Rumors

Following the construction of the $450 million, 22,500-seat KFC Yum! Center complex, the Louisville Metro Government expended a significant amount of taxpayer funds, in an attempt to lure an NBA franchise to the arena; all to no avail. The KFC Yum! Center was completed, after a bitter controversy in which University of Louisville athletics director Tom Jurich, along with University of Louisville president James Ramsey, local pizza magnate John Schnatter, and Humana co-founder David Jones, expressed serious concerns and reservations about the project. Current estimates indicate that the total debt on the bonds used to finance the arena will amount to at least $573 million, over 30 years.

Examiner

Toronto coach Dwane Casey, currently in his fourth season as a head coach, admitted Friday he almost joined a hospital company rather than joining the coaching ranks coming out of Kentucky in the late 1970s. Casey was a backup point guard on coach Joe B. Hall’s UK team that posted a 30-2 record on the way to winning the 1978 NCAA championship. The Morganfield, Ky., native spoke fondly of his days playing for the Wildcats, who beat Duke in the ’78 finals. But he also said he had no intention of becoming a coach. “I wasn’t going to be a coach,” he said. “My senior year I walked into coach Hall’s office and I was lost. There was a company called Humana and a guy named Wendell Cherry was the owner. He was a Kentucky grad and he wanted to hire me.”

Standard-Examiner