Gary West

Days are long gone since anyone thought comic books were just for kids.  It’s the old saying, “Follow the money.” There’s big bucks in comics, especially old ones.  A few years ago a 1938 Action Superman comic sold for $3.2 million.  It is considered to be the beginning of the superhero group and the most valuable comic book in the world.  Reportedly there are less than 100 in existence.  Debuting in June 1938, it sold for 10 cents which is clearly marked on the cover. Although there are those who read comic books for content and entertainment, thousands now search out flea markets and garage sales for a rare find that...

At one time there were two high profile professional basketball leagues. While the NBA was older and more established, in 1967 a group of high rollers got together and started the American Basketball Association. Almost immediately the new league became a thorn in the side of the NBA, particularly when it came to buying players coming out of college, and even “raiding” their best talent. The ABA struggled financially, however. For nine years teams came and went until finally in 1976 an agreement was reached where the NBA would absorb four ABA teams and the remaining three would be paid to go away. One of the teams in the middle of it...

A recent newspaper article about Kentucky Derby goers slipping prohibited items past ticket-takers while on their way to a prime spot in the infield triggered a 56-year-old memory of the Derby, and the infield in particular. I was a college student at the University of Kentucky and had been to Churchill Downs in 1965 and sort-of-watched Willie Shoemaker boot home Lucky Debonair to win the roses. Even with fewer fans, seeing the race, much less a horse, became near impossible. There had to be a better way. The following year, I found that one of my fraternity brothers was a first cousin of jockey Don Brumfield. Before the 1966 Derby he had...

It was 10:25 in the morning when Atlanta insurance salesman George Burnett decided he needed to call a friend at Communications International, a public relations company in the same town. For the 41-year-old father of five it would be a phone call that would change his life … and not necessarily in a good way. Burnett, dialed Jackson 5-3536, on his rotary phone and immediately got a busy signal. Not to be deterred, he tried it again and again until over a couple of electronic beeps he could hear two men having a conversation. He would have probably hung up, but once he heard one of the individuals refer to...

Joe Beasman Hall had a way of making ordinary people feel like they were his best friend. But it wasn’t always like that. The former Kentucky Wildcat basketball coach who followed Adolph Rupp died January 14. Even though he stepped away from the program 37 years ago at the age of 56, he was still connected to the team just as he was in 1978 when he won an NCAA title. The affection that basketball fans, not just U.K., had for Joe B. is something that took time. “I’m not sure many Kentucky fans liked me back then,” Joe B. told me several years ago. “What’s funny is that some of them...

Jay Bauer was the locker room attendant of the Kentucky Colonels professional basketball team in Louisville. At least that was his title in 1975, and at the age of 23 he had been involved with the Colonels for all nine of their American Basketball Association seasons. He started as a ball boy during that first year in 1967. No one enjoyed his job as much as Bauer. As a part time bartender around Louisville, including the Toy Tiger on Bardstown Road, he had a built-in audience to listen to his stories of knowing some of the biggest basketball stars in the world that came to town to play the Colonels. He turned those relationships...

With little regard to the historical significance of anything created by nature or man, or more importantly human life, an F4 tornado dropped all sorts of destruction on a widespread section of our state on Dec. 11. As tragic as it was, bad things often times bring out the best in people. It matters not that for the most part only the western portion of Kentucky felt the wrath. Regardless of where we live we are all Kentuckians, and my oh my have Kentuckians responded and come to the aid of their brothers and sisters, especially children. I have been fortunate to travel Kentucky, north, south, east and west, over the last several...

There’s a good bet that when Kentuckians think of NASCAR, the first place that pops up is the Kentucky Speedway in Sparta or Owensboro, mainly because of the Waltriip brothers, Darrell and Michael. Lost to time is the role Prestonsburg, Kentucky has played in the sports history, particularly the Daytona 500. It’s not like Prestonsburg had been a racing hot bed, even though Corbin, two hours away, lays claim to the first official NASCAR race in Kentucky in 1954. Lee Petty, Richard’s father, won that race on the half-mile track that is still there. So, how did it happen? H.B. Ranier owned a Lincoln-Mercury dealership in Prestonsburg. It was in an era before...

When Maysville’s Rosemary Clooney in 1954 recorded her number one hit “This Ole House,” she couldn’t possibly have been thinking about the state’s beautiful historic houses, or better yet homes. Her song reached the top of the charts in both the United States and the United Kingdom. Some may recall the song’s lyrics that spoke of an old house in such disrepair that it needed to be torn down or fall down first. “It’s a gettin ready to meet the Saints,” her song concluded. Some of Kentucky’s most beautiful homes are open to be visited and enjoyed. At one time they may have been in need of some serious attention, but...

The baseball slowly rolled back towards the pitching mound where New York Yankees pitcher Carl Mays fielded it and tossed to first baseman Wally Pipp. Both thought it was the first out of the inning in a game between the Cleveland Indians and Yankees. Laying on the ground over home plate was Indians shortstop Ray Chapman. Mays’ sidearm fastball had struck the plate-crowding batter in the temple. It was Chapman’s head and not his bat that looked initially like a hit, and even sounded like one. Yankee right fielder Babe Ruth was said to say he heard it 250 feet away. The game being played in the Polo Grounds in New York...