Thursday, January 18, 2018

1918 INFLUENZA RAVAGED UK AND THE COMMONWEALTH


Student patients and nurses in the temporary hospital
established in the gymnasium.
In 1918 the flu became so bad that the University of Kentucky closed for a time that fall.

The flu outbreak caused illness and loss of life across the commonwealth and few Kentuckians escaped its impact.  My grandmother, Leila Phillips Birdwhistell, was pregnant with her second child when she was stricken with the flu that year.  She lost her baby, and even more devastating, learned that because of complications she could not have more children.  This made my father an only child at a time when farmers had large families to help with work around the farm.

In a 2006 report Alex Azar, Deputy Secretary of Health and Human Service described the devastation of the 1918 flu in Kentucky.


“Kentucky saw its first cases of influenza during the last week of September 1918. Infected troops traveling on the Louisville and Nashville Railroad stopped off in Bowling Green, KY, where they passed the virus on to a few of the local citizens.”

“By the time the first week ended, Louisville had already suffered an estimated 1,000 cases of influenza.  The pandemic grew even worse in ensuing weeks. Louisville alone lost 180 people each week from influenza during the second and third weeks after it struck.”

On October 6, the Kentucky State Board of Health announced the closing of "all places of amusement, schools, churches and other places of assembly."

By late October “state officials reported more than 5,000 cases of the flu. Over the next three weeks, they reported over 8,000 more.  Even as late as mid-December 1918, Kentucky was so overwhelmed by the disease that a local health officer sent an urgent telegram to Surgeon General Rupert Blue requesting that the U.S. Public Health Service take over the administration of health work until the influenza epidemic had abated.”

Medical staff outside the gymnasium
In his November, 1918 report to the UK Board of Trustees President Frank McVey noted that "the University closed for about a month from October 11 to November 6."  There had been "352 cases of influenza in the hospital, the total number of deaths had been 7" and "there were 43 cases of influenza at the university, 15 of which were convalescents." 


McVey added that while UK was again open it remained "under quarantine."  The "men of the Students' Army Training Corps were confined to the camp" and "the girls of Patterson Hall and Maxwell Hall are not permitted to leave the halls except to attend classes." 

By December the women's dormitories closed because of a shortage of help as nearly all assistants were ill.  The women students were sent home.





Friday, January 12, 2018

SU-KY Circle and the Origins of UK Cheerleading

Organized cheerleading at UK began with the founding of the Su-Ky Circle in 1920-21.  SU-KY stood for State University of Kentucky.  The K-Book the following year offered a brief history of how the organization came to be.
  
K-Book, 1921-22
Women and men students tried out and participated in activities earning points to become a member of Su-Ky and over time it became one of the most important student organizations on the campus.  Steve Clark and Barbara Zweifel wrapped streamers around a goal post in 1959 to earn points towards SUKY membership.


SU-KY founder, Stanley A. "Daddy" Boles (1887-1961), grew up on a farm in Grant County, Kentucky and attended Kentucky Wesleyan College (located in Winchester, Ky. at that time).  He earned the nickname "Daddy" as a member of the Wesleyan football team because someone observed he was so much larger than the other players.

After earning his undergraduate degree Boles received an M.A. degree from Vanderbilt University.  His first coaching position was at Locust Grove Institute in Georgia..  He later coached at Polytechnic College, now Southern Methodist University and Texas Christian University before coming to UK in as director of physical education and assistant with athletics teams .
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Stanley A. "Daddy" Boles
In 1917-18 Boles coached both the football team (3-5-1) and the basketball team (9-2-1).  The tie game in basketball resulted from an official scoring error discovered after the game ended.  He was appointed Athletics Director the following year and served in that position until 1933.  Boles is credited with hiring Adolph Rupp.

Boles founded the Kentucky State High School Basketball Tournament in 1919 and for many years the tournament was held in UK's Alumni Gym.


Modern UK cheerleaders have established a national reputation having won 21 National Championships including 17 of the last 23 national titles.  This year the UK cheerleaders will represent the United States at the Winter Olympics in South Korea.

A recent Kentucky Kernel story by Bailey Vandiver highlighted the history of one of the most popular cheers at UK men's basketball games, the Y.  Check it out!  http://www.kykernel.com/

  

Saturday, January 6, 2018

New Dining Hall

A new dining hall, Champions Kitchen, opens this week in the soon to be completed UK student center.  The 750 seat facility will offer a bakery, a breakfast station, a salad bar, and a "worry free zone" where food is prepared is a special room free of gluten, peanuts, tree nuts, or shell fish. (1.6.18 Herald-Leader)

Nearly a century ago in January, 1919 UK also announced a new dining hall.  The facility was located in two rooms in the basement of the Main Building formally occupied by the stenographic bureau.  The area, which could accommodate 250 patrons, included a kitchen and dining area with small tables, newly painted woodwork, and grey furniture that made "a very pleasing appearance..." 

The dining hall, operated by the Home Economics Department, served three meals a day cafeteria style “at moderate prices" (breakfast 20 cents, lunch 25 cents, and dinner 45 cents).   However, during the first weeks of operation the new dining hall only served lunch since "the Home Economics students" were "unusually busy with the coming Farmer's Week.

Fifteen women students worked in the dining hall at least six hours each week and received credit toward laboratory work and were also paid.  Any profits from the dining hall were used to purchase new equipment with the remainder going to the Home Economics Department.

Kentucky Kernel, January 23, 1919

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Kentucky Kernel, January 23, 1919