At the end of the 1978 spring semester, it was time for me to go through my first tryout process. Actually, we had tryouts for two squads, but the second tryout process was in the fall semester. In April, we selected five couples for the Wildcat squad. I decided to increase the size of the squad from five to six couples; several SEC squads were now six couples. Then, in the fall, we had tryouts for the Lady Kat squad. Since I had the vision of using the cheerleaders more in a public relations role, I decided to add some emphasis in the areas of the interviews, appearance, and enthusiasm. I raised the total of the scores in those areas. Two former cheerleaders were on my first panel of judges. They were Darlene Silvestri and Cathy Crum Bell. That was the beginning of a long-time judging relationship. Although Cathy, as a school teacher and then senior administrator in the Fayette County School System (now retired), has managed to let high school spring vacation take her away from tryout judging a few times, Darlene has only let a world tour to one or two exotic places take her away. In today’s world, you cannot buy loyalty that great. I believe Cathy has judged 20 of the last 28 tryouts and Darlene has judged 26 of my 28 years!

I had known COL. Jim Alcorn since my undergraduate days. I really don’t recall when we first met. After retiring as head of the Army ROTC at UK, he became a UK administrator. I admired him, and viewed him as a student-friendly administrator; I always felt that we had a mutual admiration society. When I received my undergraduate degree (spring 1968), I had planned to go to law school; however, at the height of the Viet Nam war, the draft had other plans for me. Rather than being drafted, I enlisted and applied to go to Office Candidate School (OCS). Due to the numbers of persons going to OSC, there was a delay in my entering into the service. At that time, COL. Alcorn was in charge of the Placement Service at UK. I went to visit him, seeking advice as to what I might do for the six months delay period. Before I left his office, he had me an interview for a teaching position in the Clark County (Winchester) School System. I went for the interview the next day and start teaching the next week.

The 2005-2006 Kentucky Cheerleading squad.

The 2004-05 Kentucky Cheerleading squad.

The 2003-04 Kentucky Cheerleading squad.

The 2002-2003 Kentucky Cheerleading squad.

The 2001-02 Kentucky Cheerleading squad.

The 2000-01 Kentucky Cheerleading squad.

The 1999-2000 Kentucky Cheerleading squad.

The 1998-99 Kentucky Cheerleading squad.