Fame

After 47 years of training and teaching martial arts, Grand Master Len G. Kirschbaum was inducted into the International Black Belt Martial Arts Hall of Fame in November 2010. Kirschbaum, who lives in Nicholasville, has been teaching martial arts, specifically original Taekwon-Do, to those in the central Kentucky area for more than 25 years. He created a program through the Jessamine County adult-education system in 1988 and enrolled more than 125 students by his second term. Kirschbaum organized other masters from Taekwon-Do around the world and formed an association called the International Original Taekwon-Do Federation (IOTF)

 Stephen Taylor of Winchester was inducted into the Glenville State College Curtis Elam Athletic Hall of Fame earlier this month. Taylor was among the five members of the class of 2012 who were honored during the induction ceremony and banquet held May 19 in the GSC Mollohan Campus Community Center Ballroom. A native of Walton, W. Va., he competed in football at GSC for four years and was a member of the 1958 WVIAC undefeated team. He was a two-year starter on special teams and an offensive guard on the 1958 and 1959 teams.

This Friday, five more players will join the Kentucky Pro Football Hall of Fame. This year’s inductees include Bob Talamini of the University of Kentucky, Dale Lindsey of Western Kentucky University, Phil Simms of Morehead State University, Rod Hill of Kentucky State University, and Kerry Rhodes of the University of Louisville. The five will be inducted at the Lexington Opera House on Friday at 5:30 p.m. Talamini Talamini, a native of Louisville, played in the NFL for nine seasons.

John Nelson of Danville, executive editor of The Advocate-Messenger and its sister publications in Stanford, Nicholasville and Winchester, has been selected as an inductee to the Kentucky Journalism Hall of Fame. The induction ceremony will take place at noon April 23 at a location to be determined. Al Tompkins with the Poynter Institute will be the luncheon speaker. Nelson, a past president of the Kentucky Press Association, is one of five inductees. Also to be inducted are Marla Ridenour, Akron (Ohio)

Jessamine County's Charles Miller was among five people inducted into the Kentucky Cattlemen's Association (KCA) Hall of Fame at this year's KCA Convention and Trade Show that took place Jan. 10-12 in Lexington.  Miller was nominated by Ron Ray, Jessamine County Cattlemen's Association president. “The Jessamine County Cattlemen's Association proudly endorses Charles because of his dedication to the beef cattle industry here in Jessamine County,” Ray said. Miller owns and operates a cattle backgrounding operation, works for a local real-estate auction company and volunteers his spare time to numerous organizations.

LEXINGTON — The Kentucky Hall of Fame and Museum will usher in the new class of honorees Thursday. New members will be Keith Whitley, Patty Loveless, Steve Wariner, John Michael Montgomery, The Goins Brothers, Molly O’Day and Larnelle Harris. Presenters confirmed for the ceremony include Eddie Montgomery, set to induct his brother John Michael Montgomery; Kyle Macy, former UK basketball great, who will induct Steve Wariner; and Tom T. Hall and Dixie Hall, who will induct The Goins Brothers.

Former Kentucky All-American Derek Abney had never talked to UK athletics director Mitch Barnhart on the telephone before when he recently got a call from him. “I wasn't sure what was going on, then he gave me the news about the Hall of Fame. It was really nice to get that call,” said Abney. “It is a neat kind of honor that I had not really thought about truthfully. I¿am very honored to be part of history. To be part of that is unbelievable. The more I have thought about, the more it has sunk in. I am honored to be part of a very elite group.” Abney is one of six that has been selected for the UK Athletics Hall of Fame.

LEXINGTON - S.T. Roach became famous as basketball coach of the old Paul Laurence Dunbar High School in Lexington, and as a man who helped integrate sports in the state. But he got his start playing and coaching at the Bate High School in Danville. Roach, who died in September 2010, was one of 16 people making up the inaugural class of the Kentucky High School Basketball Hall of Fame. The first class was announced at a press conference Tuesday, and Roach's widow, Lettie, was there representing her late husband.

Harrodsburg's Craig Yeast will be inducted into the Kentucky Athletics Hall of Fame at halftime of Saturday night's UK-Mississippi football game. Yeast is UK's all-time leading receiver with 208 catches for 2,899 yards from 1995-1998. He played in the NFL and Canadian Football League.

While sitting surrounded by some of the great Kentucky journalists, their supporters and a few budding reporters, John Nelson, executive editor of The Interior Journal, was inducted April 23, along with three others, into the Kentucky Journalism Hall of Fame. Nelson, who began his career in the early 1970s, is noted for his efforts in pushing for open government in Kentucky, overseeing the first open records audit of the state while president of the Kentucky Press Association in 2004.

While sitting surrounded by some of the great Kentucky journalists, their supporters and a few budding reporters, John Nelson, executive editor of Advocate Communications, which includes The Advocate-Messenger and the Winchester Sun, was inducted Tuesday, along with three others, into the Kentucky Journalism Hall of Fame. Nelson, who began his career in the early 1970s, is noted for his efforts in pushing for open government in Kentucky, overseeing the first open records audit of the state while president of the Kentucky Press Association in 2004.

The terrible disease Reese Kemp has battled his entire life has left him smaller than average. He isn't quite 5 feet tall and weighs barely more than 80 pounds. But the 16-year-old has become larger than life. The West Jessamine High School freshman was given a key to the city by Nicholasville Mayor Russ Meyer , was honored by the Jessamine County Fiscal Court, and has been featured in stories by the Lexington Herald-Leader, WKYT, and Kentucky Sports Radio, among others. When a piece by the Louisville Courier-Journal was picked up by USA Today , the story of the Nicholasville boy who rubs elbows with several well-known University of Kentucky basketball and baseball players went national.

The Kentucky Pro Football Hall of Fame (KPFHOF) board has asked the city of Nicholasville to commit to $200,000 over the next five years for the first phase of the project's completion. KPFHOF chairman Jim Ed Shearer presented the board's request during Monday's city-commission workshop. The first phase of the project calls for the completion of a synthetic field at the field located at John Preece Park off Union Mill Road. “The synthetic turf is the biggest thing,” Shearer said.

John Nelson of Danville, executive editor of The Advocate-Messenger and its sister publications in Stanford, Nicholasville and Winchester, has been selected as an inductee to the Kentucky Journalism Hall of Fame. The induction ceremony will take place at noon April 23 at a location to be determined. Al Tompkins with the Poynter Institute will be the luncheon speaker. Nelson, a past president of the Kentucky Press Association, is one of five inductees. Also to be inducted are Marla Ridenour, Akron (Ohio)

After giving $106,000 over the past decade toward a facility not yet under construction, the Nicholasville Tourism Commission (NTC) is placing stricter guidelines on the Kentucky Pro Football Hall of Fame (KPFHOF) Board before it commits to another $100,000. During Friday's special-called meeting, the members of the tourism board made it clear that any more funds NTC gives the hall-of-fame committee would go toward actual construction, not operating costs. The NTC has agreed to donate $100,000 over the next five years to the hall-of-fame committee for the purpose of constructing a facility consisting of a multi-use synthetic turf, a stadium and the KPFHOF.

Jessamine County's Charles Miller was among five people inducted into the Kentucky Cattlemen's Association (KCA) Hall of Fame at this year's KCA Convention and Trade Show that took place Jan. 10-12 in Lexington.  Miller was nominated by Ron Ray, Jessamine County Cattlemen's Association president. “The Jessamine County Cattlemen's Association proudly endorses Charles because of his dedication to the beef cattle industry here in Jessamine County,” Ray said. Miller owns and operates a cattle backgrounding operation, works for a local real-estate auction company and volunteers his spare time to numerous organizations.

If I ever had any doubts about what impact a high school coach could make on lives, those doubts vanished Friday night. I spent two of the most enjoyable hours possible with former Danville football coach Ray Callahan and those who came to honor him on his induction Saturday night into the Danville Schools Athletics Hall of Fame. Callahan coached four years at Danville and led the Admirals to the 1962 state title, the school's first state championship. Numerous players from that 1962 team gathered to honor him as did players from his other teams.