118 Fun Facts About Kentucky

What is the capital of Kentucky?

Frankfort, far smaller than Louisville or Lexington, has been the capital since 1792; Confederate troops seized it in September 1862 but held it only briefly before Union forces drove them out.

Which Stephen Foster song is Kentucky's state song, played before the Kentucky Derby each year?

My Old Kentucky Home became the state song in 1928, when legislators declared that Foster's 1853 ballad had 'immortalized Kentucky throughout the civilized world'; the University of Louisville band plays it at the Derby.

Which New England state joined the Union as the 14th, just ahead of Kentucky?

Vermont entered in March 1791, though Congress had approved Kentucky's statehood two weeks before Vermont's; Kentucky's act set its date for June 1, 1792, which made it the 15th state.

Before statehood, Kentucky was part of which state?

Virginia made the region Kentucky County in 1776; it then took ten conventions in a Danville courthouse to settle the terms of separation and frame a constitution, adopted in 1792.

The Bluegrass region behind Kentucky's nickname owes its famously fertile soil to which underlying rock?

Limestone beneath the Bluegrass region weathers into rich soil laced with natural phosphate fertiliser, and the same rock, slowly dissolving, gives the area its springs and caves.

What is Kentucky's official English-language state motto?

'United we stand, divided we fall' has appeared on Kentucky's seal since 1792; in 2002 the legislature added a Latin motto, Deo gratiam habeamus, 'let us be grateful to God'.

The two men shaking hands on Kentucky's state seal symbolise what?

They stand for the unity of frontiersmen and statesmen; legend names them Daniel Boone and Henry Clay, but the 1792 seal law described only 'two friends embracing'.

Kentucky's flag has a navy field with the state seal above sprigs of which state flower?

Sprigs of goldenrod, the state flower, flank the seal on the flag; art teacher Jesse Cox Burgess designed it and the legislature adopted it in 1918.

What is Kentucky's state bird?

The cardinal became Kentucky's state bird in 1926, and six other states have picked it too; a male will fight his own reflection in a window, taking it for a rival.

Kentucky is one of only four US states that officially call themselves what?

Kentucky calls itself a commonwealth, a title it shares with only Massachusetts, Pennsylvania and one other state; the word signals government for the common good and has no distinct legal status.

Which state besides Georgia has more counties than Kentucky?

Texas has 254 counties and Georgia 159 to Kentucky's 120; Kentucky kept splitting its early counties to spare settlers a journey to the county seat that could take days.

Kentucky's northern border is defined by which river?

The Ohio River forms Kentucky's whole northern boundary with Illinois, Indiana and Ohio; the Supreme Court fixed the line at the river's northern low-water mark as it stood in 1792.

Which of these states borders Kentucky on the west?

Missouri is one of seven states that border Kentucky, yet no bridge joins the two: the only direct crossing is the Dorena–Hickman ferry.

Kentucky Bend, a pocket of the state cut off by a river loop, is reachable by road only through which state?

Tennessee holds the only road in, State Route 22; surveyors had merely estimated where the state line met the river, and its loop left this pocket of Kentucky stranded.

Mammoth Cave in Kentucky is notable as the world's what?

Mammoth Cave is the longest known system of passages in the world, with more than 400 miles surveyed; its name salutes the size of its chambers, since no mammoth fossil has ever been found there.

Mammoth Cave's owner housed patients in huts deep underground in 1842-43, hoping cave air would cure which disease?

Tuberculosis patients only grew worse in Dr. John Croghan's stone and wooden huts, where smoke from the cooking fires hung in the air; several died, and the disease killed Croghan himself in 1849.

Cumberland Falls in Kentucky claims to be the only place in the Western Hemisphere where what is regularly seen?

A moonbow, or lunar rainbow, forms in the falls' mist on clear nights around the full moon; the 68-foot falls on the Cumberland River are nicknamed the Niagara of the South.

Kentucky produces roughly what share of the world's bourbon?

Kentucky makes about 95% of the world's bourbon, by the Kentucky Distillers' Association's count; the barrels ageing in its warehouses outnumber the state's roughly 4.5 million people.

By US law, bourbon must be made from a grain mash that is at least 51% what?

Corn must make up at least 51% of the mash, and the spirit must age in new charred oak containers; in 1964 Congress declared bourbon a distinctive product of the United States.

Maker's Mark bourbon, made in Loretto, Kentucky, is instantly recognisable by what feature of its bottle?

Each bottle gets a wax seal, dipped in red by hand, a touch Margie Samuels devised for the first run in 1958; the dripping red wax is a registered trademark.

The Kentucky Derby is run on the first Saturday of which month?

The Derby is run on the first Saturday in May, opening the Triple Crown; it has been held every year since it began, though 1945 and 2020 were postponed to June and September.

The winner of the Kentucky Derby is draped in a blanket of which flowers?

Red roses give the Derby its nickname, the Run for the Roses, coined by columnist Bill Corum in 1925; the Belmont winner gets white carnations and the Kentucky Oaks filly a garland of lilies.

Which drink is the traditional beverage of the Kentucky Derby?

The mint julep, bourbon with mint and sugar syrup over crushed ice in a frosted silver cup, has been the Derby's signature drink since 1938; the track serves about 120,000 over Oaks and Derby weekend.

Which horse set the Kentucky Derby record of 1:59.4 in 1973?

Secretariat ran each successive quarter-mile faster than the last, finishing in 1:59 2/5, the only sub-two-minute Derby until Monarchos ran 1:59.97 in 2001.

Which racetrack has hosted every Kentucky Derby since the first in 1875?

Churchill Downs takes its name from the Churchill family: founder Meriwether Lewis Clark Jr. built the track on his uncles' land, and Aristides won the first Derby there.

Lexington, Kentucky, calls itself the capital of the world for what?

Horses of many breeds are raised on the hundreds of farms that ring Lexington, which is also home to Keeneland, the Red Mile harness track and the Kentucky Horse Park.

Louisville, Kentucky, founded during the Revolutionary War, was named in honour of which monarch?

Settlers named the town for Louis XVI of France, whose country had allied with the rebelling colonies in 1778; George Rogers Clark founded the settlement that year, and its charter followed in 1780.

The Louisville Slugger traces its origin to an 1884 bat hand-made for which slumping Louisville Eclipse star?

Company legend says 17-year-old Bud Hillerich made the bat in his father's woodworking shop and Browning got three hits with it the next day.

Which boxer was born Cassius Marcellus Clay Jr. in Louisville in 1942?

Muhammad Ali, who changed his name in 1964 after joining the Nation of Islam, took up boxing at 12 when policeman Joe Martin told the boy fuming over a stolen bicycle to learn to fight first.

Near which Kentucky town was Abraham Lincoln born in 1809?

Lincoln was born on February 12, 1809, at Sinking Spring Farm near Hodgenville; Jefferson Davis, his Confederate counterpart, had been born about 100 miles away in Fairview eight months earlier.

When the Civil War began in 1861, Kentucky officially declared itself what?

Neutral was the official stance from May 1861; it ended that September, when Confederate troops occupied Columbus and the legislature asked the Union army for help.

The 1862 battle that ended the Confederate campaign to take Kentucky was fought at which town?

At Perryville on October 8, 1862, Braxton Bragg won a tactical victory over Don Carlos Buell but withdrew to Tennessee, and the Union held the border state for the rest of the war.

The Cumberland Gap sits near the point where Kentucky meets which two other states?

The gap lies near the tripoint of Kentucky, Virginia and Tennessee, about 1,600 feet up; physician-explorer Thomas Walker recorded it in 1750, and the Wilderness Road carried settlers through it from 1775.

Which Kentucky River fort, built in 1775, withstood a Shawnee siege in 1778?

Boonesborough was Daniel Boone's fort; captured by the Shawnee early in 1778, he escaped that June and raced 160 miles home to warn the settlement before the siege.

The Hatfield-McCoy feud pitted the McCoys of Kentucky against the Hatfields of which neighbouring state?

The Hatfields lived on the West Virginia bank of the Tug Fork, the McCoys across the river in Pike County; one flare-up in 1878 was over the ownership of a hog.

Fort Knox holds roughly what share of the federal government's gold?

The Bullion Depository holds about 147 million troy ounces, a little over half of the Treasury's roughly 261 million; the vault was built in 1936 to move gold away from coastal cities.

Colonel Harland Sanders first sold his fried chicken from a roadside restaurant in which Kentucky town?

Sanders served chicken at his Corbin service station and café from 1930; the first franchised Kentucky Fried Chicken opened far away in South Salt Lake, Utah, in 1952.

The Hot Brown, created at Louisville's Brown Hotel in 1926, is an open-faced sandwich built on which meat?

Roast turkey under Mornay sauce and bacon was chef Fred Schmidt's answer to late-night guests tired of ham and eggs; turkey was then a rarity outside holiday feasts.

Kentucky's fourth-largest city, Owensboro, styles itself the world capital of what?

Owensboro calls itself the Bar-B-Q Capital of the World and has hosted the International Bar-B-Q Festival since 1979; mutton is the local barbecue specialty.

Which Kentucky-born bandleader's Blue Grass Boys gave bluegrass music its name?

Bill Monroe, born near Rosine, named the band for his home state; its sound took shape in 1945, when Earl Scruggs joined with his three-finger banjo picking.

Who recorded 'Blue Moon of Kentucky' for his first Sun Records single?

Elvis Presley cut it at Sun Studio in July 1954 as the B-side of 'That's All Right', turning a 1946 bluegrass waltz into an up-tempo number.

Under what title did Louisville sisters Patty and Mildred Hill publish the tune of 'Happy Birthday to You' in 1893?

The Louisville sisters published the tune as 'Good Morning to All' in their 1893 Song Stories for the Kindergarten; Warner/Chappell collected fees on it until a court voided the copyright claim in 2015.

Which country star from Butcher Hollow, Kentucky, sang 'Coal Miner's Daughter' about her childhood?

Loretta Lynn was born at Butcher Hollow in Johnson County; Sissy Spacek won the Best Actress Oscar playing her in the 1980 film and sang all of Lynn's songs herself.

Which sports car has been built exclusively in Bowling Green, Kentucky, since 1981?

The Chevrolet Corvette was built in St. Louis until 1981, when production moved to Bowling Green; Kentucky has since named it the official state sports car.

What happened at a Bowling Green car museum before dawn on February 12, 2014?

Before dawn a sinkhole swallowed eight cars from the museum's Skydome; all eight were recovered, but only three, including the one-millionth car built, were restored.

Kentucky men's basketball ranks second all-time in NCAA titles behind which school?

UCLA leads with 11 NCAA titles, ten of them under John Wooden; Kentucky's eight came under five coaches, from Adolph Rupp's four to John Calipari's 2012 title.

In which league did the Kentucky Colonels play from 1967 to 1976?

The Colonels played all nine ABA seasons and won the 1975 ABA championship, yet owner John Y. Brown took a buyout instead of joining the 1976 ABA-NBA merger, and the team folded.

Berea College in Kentucky, founded in 1855, was the first college in the South to be what?

Founded by abolitionist John G. Fee, Berea was the South's first college both coeducational and racially integrated; Kentucky's 1904 Day Law forced it to segregate until the law was amended in 1950.

Which small Kentucky city is nicknamed Quilt City and hosts the National Quilt Museum?

Paducah has housed the National Quilt Museum since 1991; it was the vision of local publishers Bill and Meredith Schroeder, who also founded the American Quilter's Society.

Kentucky's Big Bone Lick State Park is named for the fossils of which Ice Age animals?

Mammoths and mastodons came to the salt springs and left their bones in the bog, along with bison, ground sloths and musk oxen; the site is called the birthplace of American palaeontology.

A theme park in Williamstown, Kentucky, is built around a 510-foot wooden replica of what?

Noah's Ark, built to the dimensions given in Genesis, opened in 2016 as Ark Encounter; a federal court ruled that year that the park could require staff to sign a statement of faith.

Land Between the Lakes lies between Kentucky Lake and which other reservoir?

Lake Barkley is the dammed Cumberland River; to turn the land between it and Kentucky Lake into a recreation area, the TVA moved hundreds of families out of their homes.

Kentucky's Derby Festival kicks off with Thunder Over Louisville, which is what kind of event?

An airshow and fireworks display, Thunder began in 1989 as a few daytime shells at the Derby Festival's first opening ceremony; night fireworks followed in 1990 and the air show in 1992.

The Belle of Louisville, launched in 1914, holds what distinction among America's riverboats?

She is the oldest river steamer still in operation in the United States: built in Pittsburgh in 1914 as the ferry Idlewild, she was bought by Jefferson County in 1962 for $34,000.

Which Kentucky-born inventor demonstrated a battery-powered wireless telephone in 1902?

Nathan Stubblefield, a farmer and fruit grower from Murray, demonstrated voice transmission without wires at Murray and in Washington in 1902 but never commercialised it, and died alone in 1928.

Garrett Morgan, born in Kentucky in 1877, invented an early version of which everyday device?

Morgan patented a three-way traffic light, a three-position signal adding a warning interval between stop and go, in 1923 and sold the rights to General Electric for $40,000; his smoke hood saved workers in Cleveland's 1916 tunnel disaster.

Which inventor worked in Louisville as a 19-year-old Western Union telegraph operator in 1866?

Thomas Edison's lamps came to the city in 1883, when his firm lit the Southern Exposition's main building with 4,600 of them so the fair could open at night.

Glasgow, Kentucky, celebrates its Scottish namesake each year with what event?

The Glasgow Highland Games, with caber tossing, pipe bands and clan tents, have drawn visitors to the Barren County town since the 1980s; it is also journalist Diane Sawyer's birthplace.

Which Hollywood star was born in Owensboro, Kentucky, in 1963?

Johnny Depp was born in Owensboro on June 9, 1963, and moved to Florida as a boy; Jennifer Lawrence (Louisville) and George Clooney (Lexington) are also Kentucky natives.

Which animal, gone from Kentucky for about 150 years, was restocked in its eastern counties from 1997?

Elk were brought from Utah and five other states, more than 1,500 in all, and released in Kentucky's eastern coalfields, where they founded the largest elk herd in the eastern United States.

Kentucky registers more foals of which racing breed than any other state?

Thoroughbred foals are registered in Kentucky in greater numbers than in any other state; whatever their real birthday, all of them officially turn a year older on January 1.

Kentucky's official state fruit is which berry?

The blackberry has been Kentucky's official state fruit since 2004; a late-spring cold snap is known across the South as 'blackberry winter' because it comes as the brambles bloom.

The Old Fashioned cocktail is claimed as the invention of which Louisville institution?

The Pendennis Club, a private club founded in 1881, is credited by legend with the Old Fashioned in the 1880s, with bourbon distiller James E. Pepper carrying the recipe to New York's Waldorf-Astoria.

What nickname did Newport, Kentucky, earn for its Monmouth Street casinos?

Newport was known as Sin City in the 1940s and 50s, when Monmouth Street's mob-run casinos drew Cincinnati gamblers; reform campaigns and federal probes closed them in the 1960s, and the Newport Aquarium opened in 1999.

What is the highest point in Kentucky?

Black Mountain rises to 4,145 feet in Harlan County; at its foot U.S. Steel built the company town of Lynch in 1917 to house its coal miners.

Which Kentucky town, laid out in June 1774, is regarded as the state's first permanent settlement?

Harrodsburg, laid out by James Harrod in June 1774, was abandoned within weeks after a settler was killed, then resettled for good the following spring.

For most of the 20th century, which crop was Kentucky's leading cash crop?

Tobacco, mostly air-cured burley, was Kentucky's leading cash crop through the 20th century; a 2004 federal buyout ended the quota and price-support system that had propped it up since 1938.

The 1811–12 earthquakes centred near the Kentucky Bend made which river flow backwards in places?

Three great New Madrid quakes in December 1811 and early 1812 sent the Mississippi surging upstream for hours in places and formed Reelfoot Lake; the Bend lies inside the river's loop.

The first Kentucky Fried Chicken franchise opened in 1952 at Pete Harman's restaurant in which state?

Utah is also where the brand got its name: a sign painter hired by Harman coined Kentucky Fried Chicken to make the dish sound exotic.

Officials sworn in under Kentucky's 1891 constitution must declare that they have never taken part in what?

A duel has disqualified Kentuckians from office since the 1850 constitution, and the oath, which survives unchanged, also covers acting as a second.

The main international airport serving which out-of-state city actually sits in Hebron, Kentucky?

Cincinnati's airport code, CVG, comes from Covington, the Kentucky city that was nearest when the airport opened.

In the 1970s, a Louisville, Kentucky, company claimed to make 90% of which nightclub fixture used in America?

Disco balls long predate disco: a mirrored ball was recorded as early as 1897, decades before a Louisville firm cornered the American market.

In which James Bond film does the villain plan to set off a dirty bomb inside Kentucky's Fort Knox?

Goldfinger's filmmakers were barred from the real depository, so designer Ken Adam imagined its vault and later got a complimentary letter from Fort Knox.

Which big-screen Batman actor was born in Lexington, Kentucky, and tried out for pro baseball as a teenager?

George Clooney did not survive the first round of cuts at his 1977 tryout; show business ran in the family through his aunt, singer Rosemary Clooney.

Which Civil War leader was born in Fairview, Kentucky, less than a year before Abraham Lincoln?

Jefferson Davis's birthplace is marked by a 351-foot concrete obelisk, whose construction stalled halfway up when World War I rationing cut off materials.

Until the late 1990s, a 3M factory in Cynthiana, Kentucky, was the world's only source of which product?

Post-it Notes rolled out of Cynthiana alone until 3M's patents expired, and the small town had hosted the factory since 1969, before the product existed.

Kaelin's restaurant in Louisville, Kentucky, claims to have invented which American fast-food staple in 1934?

The cheeseburger has rival birthplaces: a teenage fry cook in Pasadena is reputed to have made one in 1924, and a Denver drive-in trademarked the name.

Which Hunger Games star grew up in Louisville, Kentucky, and was spotted by a talent scout at 14?

Jennifer Lawrence was not the only Kentuckian in the cast: Josh Hutcherson, who played Peeta opposite her, was born in Union, Kentucky.

Which cake-mix brand is named after a travelling restaurant critic born in Bowling Green, Kentucky?

Duncan Hines made his name with Adventures in Good Eating, a guide to restaurants he had tried on the road as a salesman for a Chicago printer.

Which songwriter of Oh! Susanna also wrote Kentucky's state song, My Old Kentucky Home?

Stephen Foster was probably moved to write it by the anti-slavery novel Uncle Tom's Cabin, whose hero's name sat in the title of his first sketch.

Which singer from Flatwoods, Kentucky, set off a line-dancing craze with his 1992 hit Achy Breaky Heart?

Billy Ray Cyrus is the son of a steelworker turned politician, and later played a TV dad to his real daughter Miley in Hannah Montana.

Which rapper from Louisville, Kentucky, topped the Billboard Hot 100 in 2022 with the single First Class?

Jack Harlow began rapping at 12 and was selling out Louisville venues such as the Mercury Ballroom while he was in high school.

Which carmaker's huge assembly plant in Georgetown, Kentucky, built its first vehicle in 1988?

Toyota's first Georgetown car was a prototype Camry, the model the plant went on to build for decades.

Which delivery company's worldwide air hub, Worldport, sorts packages at the airport in Louisville, Kentucky?

UPS picked Louisville in 1980 for its position: jets from the city can reach most of the contiguous United States in under three hours.

Which peanut butter brand began as Big Top in Lexington, Kentucky, where it has been made ever since?

Jif got its name after Procter & Gamble bought Big Top in 1955, and its Lexington plant grew into the largest peanut butter factory in the world.

Kentucky straddles two time zones, so which one do Louisville and Lexington keep?

Eastern time covers about 60 percent of Kentucky, with Louisville near the zone's far western edge; the rest of the state keeps Central time.

Which Kentucky town has trademarked the title Bourbon Capital of the World for its annual bourbon festival?

Bardstown also holds My Old Kentucky Home State Park, built around the Rowan family mansion long linked to the state song.

Which country duo from Ashland, Kentucky, had their first number-one hit with Mama He's Crazy in 1984?

The Judds were mother and daughter: Naomi was training as a nurse when the pair won an RCA audition in 1983, and executives signed them on the spot.

Which longtime ABC News anchor, born in Glasgow, Kentucky, won the America's Junior Miss pageant in 1963?

Diane Sawyer came home after college to her first television job, forecasting the weather for WLKY in Louisville.

Which Lexington school, founded in 1780 before statehood, is Kentucky's oldest seat of higher learning?

Transylvania University owes its name to a short-lived 1775 colony: the word is Latin for across the woods and has nothing to do with Dracula.

Which Army division, nicknamed the Screaming Eagles, is based at Fort Campbell on the Kentucky border?

The 101st Airborne of World War II fame was officially reactivated at Fort Campbell in a 1956 ceremony, and the base has been its home ever since.

Middlesboro, Kentucky, a town beside the Cumberland Gap, was built entirely inside what kind of landform?

A meteorite crater holds the whole town, which English businessmen founded in the 1880s and apparently named after Middlesbrough in England.

Benedictine, a pale green sandwich spread from Louisville, Kentucky, blends cream cheese with which vegetable?

Cucumber juice went into caterer Jennie Benedict's original recipe, along with onion juice and a drop of green food colouring.

Which thick Kentucky stew, traditionally made with squirrel or venison, is often cooked as a communal event?

Burgoo is a social event as much as a dish: each guest brings an ingredient or two for the pot, and it is usually served with cornbread.

Derby-Pie, a name trademarked by Kern's Kitchen of Kentucky, is a custard pie of chocolate and which nut?

Walnuts fill the original, and by 2008 Kern's Kitchen had sued about 25 times to stop cookbooks and bakers borrowing the name.

Which tree became Kentucky's state tree again in 1994, replacing the Kentucky coffeetree?

Tulip poplar is no true poplar: the towering tree belongs to the magnolia family and is also the state tree of Indiana.

Which bestselling Trappist writer lived at Kentucky's Abbey of Gethsemani from 1941 until his death?

Thomas Merton reached the monastery on December 10, 1941, three days after Pearl Harbor, and published his bestselling autobiography from there in 1948.

Which religious sect, known for its simple furniture, ran Kentucky's Pleasant Hill village from 1805 to 1910?

The Shakers believed in celibacy and held all property in common, a covenant the first 44 Pleasant Hill converts signed in 1806.

Which coach, winner of four NCAA titles with Kentucky from 1948 to 1958, gave his name to its Lexington arena?

Adolph Rupp grew up in Kansas, where he played for Phog Allen, and he was assistant coach of the US team that won Olympic gold in London in 1948.

Which nickname have University of Kentucky teams carried since a 1909 football win over Illinois?

Wildcats came from a chapel speech after the 6–2 road victory, when the head of the military department told students the team had fought like them.

Which school started five Black players and beat all-white Kentucky in the 1966 NCAA basketball final?

Texas Western won 72–65 with the first all-Black starting five in an NCAA title game, and major programs stepped up their recruiting of Black players afterwards.

Which coach led Kentucky to the 2012 NCAA basketball title, his only championship in 15 seasons in Lexington?

John Calipari had earlier taken UMass and Memphis to Final Fours that were later vacated, though he was cleared of wrongdoing both times.

Which coach won the 1996 NCAA title at Kentucky and later spent 16 seasons in charge of archrival Louisville?

Rick Pitino also won it all with Louisville in 2013, but that championship was later vacated by the NCAA.

Christian Laettner's buzzer-beater in 1992 knocked Kentucky out of the NCAA tournament for which school?

Duke's star could not miss in that regional final: he made all ten of his field goals and all ten free throws, finishing with 31 points.

Which coach led Kentucky football to its first SEC title in 1950, then beat top-ranked Oklahoma in the Sugar Bowl?

Bear Bryant spent eight seasons in Lexington, left in 1954 and went on to win six national championships at Alabama.

Which quarterback became the University of Louisville's first Heisman Trophy winner in 2016?

Lamar Jackson was also the youngest winner the award had seen, at 19 years and 337 days, and beat Deshaun Watson and Baker Mayfield in the vote.

Which Hall of Fame quarterback played college football at Louisville before starring for the Baltimore Colts?

Johnny Unitas was drafted in the ninth round by Pittsburgh, released before the season began and reduced to playing semi-pro football on weekends for $6 a game.

Which feature of the Churchill Downs grandstand, added in 1895, became the symbol of the Kentucky Derby?

The twin spires arrived with new owners, who a year later cut the Derby to its modern distance of a mile and a quarter.

Which Hall of Fame coach led the University of Louisville to NCAA basketball titles in 1980 and 1986?

Denny Crum took the job in 1971 expecting to go back to California one day to succeed his mentor John Wooden, and instead stayed for 30 seasons.

Which future Lakers and Heat coach starred for the 1966 Kentucky team that reached the NCAA title game?

Pat Riley was such an athlete that the Dallas Cowboys drafted him as a wide receiver in 1967, although he had never played college football.

Which Kentucky quarterback from the small town of Hyden was the first overall pick of the 1999 NFL draft?

Tim Couch went to the Cleveland Browns as the first draft pick of their return as an expansion team, one spot ahead of Donovan McNabb.

Which three-time NASCAR Cup champion and Fox broadcaster was born in Owensboro, Kentucky?

Darrell Waltrip's first stock car was a 1936 coupe that he and his father built to race on a dirt track near their Owensboro home.

Which Louisville golf club, a Nicklaus design opened in 1986, hosted the 2008 Ryder Cup?

Valhalla has a taste for drama: its first two PGA Championships both went to playoffs, the second won by Tiger Woods in 2000.

Which Lexington racecourse, opened in 1936, doubles as the world's largest Thoroughbred auction house?

Keeneland's old-fashioned look won it a film role: most of the racing scenes in the 2003 movie Seabiscuit were shot there.

Which legendary racehorse, foaled near Lexington, Kentucky, in 1917, was never entered in the Kentucky Derby?

Man o' War's owner thought ten furlongs too far so early in a colt's career; the champion won 20 of 21 races, losing only to a rival named Upset.

Which Louisville firm, begun as a woodworking shop in the 1850s, makes the Louisville Slugger baseball bat?

Hillerich & Bradsby nearly missed its calling: founder J. F. Hillerich saw the firm's future in stair railings, porch columns and butter churns, not bats.

Which Dodgers captain, raised in Louisville, Kentucky, is well known for supporting teammate Jackie Robinson?

Pee Wee Reese owed his nickname to marbles, not his size: he was a champion shooter as a boy, and a pee wee is a small marble.

Which shortstop, nicknamed the Flying Dutchman, broke into the majors with the Louisville Colonels in 1897?

Honus Wagner moved to Pittsburgh when the Colonels folded in 1899: the club president bought the Pirates and took his star along.