international event, from executive positions with Churchill Downs, to designing and marketing Kentucky Derby Festival merchandise, to hosting celebrity-filled Derby parties. Here's a "Who's Who" guide to the U of L Derby connection in preparation for the festivities surrounding the 1999 Run for the Roses. |
By Susan Smith
The running of the Kentucky Derby has been called the most exciting two minutes in sports, with the grandstands at Churchill Downs packed with screaming spectators. The Kentucky Derby Festival reigns as the largest community celebration in the world, and thousands of people participate in its many events. But the people having the most fun may be those who jump in and actually make the whole extravaganza happen. For them, the Kentucky Derby and the events surrounding it create the most rewarding, frustrating, challenging, and exciting work imaginable.While no one knows exactly how many people it takes to pull off what has become one of the world's most consuming community and sporting events, one thing is certain: an observer would have to look far and wide to find anything Derby-related that does not involve alumni from the University of Louisville.
From the head man at Churchill Downs, Tom Meeker '73L, to the executive director and chief steward of the Kentucky Racing Commission, Bernie Hettel '72A, U of L alumni are everywhere, both today and in the past. Ernest Gaillard '38M was part owner of 1989 Derby winner Sunday Silence. And the late Courier-Journal sportswriter Jim Bolus '66A, the Derby's foremost authority, published seven books on the event, including Run for the Roses: 100 Years at the Kentucky Derby in 1974.
Younger alumni are also getting into the act. Frank Jemley III '85A was recently named vice president of public affairs for Churchill Downs, and Michele Fischer '95B coordinates graphics for several ESPN horse racing broadcasts that air the week of the Derby.
Some alumni start their race-related activities months before most people even begin thinking of Derby. For Ben Isaacs '76L, Derby pie is served up alongside turkey and dressing when his Festival Gallery unveils the next year's Derby imagery the week before Thanksgiving. Posters, tickets, and programs for the Kentucky Oaks as well as the Derby can be viewed by the public for the first time at the downtown gallery, which Isaacs started in 1981.
For Mary K. Korfhage '84A, the work is done well before the first Saturday in May. It's the third Saturday in April that sends her skyrocketing.
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As producer of WHAS-TV's live coverage of Thunder Over Louisville, the Derby Festival's mammoth fireworks display and air show over the Ohio River, Korfhage spends a year preparing to oversee the nation's largest locally-produced television show.
By the time the first paratrooper drops from the sky, Korfhage is directing the activities of 100 people and 18 live cameras. "We have cameras on helmets of paratroopers, on the helicopter, on a blimp, everywhere we can think of," she says, laughing. "The engineers cringe when they see me walk through the door."
Korfhage, who owns her own company, Mary K. Productions, has won three Emmys producing WHAS-TVs coverage of Thunder for the past 10 years. She says she loves to see how far-reaching in popularity the day's events have become. "People travel from all over the world to see this," she says.For John Nation '74A, the crowds of spectators are the main point of interest. A local photographer who shoots for Louisville Magazine and other publications, Nation tries to capture all the faces of the Derby.
"I try to portray what the Derby is like from the point of view of the person experiencing it," he says. "I shoot everything from fashions to activities, from the backside to the infield." Nation, who has photographed the Derby for 20-plus years, recalls that his early days at Churchill Downs were wild. "(All the photographers) would run and fight to get every shot. The first time I was at the winner's circle, someone came down on my head with an elbow and a camera."
Today, Nation says his biggest challenge is getting new images and a fresh perspective. Calling Derby Day one of his "most enjoyable," Nation says he sometimes dreads it until it actually arrives. Then, he says, it is all "fun and adrenaline."
Adrenaline is a common theme for people intimately involved with the Derby. Larry Sinclair '88A, director of marketing services for Churchill Downs, says that he and his colleagues at the track "are running on nothing but adrenaline" by the time Derby rolls around.
Sinclair is responsible for promotions and special events. By Derby Day, he has seen to the details of Dawn at the Downs, infield activities, and more parties than most people attend in a year. He works with the media, sits for interviews, and has served as a member of the Kentucky Derby Festival board.
"I do question myself sometimes," he says with a laugh. "I get so caught up in the fever that I attend things I don't have to attend. I'm a glutton for punishment. This is the best place to be for Derby."
Churchill Downs has more than its share of U of L alumni, far more than could be named here. Other alumni in management include Kevin Marie Nuss '73A, vice president of marketing, David Carrico '72B, senior vice president of sales, and Richard Smith '76S, director of mutuels.
Vicki Baumgardner '74B, vice president of finance and treasurer of Churchill Downs, says that everyone who works at the track gets swept up in Derby excitement. While much of her work comes after the Derby-analyzing and issuing reports on the financial outcome of the day-Baumgardner says the days leading up to the Derby "are a whirlwind."
"We all jump in and do things we would not normally do," she says. "Last year I did a radio interview, which is highly unusual for an accountant. I also take people on tours of the backside. We all get involved in all facets."
Next door at the Kentucky Derby Museum, Executive Director Lynn Ashton '72A watches as her 9 a.m.-to-5 p.m. museum becomes a 24-hour-a-day operation.
As the site of the Derby post-position draw, telecast live the Wednesday before Derby, and the winner's party, which kicks off 30 minutes after the race, the museum is a hub of activity.
For instance, Ashton says, last year WAVE-TV broadcast its early-morning show from the museum the week before the Derby. They arrived at 2 a.m. to run cable and were out by 8 a.m., after the show. The museum opened to the public at 9 a.m. and closed at 5 p.m. At 3 p.m., staff began setting up for private parties that usually began at 6 p.m. and often went until midnight. One night, ABC-TV filmed there until 1:30 a.m. Thirty minutes later, it was time for the crew from WAVE-TV to arrive again.
"I love it," Ashton says of the hectic pace. "The more excitement we have, the better. That's what makes the Kentucky Derby Museum the perfect place to work." While not all U of L alumni have had the opportunity to contribute to the legend of the Kentucky Derby through their work, most have had their lives touched by it in some memorable way. In a quieter time, it is said that U of L students could hear the Churchill Downs trumpet "Call to the Post" from the steps of Grawemeyer Hall, behind The Thinker. The Derby has always held a strong attraction for the U of L community, and continues to draw a large contingent of students and alumni to the infield each year. Billed as a "picnic with 75,000 of your closest friends," the once-in-a-lifetime experience of the infield on Derby Day is a big part of the fond memories that many alumni treasure of their experience at U of L.Susan Smith is a Louisville-based freelance writer.
The Kentucky Derby is as well known for parties as it is for horses, and U of L alumni are in the thick of the revelry. Two former Cardinal athletes have established their own Derby galas to raise money for charitable organizations.
In 1997, former U of L football player Matt Battaglia '88B, along with former teammate Chris Thieneman '88B and Chris' brother, Tom, hosted the first Mint Jubilee to benefit cancer research. Now in its third year, the Mint Jubilee has been selected as an official event of the Kentucky Derby Festival.
Battaglia, now an actor, planned the annual black-tie event in honor of his mother, who died of cancer in 1994. The Derby Eve gala, which has been held at the University Club, will move this year to the new Brown & Williamson Club at Papa John's Cardinal Stadium. Proceeds will go to the John Wayne Institute for cancer research.
Unlike most celebrity parties, the Mint Jubilee is open to the public. Celebrity guests have included Catherine Bell of TV's JAG, David Chokachi of Baywatch, and former U of L football coach Howard Schnellenberger.
Former U of L and Utah Jazz basketball star Darrell Griffith '80A kicked off his All-Star Celebrity Derby Affair in 1992. Billed as the cheapest Derby party in town, with tickets selling for just $20 each, the party is aimed at people "who can't afford to pay $300 or $400 for some of the more elaborate functions," Griffith says. Guests have included talk-show host Geraldo Rivera and former U of L basketball stars Samaki Walker and Greg Minor.
Last year, the popularity of Griffith's bash prompted organizers to move the party to Broadbent Arena, where a capacity crowd of 3,500 can take the floor.In its first five years, the party raised more than $55,000 in scholarships for the Louisville Youth Alliance. Proceeds will now go to the new Darrell Griffith Foundation to be awarded to a broad array of charities.
Derby horses broke out of the gate a little earlier than usual this year for Louisville artist and illustrator Karen Boone '83A, when her design was chosen for the Kentucky Derby Festival's 1999 poster and artwork.
Boone, who also designed the festival's 1996 poster, says she didn't want to bore the public with the same style she used then, and she felt that the new style she had been working in was different enough to catch some eyes. Sure enough, she says, festival judges "didn't even recognize it as my work at first, because the style was so different."
Boone, who worked in Amsterdam, the Netherlands; Tokyo, Japan; New York; and San Francisco before returning to Louisville in 1996, says she is thrilled to be chosen again. She says the publicity from the 1996 poster gave her work the recognition she needed to launch her own illustration business in Louisville.
"That year, the poster and giftware were unveiled in front of 2,400 people," she says. "Illustrators aren't accustomed to that kind of attention."
