A Derby Journal: 29 April – 3 May 2009 The idea was born in July 2008, as my wife, Connie, and I hosted our fourth Casino Nite at our home in Stafford, VA. Charles and Linda Robinson, my USNA classmate and his wife, mentioned going to the Kentucky Derby the following year. We said, “Sure,” sounds like a bet. Fast forward to January, 2009 and Connie is locking on a trip to the Bahamas with her sister, Joan, and I encouraged her to go. The cruise starts the last week in April. I’m not paying attention. It goes the same week as the Derby. I am not focused on the Derby because I am transitioning from one job to another and I probably will not want to take five days off for a cruise or the Derby. However, just to make sure I am not caught short, I call my long-time friend in Louisville, Jonathan “Poodie” Hamilton, to get me 4 tickets for the Derby. I ask for four because that’s the minimum that I can image we will need. Poodie bought me the tickets, I sent him a check. Unbelievably, April 4 arrived in a microsecond. Bill “Deep Pockets” Montgomery ’75, comes to town. He spends the weekend with all of his Hardankle pals, and gets wind of the Derby plans. Bill decides to take charge of the ‘white space,’ that is, the areas that are not locked in – lodging, tickets outside of the Churchill Downs infield and some ‘big’ entertainment. I am weary because Bill knows no limits on the possible. Coming full circle, we’ve got a plan, somewhat fragmented, but a plan. Wednesday, 29 April 2009 By Wednesday, Connie had left on her cruise to the Bahamas with her sister, I had gone and returned from New Orleans on a business trip and Chaz and Linda were spending the night with me since we were going to leave early; traveling to Stafford in the morning from Bowie, MD was unnecessary torture. Thursday, 30 April 2009 We left the following morning at 0600 sharp. The hardest part about road trips are the beginnings: that is, starting on time. We did well, mostly because Chaz and Linda are rarin’ to go. I am anxious because I think the drive through Virginia, West Virginia and Kentucky, mostly along Interstate 64, is perhaps the most scenic trip I have ever driven in this country. It is essentially a drive through the Appalachian Mountains and it does not matter what season, it is absolutely beautiful. I could drive it over and over again. The trip from my driveway to my parents’ home in Louisville is exactly 9 hours, an average of 3 hours per state. I drive first and get us to Charleston, WVA when Chaz takes over. I enjoy reading the map, Chaz is addicted to the GPS he brings along. (This nifty piece of technology will come in handy later on our way back.) When we cross over into the Bluegrass State we began to get hungry. Driving west toward Lexington, Chaz begins to ask about “White Castle” hamburgers, which are famous in this part of the country. He asks me if I know
of a location in Lexington. I told him “I don’t think so,” because I really don’t know Lexington at all. I had visited the home of the University of Kentucky only once or twice, I am not proud to say. We pull off and grab some Kentucky Fried Chicken, of course, and head back out onto I-64. Guess what type of food the next exit was offering? White Castle, of course! It was too late – we were going on to Louisville! We called ahead to Bill Montgomery on my cell phone. Bill was shopping at Oxmoor Shopping Center which is not very far from I-64 on the east side of Louisville. I have been there but the GPS knows for sure and we punch it in. Traveling the remaining 50 or so miles to the eastern edge of Louisville is very quick. We arrive at the Oxmoor Shopping Mall in less than an hour. We call Bill who comes out of a department store and joins us in the parking lot. It is great to see Bill, as always. His vision is somewhat impaired but he gets around as if nothing fazes him. We all meet and he tells us he has passes to the Derby and 2 tickets to the “Gala” for Chaz and Linda. He will need a chauffer and I guess I am it! No worry, because I am not excited about the prospect of meeting folks who are not interested in the Gala, anyway! We continue our planning and then head to their hotel, which is located off of Fern Valley Road, near I – 65. The Comfort Suites hotel is managed by Bill’s sister, Donna, so they are getting a significant discount. I refuse to stay in a hotel in my hometown, so I am staying with my younger brother, Keith, downtown. With our lodging arrangements settled, I drop Bill, Chaz and Linda off at the hotel and I head down to my brother’s house in the Park Duval housing development in downtown Louisville. I get to Keith’s house and his two daughters are home. Kelleye and Mallory are his beautiful teenage daughters who are at home after school waiting for their parents to come home. I went ahead and changed into my ‘evening attire’ for the “Make a Wish Foundation” dinner hosted by Steve Linebaugh, my Valley High School classmate and football teammate. Our football team had a great two year run at Valley in 1968 and 1969 – I think we were 17 – 4, with a close loss to Seneca in the County Championship Game in 1968. So, we still have fond memories of that time in our lives. Steve has been a wildly successful businessman in Louisville. He was probably our strongest football player – and that is saying a whole lot for a Valley High team that was built around a super strong offensive line. We were joined by Paul Merrill, who was one of our wide receivers on that team. After graduating from Valley, Paul went to Western Kentucky University where he played baseball. After graduating in 1974, Paul eventually joined the Army, was stationed at Fort Deitrick, MD where he stayed after his 3 year enlistment. Paul had a very successful government job there and most interestedly, he is now in the Baseball Coaches Hall of Fame for his work there. I always wanted to call Paul, “The Professor” because he was always pensive and really did not talk a whole lot ‘back in the day.’ Paul brought his wife, Theresa and his little sister, Andrea Duvall to the reception. Paul and Theresa were visiting from California, while Andrea lives here in Kentucky. Steve threw one fine party!
Chaz, Linda and Bill were certainly greeted by the ‘Best of Louisville’ and once it was known that all three of us served in the Marine Corps, it became one, big Marine Corps Ball celebrated in May. We called it a night when Steve sent out about a million White Castle hamburgers for all of his guests. What a guy!
. Valley High School Reunion, Class of 1970 At Oaks Eve: Steve “The Man” Linebaugh, Ken Dunn and Paul Merrill mugging for the camera at the Kentucky Oaks Eve “Make a Wish Foundation” celebration.
Bottom: More mugging as Ken, Andrea Merrill Duvall (Paul’s little sister) pose with the “Make a Wish Foundation” host and MC, Steve Linebaugh.
Friday, 1 May 2009 The next morning, we had breakfast at my parents’ home in Louisville. Virgil and Frances Thomas were the reason I attended Fort Knox High School and Valley High School. He was a career soldier and during the sixties, he served two tours in Vietnam. Each time he deployed, we moved. By 1968, we moved to Valley Station, and I attended Valley High School as a junior. Anyway, back at their home, my father prepared a great breakfast for my friends. My brother, Keith, and his family joined us, as did my older brother, Larry. It was a nice gesture on my parents’ part, even though I did not ask – Kentucky hospitality.
At breakfast: (L to R) Larry Dunn, Keith Dunn, Mallory and Kelleye Dunn (Keith’s daughters), Mom and Pop, Virgil and Frances Thomas. Pop is obviously thrilled at the prospect of cooking for 10! I’m in the back
Next, Chaz, Linda, Bill and I visited the Hillerich & Bradsby baseball bat factory downtown – as guests of Mark Littrell (a retired Marine that we met at Steve Linebaugh’s bash the night before) and given a guided tour by Frank Stewart, who is a retired U. S. Navy submariner. He commanded the nuclear submarine, USS Louisville, which began his “Louisville connection” while he was on active duty. Frank, who was obviously very busy, gave us a first class tour. He told us all about the origins and continued development of the famous Louisville Slugger baseball bat. We thank Frank for taking the time that he did in giving us an excellent tour. From downtown, we headed to Churchill Downs.
At the home of the “Louisville Slugger”: Bill, Chaz and Linda, Ken.
First, we stopped to buy Linda Robinson the mandatory hat. The Derby is chock full of tradition and one of those is women’s attire. You must wear a dress and you absolutely must wear a hat! Linda just made sure she stood out the right way. She did a nice job!
Linda Robinson, the Hat Lady
After visiting a hat shop on Fourth Street, we drove down to Churchill Downs, the most famous racetrack in the world. We drove down 4th Street, past the University of Louisville campus, into South Louisville to Papa John’s U of L Football Stadium. An enterprising young man promised us a secure parking space, close to Churchill Downs, at a cost of $20. I was driving, Bill did the negotiating. Before long we were in our parking space. Bill gave us our media passes, which gave us access to the 1st, 2d and 3d levels. By the time we sat down, the 5th race had begun. We became friendly with the folks in the adjoining box, “Connie” and her family. They may have known we did not own the box but they were very nice about it and I bought Connie a mint julep, because she said she never had one before. The day was exciting, I did not win anything but we developed a pattern for how we would bet at the Derby.
Top: Checking the horses Bottom: “Are we supposed to be betting?” Once we left Churchill Downs, we split up; mostly because we were all tired and needed a break from each other (smile). We knew we would spend another whole day together on Saturday, so I dropped everybody off at the hotel and I drove to my brother’s house where I met up with my cousin, Theron Dunn, and Keith for an evening drink and some talk until I began to fall asleep. I had a restful evening, to say the least.
Saturday, 2 May 2009 It was here! We made arrangements to meet at 0930 at the hotel. Dress was important and Linda was the star of the show and rightly so. She had a purple patterned dress with purple heels and now she needed the purple hat to top it off. So we traveled back down to 4th Street and the same hat shop as the day before. We were in no hurry – so we took our time. I was able to park again right along 4th Street, so it was easy. In about 15 minutes, Linda came out with an excellent choice; I don’t know much about women’s hats but I think it was a good one. From the moment she put it on; folks were complimenting her on her good taste. I can tell you, it was great to see her so happy!
Linda Robinson: “Show me the money!”
I was the driver, again, and we traveled straight down 4th Street again, this time we drove right into Papa John’s Stadium for the “Park and Ride” service being offered. I parked the car and we jumped on a golf cart shuttle, driven by “Jason.” Jason was going to make a lot of money this day, for sure. We bobbed and weaved through the small streets enroute to the track. My most vivid memory was the Holy Family Catholic Church complex on our right. I am always amazed to acknowledge just where these Catholic parishes are located throughout Louisville from my growing up downtown and attending St. Augustine’s Catholic Church at 13th and Broadway. We played football, basketball and baseball against a lot of St. Louis Bertrand, St. Anthony, Holy Family – type schools in central locations, but hardly ever saw the schools themselves. The irony is that now, 50 years later, you could see that even as their glory days had long passed, these parishes stand like castles of times past, when their neighborhoods were predominantly Catholic and, in most cases, not so diverse. I recall coming to Churchill Downs every spring for the Corpus Christi
procession which hosted all of Catholic Louisville. Churchill Downs seemed like a long way from 13th and Broadway. Jason had delivered us to our destination right across from the track, when I realized that I had forgotten my media pass in the car! Chagrined as I was, we took a couple of pictures and Jason took me back to my car at Papa John’s Stadium. We turned right around, bobbed and weaved again through the streets, past Holy Family again, then dropped me off again. I gave Jason another tip, but it really wasn’t enough. I planned to ‘take care of him’ after the Derby, when he transported us back to the car in his golf cart shuttle service. That was my plan. At the Derby, what impressed me most were the colors. Louisville is a bright green in early May because of all of the rain. Add 50,000 colorful hats on top of 50,000 colorful dresses and 100,000 colorful shoes with flashy neckties and shirts draped by light colored suits and navy blue blazers with light colored trousers and you really have one colorful mosaic of an undulating tapestry of people. The people attending the Derby are simply carefree – they’ve got a pocket full of cash to spend, they are ‘all dressed up’ and they are determined to live it up. We lucked out and ran right into “The Professor,” Paul Merrill and his fashionable wife, Theresa. Paul was doing well at the track, so I asked him for a tip or two. Paul’s response, “Well, let’s see…”
Paul, Theresa, Ken: “Are we in the right place?” We were on the 3d level, but in no particular seats. Our passes gave us access, not seats. So we decided to grab a table in the eating area and call it ‘home.’ This allowed us to move about and not get in any of the ‘high rollers’ way.
So Bill, what do you think? By the third race, I finally won. It was a long shot, #11 in the race. I just went with the longest odds and won! It was a $2 win-place-show bet and #11 won, so I won all three $2 bets. Man, did that feel good. I won the next race also, so I figured I was on a roll. Of course, you guessed it; I did not win another race all day. But I was surely betting on just about every race. We, like everyone else, were angling for the Kentucky Derby, race #11. Each of us had conjured up a win theory: Chaz liked the bigger horses; Bill bet on many permutations and combinations; I liked the winning jockey theory; Linda went with Bill. So there you have it. During the 80 minute break between the 10th race and the Derby, I would guess that crowd bet over 1 million dollars on the 20 horses running in the 135th Kentucky Derby. My brother Larry called so I could place a bet on his Derby favorite, “Dunkirk.” I called my younger brother, Keith, my daughter, Kate and my son, Michael, for tips. Each gave me a different horse, or number, to bet on. Remember my old friend “Poodie” Hamilton? He came down to Churchill Downs to see me and deliver me some cash from the sale of those infield tickets I had purchased in January. Bad move. I immediately put that cash on the horses! I joined Bill in betting on one of his permutations, we split the cost down the middle. I had my own favorite, based upon the winning jockey theory. For the Derby itself, I had bet on 10 different horses. I had to win something!
At post time, we moved from the restaurant eating area back into the grandstand. There were no seats, everybody was standing. It was electric! Someone asked me what media I was representing – I replied “ESPN” of course! The horses were lined up….and they were off! We watched with serious anticipation on the TV monitors spread throughout the track as the horses raced toward the first curve. Down the backstretch, we all were straining to see our magic number somewhere in the pack, not necessarily looking for an early lead. Down the final curve, the winning horses were beginning to show their form. Coming home, #8, was beginning to move to the front. It was one of my horses on the ‘trifecta’ that I was sharing with Bill. Bill had told me that 2 other of our 6 six horses had to win, place or show in order for us to win. I did not realize that, but those are the breaks. How many of us place bets in contests when we really don’t understand the rules to win? I thought I had done that for the last time – but the Derby reminded me I still had more studying to do. The winner was a 50-1 shot, “Mine That Bird,” #8. There were only a few happy race fans at the end of that race, as I recall. We were the exceptions!
The guy in the middle won – but it was a great time!
After the Derby, Churchill Downs began to empty – fast! The crowd was large, but orderly like most other aspects of the Kentucky Derby. It was ritzy, high-brow, Bourbon as opposed to Beer, friendly people, moneyed people, regular people, but mostly people who just wanted to be there. That was about it. You just wanted to be there. I looked for Jason, he had four passengers in his golf cart; he waved and looked absolutely at home making a little money on a clear Saturday evening in Louisville. I did not get a chance to tip him again – he was way too busy! The next event was something called a “Gala,” which was being held downtown at the Galt House. Bill had arranged for two tickets but nobody wanted to go. Bill was unfazed however and we drove downtown, parked underneath the Galt House and came upstairs. The closest bar was crowded with patrons, mostly watching the Boston/Orlando NBA game. We sat down at a table and were promptly joined by “Brad,” an educator who
stays at the Galt House and was looking for company. We all talked to Brad and I even gave him one of my business cards. He was grateful for the company. At approximately 9:00 PM we decided to give the Gala over to Bill while we headed home. Our plans called for us to leave the next day, Sunday, pretty early. Bill was staying in Louisville an extra 3 days, so he was in no hurry. We left Bill, I took Chaz and Linda back to the hotel and I headed back to the West End to my brother’s house. This Derby trip was just about history. Sunday, 3 May 2009 The drive back was completely uneventful except the three of us laughed a lot. I really enjoy the drive along I-64 because of all of the mountains in Kentucky, West Virginia and Virginia. It is probably the most ‘unstressful’ 9 hour drive I have ever experienced because there is so much to see along the way. The ‘Charlottesville Shortcut’ really makes a big difference in the drive because you effectively eliminate I-95 travel. We arrived at my house at 4:00 PM. Connie arrived 10 minutes before we did from her cruise. It was a great Homecoming. Chaz and Linda stayed for a short while then headed up the road to Maryland. I want to thank my wife Connie for enjoying her cruise without me (I know it was tough!), my parents, Fran and Virgil Thomas, my old Louisville friend, Jonathan “Poodie” Hamilton, my brothers Keith and Larry Dunn, Bill Montgomery’s sister, Donna Montgomery; my two Valley High School teammates, Steve Linebaugh and Paul Merrill, and the City of Louisville for all that it has to offer its visitors, particularly during Derby Week. This was a great trip and I thoroughly enjoyed sharing it with my U. S. Naval Academy friends, Charles Robinson ’74 and Bill Montgomery ’75. And a special thanks to Mrs. Linda Robinson, for putting up with three Hardankles for an entire weekend.