Keeneland Magazine

NO2 2016

Keeneland, Investing in Racing's Future since 1936.

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76 SUMMER 2016 K KEENELAND.COM YMCA OF CENTRAL KENTUCKY making a difference but, for the most part, the High Street YMCA was the cen- terpiece of the system. Then, in 2000, Lexington's Y system took a giant leap and opened two new YMCA branches, one in the budding Beaumont neighborhood and the other on the north side of downtown, adjacent to the Lexmark corporate campus. Carol Martin "Bill" Gatton, for whom the Beaumont Y would later be renamed, donated the land for the Beau - mont location. (He also donated the land for Hamburg.) As at Hamburg, a YMCA was seen as a vital tool for knitting together a new and growing neighborhood. And the YMCA board supported the project, but its members also believed the Y would not be fulflling its mission if it opened a Y on Lexington's south side without also opening one on its underserved and less affuent north side. Lexmark donated the land for the North Lexington branch. In time each of Lexington's three Ys has developed its own persona. Molly Caldwell, president of the Kentucky Parks Foundation and chair of the North Lexington Y's managing board, says Left, David Martorano, presi- dent and CEO, and Bryan Rai- sor, chairman of the Hamburg Y's managing board MARK MAHAN Y FACTS • In Lexington the YMCA of Cen- tral Kentucky serves 68,000 people, including its members and program participants. Nationwide there are more than 2,700 YMCAs serving some 22 million Americans. Worldwide the Y serves 45 million people in 119 countries. • Membership fees provide 60 per- cent of the monies needed for the day- to-day operation the YMCA of Central Kentucky. The remainder comes from programming (28 percent) and contri- butions and grants (12 percent). • James Naismith invented basket- ball during a YMCA training school in Springfeld, Mass., in 1891. His boss had challenged Naismith, a physical education teacher, to come up with an indoor, wintertime sport. Naismith tacked peach baskets to a second-foor running track, posted a few rules, and basketball was born. • A YMCA instructor also invented volleyball in 1895 at a Y in Holyoke, Mass. It was designed as a game for businessmen who might not be ft enough to play basketball. • In Lexington in the early 1900s, the YMCA's men's basketball team had a 7-5 record against the University of Kentucky men's team. • The YMCA claims many frsts, in- cluding the frst indoor pool (Brooklyn, 1885); frst indoor fltered pool (Kansas City, 1910); frst group swim lesson (Detroit, 1907); and the frst English as a Second Language class (Cincinnati, 1956). • Events and organizations launched at Ys include Father's Day (1910, Spokane), the Boy Scouts of America, the Camp Fire Girls, the Gideons and Toastmasters, and the Negro National Baseball League. Sources: YMCA in America, 1851-2001: A History of Accomplishment Over 150 Years; YMCA.net and David Elsen, YMCA of Central Kentucky T h a n y o u f o r v o t i n g u s o n e o f t h e B e s t B a e r i e s 6 Y e a r s R u n n i n g Family owned since 1956 Come and See What's New for Breakfast and Lunch! 726 E. Main Street 859-255-9481 www.mageesbakery.com Kentucky Proud Products Coffee from Lexington Coffee & Tea All Natural Farm Fresh Eggs from Northfork Farms

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