Harold: No one knows Jim Host.

He's a piece of work.

Jon: He'd do anything he could to help a friend or help anybody.

P. G. Peeples: He's a compassionate person.

If he's your friend, he's your friend for life.

Larry: He truly is kind of a Kentucky legend.

Jane: You look at the Convention Center in Lexington, you look at the Horse Park, you look at the Yum!

Center.

Derrick: The World Equestrian Games was gigantic.

Linda: I don't think Rupp Arena would have been built, if it hadn't been for Jim.

Marc: Jim, by far, is the godfather of college sports marketing.

Dewitte: It wasn't just sports, it was also the arts.

John: He's had his fingers in so many different things.

He really is a true pioneer.

Abe: Easily, one of the most influential figures in college sports.

Ralph: When you talk about a game changer, think about Jim Host, he's certainly a game changer.

Female Narrator: Funding for this program is made possible in part by the KET Endowment for Kentucky Productions.

Male Narrator: Jim Host's first love was baseball, a game that demands discipline and determination.

An unwavering will to win and a selfless commitment to the advancement of others.

These same qualities would define Jim Host and his extraordinary career.

Wilford James Host was born November 23rd, 1937, in Kane, Pennsylvania.

By the time his family moved to Ashland, Kentucky in 1950, Jim's love of baseball was already laying a foundation for his future.

Jim: Well, I had a insatiable desire for statistics and I kept every baseball picture of every Major League Baseball player that I could find.

So, I was always a statistical nut, and I was always a sports nut as a result.

So, it didn't make any difference what sport it was, I understood it, knew it, loved baseball, and I think that had a lot to do with how I got started in business as well.

Jon: In 1953, I transferred to Ashland High School from a smaller school.

It was a huge school, I was scared to death, went around, sat in the back, so nobody could see me.

Staring straight ahead and this big hand comes across the aisle, "My name is Jim Host."

He was just so friendly and helpful, and when he found out I was alone there, he asked me to come down and have lunch with some of his friends and him, and we did that every day after that.

He was president of the class, president of student government.

Everybody knew Jim Host, so if he introduced you, then they listened.

He had his picture in the paper that week in his baseball uniform, and I said, "Oh, you play baseball?"

Well, I made a friend for life, I guess.

Jim: Really understanding sports helped me understand business, which meant that you had to work hard to excel in whatever sports you were doing.

You had to practice, you had to prepare well, if you have to do the same thing in business.

I used to practice in front of a mirror, continually, on motion - how can I make my motion better?

Same thing, practice in business - how can I make things better in terms of the business?

It's a career rooted in sports.

I mean, he was an intimidating pitcher with his fastball and his tall frame.

I hated to take batting practice against him because I heard the ball before I saw it, he threw so hard, and he always smiled, he knew what he was doing to me.

To strike somebody out in pitching is one of the most exhilarating feelings that exists because it's man against man.

Jon: And one day in the regional tournament, Jim pitched two games in one day, which was almost unheard of, but we were short of pitchers then, and he won them both then we went to the State tournament, and Jim got the first full baseball scholarship to UK.

Joe Dawson from Louisville and Jim got the first two UK ever gave.

Male Narrator: In 1955, Jim declined an offer to sign with the Detroit Tigers and accepted one of the first baseball scholarships offered in University of Kentucky history.

He was the first member of his family to go to college.

Jim set a very early baseline of achievement and wanting to do more and being the best that there was, and I think, that really has to be at the core of what drives him because it's not for a short period of time, this has been his entire life, this has been something that was ingrained in him at a very early age.

Derrick: He don't want to just compete, he wants to be the best, and that's how Jim is, and that's how he's ran his organizations.

They have to be the best, they don't want to be just a company in the running, they wanna be the best company.

Well, I'm fiercely competitive, I still am.

At in my 80s, I wake up every day thinking about this day is gonna be the best day of the rest of my life.

Now, how can I make it even better?

What do I need to do to make it better?

What do I need to do to work on the various boards, I'm working on?

What can I do to make them better?

What can I do to make things I touch better?

Male Narrator: At the University of Kentucky, Jim pursued an education in Sports Broadcasting, and at age 19 began announcing home games on the student radio station WBKY.

He broadcast Kentucky basketball games when he was a student at UK because he was a major, Television-Radio major.

Harold: Len Press was our instructor and our planner and inspiration, and the like.

Jim Host was a great sportscaster, obviously, and shared that enthusiasm for UK basketball, especially, but also football and the other sports.

Ralph: Jim and I were trained by Claude Sullivan.

So, the training that we've got in preparing for the ball games and our delivery and things of that nature, most of both of ours came from Claude.

So, we had a lot of similarities.

Jim: In sports, you practice, practice, practice, to get better, and then when you think you're good enough, you do it again, and the same thing in business- practice, practice, practice.

You can't practice enough.

Jon: Well, he signed the contract with the Chicago White Sox out of college and he was pitching in a Minor League, that's where they all start out, and hurt his arm badly, and that was before they had all this surgery and everything, so he couldn't go any further.

That's when he came back here and went into business.

First of all, I have an expression which is that, I love every minute of every day, that I can't sleep fast enough, and I get up every morning with a positive attitude of looking forward to the day and accomplishing something during the day.

So, I've never looked backwards.

If you look backwards, how can you see where you're going.

Male Narrator: When his dreams of a Major League Baseball career ended in 1959, Jim returned to Lexington and began working in radio, both on the air and on the sales team.

I got to know him when we were working together at WVLK radio in Lexington, in the late '50s and early '60s.

He was a sportscaster, but also a DJ.

We were fairly young at that time, both of us were roughly the same age and he was an all-around star at WVLK.

I would introduce him on the air as the host of hosts, and that stuck, that became his motto.

He was so full of energy and ideas and determination to make things happen.

Jim was the loudest play-by-play guy I have ever heard.

I mean, he was talking at the top of his voice.

Every word, everything he did was at top of his voice, and during a timeout, I leaned over and say, "Could you talk, be a little quieter?

You're feeding over my microphone," to which he looked at me and says, "Why don't you talk louder?"

And that was my first introduction to Jim Host, and we've been friends ever since.

One of the earliest things I learned when I was selling radio - which was really the first thing I did when I started - is that they're not gonna buy anything from you if they don't like you.

So, the first thing you have to do is to establish a relationship.

So, the personality is really important.

Jim is a personality within itself.

He can walk in a room and command everybody's attention.

He's tall, he's extremely good looking, but he did all the broadcasting, so he's got that broadcasting voice.

So, when he arrives at an event, you know Jim Host is there.

He's an acquired taste because he's not a retiring person, personality-wise.

You know, Jim occupies his space very well when he comes in.

Have you ever tried to tame a tornado?

He kept dozens of people following up on his ideas that he would generate just in the regular course of a day's work.

There's nobody I know that comes up with ideas faster than this man.

I mean, it's like, they just... they just... they just keep coming.

He was almost a maestro when he was in presentation mode.

He could present and he was that persuasive and that visionary that he could sell an idea better than most.

Well, that's a natural ability, I think that he has, but I think he really honed that skill and was trained to be a better salesman when he left and went to Procter & Gamble and worked for Procter & Gamble for a short time and went through their training program.

I think he's a P & G man all the way through, you know, when it comes to sales.

There is nothing more exhilarating than striking somebody out.

There's nothing more exhilarating than making a sale, and to me, I had just as much fun making $100 million sale or a $10 million sale, as I did making a $10,000 sale, had just as much fun with it; used to prepare for the same thing the same way because it was the art of the deal.

It was the art of getting it done.

Male Narrator: In 1960, Jim married Carolyn Clark with whom he'd have two children, Elizabeth and David, before divorcing years later.

After three years with Procter & Gamble, Jim returned to Lexington and formed a real estate and insurance firm.

An opportunity to work on Senator John Sherman Cooper's campaign led him into politics.

I don't think you can be successful in politics without knowing how to sell because you're selling yourself to the voters.

If you do not believe in yourself, how can anybody else believe in you?

Male Narrator: In 1967, Jim became the youngest member of Governor Louie Nunn's cabinet, and early in the administration, he helped his former professor at the University of Kentucky, Len Press, make the case to support statewide public television for the Commonwealth.

At age 29, he was named Commissioner of Public Information and later Parks Commissioner, developing a keen understanding of the importance of tourism and the inner workings of state government.

Jane: And Jim got involved in politics early on.

He was a man that you'd turned to if you were in government, because you knew he would get it done.

Harold: He had control of the State parks and other promotional things, and of course, that's where he polished his talent, at promoting things.

And boy, is he a promoter!

But when he was Parks Commissioner, you know, he did a lot and tried to improve the parks of Kentucky, tried to make them the very best in the country.

Male Narrator: Named 'The First Chairman of the Kentucky Horse Park Commission,' Host helped lead the effort to establish the park.

Larry: Then everybody knows the Kentucky Horse Park, and you know, what a jewel that is.

Jane: The Horse Park's beginnings were about tourism, and it was during the period of time when the Thoroughbred Farms in Lexington had closed to the tourist because of liability and issues like that.

So, Jim with John Gaines and others decided that we ought to provide that experience.

If we wanted to bring tourists to Kentucky the horse capital of the world - that we needed a place to bring them.

So, they began the process of trying to develop a working horse farm, and since then, it has grown to be a competition facility as well.

Male Narrator: Completed in 1978, the Kentucky Horse Park encompasses over 1200 acres in the heart of the Bluegrass.

Hosting premier equestrian events, it attracts visitors from around the world.

Linda: The Horse Park wouldn't have happened without John Gaines's idea, and it wouldn't have happened without Jim Host's knowledge of the inner workings of state government, people who had been involved in other projects, and he's just good at remembering connections of people and following up on them.

It's called connecting the dots.

Life and business is about being able to connect all the dots that you've been involved in, to help create opportunities for yourself or for others.

Harold: When he ran for Lieutenant Governor with Tom Emberton in '71, which I managed, he was a dynamo campaigner across this State, people loved him.

But Jim Host, put together in that campaign, his contacts from all around the State, that they all knew by first name basis, and he could whip them up in a speech.

Had he been our candidate for governor, I think he probably would have won.

Thought I was gonna win.

Never, never, never thought anything negative during the entire campaign until election night, and all at once I got beat, and I got beat badly.

He ran for lieutenant governor at a really young age, got involved in government.

Now, he had no money and, you know, he was rolling the dice, and a lot of people are defeated by that, I mean, and they're embittered by that process.

Nah, that's not Jim, and that's not his story.

Jane: When that wasn't successful, instead of saying, you know, I'm just gonna go home, he got busy and did other things and, you know, did not have to be the top in government to get things done.

You gotta learn how to fail.

You gotta learn how to get beat.

I mean, I didn't win every game when I was pitching and when I got beat, sometimes I get beat pretty bad, and you know, I picked myself back up and say, "Well, I gotta go again, but I'm gonna win the next time."

Personally, he was broke.

He had no money and owed a big debt from his campaign for lieutenant governor, and so it forced him to think outside the box.

In my mind, I believed that I could make something happen and I didn't know what it was, so I took a blank sheet of paper and I put a line down through them and I said, "What are my assets?

What are my deficits?"

I got a whole lot more deficits than I got assets, but I got a couple of assets.

Number one is, I really understand tourism because I had run it for the State for a period of time.

Number two, I really understand college sports because I was one of the first scholarship baseball players at Kentucky.

I loved this university.

I loved what we did in college athletics, and number three, I really understand radio and I really understand how to do play-by-play.

So, those are my assets.

What are my deficits?

Well, I owe a lot of money.

I don't have any income.

I don't have an office.

I don't have any help to be able to do what I'm doing, but I have a positive attitude that I'm gonna make something happen.

Jim Host started his business in 1972 as a one-man operation over a barber shop in Lexington, Kentucky with $107 to his name.

Male Narrator: Using the payphone at Ray's Barber Shop as his business line, Jim Host & Associates, began work with the Lexington Tourism and Convention Commission.

He continued making connections and building relationships, engaging with civic organizations like the JCs, the Rotary Club and the Chamber of Commerce.

I think when I first met him, he was the President of the Chamber of Commerce.

Jim and I were on a panel up at Transylvania and I think the panel had something to do with race relations.

Jim said something and I don't recall exactly what it was, but I did, like, I normally would do, I corrected him.

Jim said, well, if I don't get it, tell me what's missing, and from that point, Jim and I have been like that.

I was forthright in what I was saying, and he was equally as forthright, and I think that's why we both hit off so well because neither one of us were playing games.

If you're gonna be with him, he's gonna push, at the end of the day you'll be better.

I went in to see the banker who had a stake made during the campaign, Jake Graves (III), and he immediately said, "Well, I know how much you owe me, but I believe you're gonna make it.

I'm gonna advance you $10,000 you need for capital for your business."

Well, my gosh, he had belief in me.

I believed in myself.

I never forgot that, I never forgot that lesson, and then that's why over all these years, I've never refused to see a young person who wants to see me.

Male Narrator: As a group of UK basketball fans called the Alley Cats lobbied to build a larger venue to accommodate a growing fan base, city leaders asked Jim to help solve the problem of how to fund an arena and a convention center.

His solution combined those projects with a hotel and used a single source to design and build all three components.

The Lexington Center Board was created to guide the project and Jim was hired as its first Executive Director, overseeing all operations.

I think it took the energy that Jim brought us, and he was on top of everything.

He did his research, he did his contacts and he got things done.

I don't think it had been built without Jim.

He just grabs something by the teeth, and he will not let it go until it works out, and he's the one really who presented the idea of the way the Lexington Center could be funded.

It was a very complicated process that started with urban renewal.

It was kind of a "If you build it, they will come," and that's what happened.

[crowd applauding] Male Narrator: Completed in 1976 the Lexington Civic Center included a hotel, convention and retail space, and the 23,500-seat Rupp Arena, home of the University of Kentucky Wildcats.

Continuing to expand, it remains one of the nation's most storied entertainment and convention destinations.

One thing that Jim Host has always believed is that entertainment comes in many forms.

It can be going to a basketball game or a football game, it can be going to the theater, so many people when they have that opportunity, it's life changing.

Jim, after he had served as Executive Director of the Lexington Center, then came on to the Opera House fund board.

Male Narrator: Built in 1886, the Lexington Opera House fell into disrepair and was saved from demolition by the efforts of the Lexington Center Board.

Dewitte: And Jim was part of the people that helped raising the money.

They did their research on it, it could be redone, needed being brought up to date, but it was a beautiful whole facility.

Why would you get rid of it?

Male Narrator: Now, on the National Register of Historic Places, the restored theater hosts both local and national touring productions.

[crowd singing] In other historic preservation efforts, Jim as Parks Commissioner, worked with First Lady Beula Nunn to preserve the Mary Todd Lincoln home, the Henry Clay Law Offices and Cassius Clay's White Hall.

There's hardly anything that is worthwhile that has happened in Lexington that Jim Host hasn't had a hand in it.

Male Narrator: While the projects he undertook locally benefited Kentucky tourism, Jim Host's influence on the tourism industry had a national impact.

He also had a contract with the National Tour Association at the time, it was called the National Tour Brokers Association in those days, and so he ran the Association.

He was actually the Executive Director, which gave him real insights to the way Associations operated and work, but more importantly, it gave him a network of contacts all across the United States for people that were running tours, and Jim having been involved in State and understanding how important tourism was to the State of Kentucky, really understood what tourism meant across the United States.

Male Narrator: Jim served as Executive Director of the National Tour Association for 25 years and with his dedicated staff dramatically increased its membership, helping make group tour and travel, a vital part of the nation's travel economy.

He was appointed by President Bill Clinton to the National Parks Advisory Board for his expertise in the industry.

Marc: So, he really had his hands in a lot of stuff, but his passion at the end of the day was really University of Kentucky basketball and University of Kentucky sports.

Archive: Yeah, now he lets it fly.

Intercepted by Kentucky.

Kickoff by Kennel.

He's in midfield, he may go.

He's at the 30, he's at the 20, 10, 5.

Touchdown!

Ralph: There was a company out of New York that owned the broadcasting rights for the University of Kentucky football and basketball on radio, and they put the games up every four years for bids.

Well, Jim came to me one night, I remember being at The Barn Dinner Theater and he said, "I'm going to bet on the UK games if I get them, why don't you work with us?"

I said, "Of course, I will."

So, Jim bid for the games, got the rights to the games.

I was the General Manager of WVLK Radio, Ralph Gabbard, my lifelong friend ran Channel 27, so the three of us got together, put everything in a pod and it became the University of Kentucky Network with all of the programs and all of the shows being broadcast under one umbrella which we call Host Communications.

He eventually grew that network into one of the largest in the region, and he built his business really around Kentucky basketball.

Then he bought a publishing company, and he began printing programs, and then he'd sell advertising in the programs, and then he'd sell advertising on the radio broadcast.

Marc: Remember, he was a play-by-play announcer.

He understood this business and he had a real passion for it, and he worked with some of the best broadcasters in the world, I mean, Cawood was the voice of the University of Kentucky, but he's voice of the Final Four.

Archive: This one could do it.

This one could be it.

Conner, with all the pressure in the world on him, let's it fly, and it is-- Good!

And Kennel is getting a lecture from the Kentucky bench, like... Ralph: We were in San Diego between the Louisville and Syracuse game, I leaned over to this guy for mutual broadcasting, and I said something about, "What are you guys paying for the rights?"

He told me, I leaned back and told Jim, so this is what he said, he said, "We're paying more than that for the State of Kentucky and they got the entire United States."

So, Jim literally jumps up, goes down and I see him down here.

He's got two of the guys, Tom Jernstedt and Dave Cawood.

He's got them both like this.

He's in between them.

He's got them, you know, his hands are around their neck and he's talking to them, and Cawood looked over at me and says this, after he's off the air and he says, "What's he doing?"

I said, "I think he's getting the broadcast rights nationwide."

He comes back and he says to me, "We got 'em.

We got 'em."

Abe: And then he began bundling, like, all of these rights together - sponsorship, advertising, media.

Now, Jim Host would guarantee a college or university, a certain amount of revenue and then he would go sell it.

And it was really his passion for the sport.

His integrity, people trusted him, and he would do what he said he was gonna do, and there were times when he would spend more than he probably should, ever, would, have, and he stood by it even if he, you know, was having trouble figuring out how to pay for it.

It started with the University of Kentucky and as news of this, like, bundled rights packet spread throughout the country, other schools wanted similar deals and soon Host Communications had these rights to more than 20 schools.

I mean, the company's annual revenue at one time exceeded $140 million.

Jim began to think about how you could take that technique and bring corporate sponsorship into the NCAA, and he went out and we talked about it and met with Walter Byers, and he pitched Walter the idea and Walter said, "Get outta here, I'm not interested in that.

I don't need any help selling the Final Four."

And while corporate sponsorship was not new to sports, it was still pretty new to college athletics.

So, the NCAA was not excited about this idea at all.

But he convinced him that the NCAA was worth a lot more than CBS television was paying him for the rights, or NBC television at that particular time was paying for the rights.

He convinced them of what they had, he showed him what they had, and he showed him how to expand what they were doing.

He had to lead the NCAA to where the NCAA needed to be.

That's kind of the sales personality he has, you know, he kind of sees, "I know what the end result is.

I can get you there, but you gotta come along with me," and that's exactly what happened with the NCAA.

And really by 1990 Host Communications -- Jim Host's business -- was selling corporate sponsorships across the NCAA, and he essentially founded college sports marketing both at a national level and the local university level, and in the process, he became easily one of the most influential figures in college sports.

We sat down and we created this concept that you would come in, become an NCAA sponsor and you would have to sponsor all of the sports for both men and for women.

It created record revenues back for the NCAA to go into basketball, into those sports and do things for all of the non-revenue sports that were not profitable.

He made the NCAA a stronger organization.

He provided better opportunities for student athletes, but I think there's a wide swath of collegiate athletics that really should look at Jim Host and really examine the impact that he's had and turn around and thank him.

He was involved in creating real value for the women's side of the equation.

I think he recommended or suggested, "What do you think about the Woman of the Year Award?"

And then all of a sudden, we create this program, which today is one of the most prestigious awards that the NCAA gives for women athletics.

John: He was very active in getting women enshrined into the Basketball Hall of Fame, but he truly was that visionary, and always out front.

He works at a very fast pace, Jim Host is very tough to keep up with, and he always kind of led the charge and it strikes me that he always thought that we need to do these things and he wasn't quite sure how he was gonna do it, but he knew he had to do it and he was gonna figure it out.

Dewitte: Jim's just a go-getter.

He gets up with his motor running first thing in the morning, and he never stops.

Well, his favorite saying was, "I can't sleep fast enough," and I think that speaks to the man he is.

He would work hard.

Whenever Jim answered the telephone, he would not say "Hello," he would say "Go!"

He had this hard charging personality.

Jim was in the office by 7:00-7:30.

The whole time I worked at Host Communications, he would work late, and he was always on-the-go.

He was kind of a bustle of energy moving from place to place.

He loved those early morning meetings and he'd say, "Be here at 6."

We'd say, "Well, what about 7?

Wouldn't that work better?"

And he would yield to it, but we better be there on time at 7.

Number one, never be late to a meeting.

He could be very stern, at times, especially when you were late to a meeting or an appointment.

Always being ahead of time.

15 minutes ahead of time is on time, and on time is late, and I ran every bit of my business that way, I was involved in athletics that way.

I was always tried to be the first one on the field, tried to be the first one to sprint on the field.

Always did more, always under promise and over deliver, and I try to do that in athletics, and I've tried to do it in business, and I still try to do it every meeting that I'm involved in, whether in running, as a Chairperson I started on time, whether everybody's there or not, and people get used to that sort of discipline.

And he was a good communicator, and he was stern about what he wanted, and he was pretty direct about it, and if you didn't do it the way he wanted you to do it, he would pull you aside and he'd tell you, this is what I expect, this is what I want you to do, but he would listen, if you had an idea or if you had something that you thought could help the business.

People that know me pretty well, know that I'm very direct and I usually say what's on my mind.

I don't try to alienate people, but I do sometimes.

That's an understatement.

Jim saying, he can be difficult is definitely an understatement.

He can be tough and obstinate and stubborn and all the things that any successful person who has conviction about something can be.

So, he had a tendency because he can't help but tell you what he thinks, to tell people what they thought, and sometimes it could be off-putting if they didn't want to hear it, but there was an endearing side of Jim that offset that stern taskmaster stuff.

Jim will push you and he really don't care whether you like it or not.

That's just Jim, but that's why Jim was such a successful businessperson.

He's a strong-willed person, but very honest, very candid, you know, he will not allow you to be second best because he's not gonna ever be second best, and if you're gonna be around him, you're gonna get better or you're gonna get gone.

He wanted all of his people to be very, very honest, whether it be print, whether it be broadcast, whatever happened to be.

He wanted everything straightforward.

When you work with Jim, you know what he expects.

You know what kind of person he is, and I think what he does is he brings everybody up to his level.

If you're gonna work with Jim Host, you're gonna go by his rules, but I like rules.

Two rules of business.

Number one is, you do not lie or misrepresent about anything.

If you do, you're immediately fired.

Number two, you don't steal five cents from expense account.

If you do, you're immediately fired.

Those two things are integrity and character.

Male Narrator: Though his company thrived, Jim still faced challenges.

A disappointing negotiation at a failed merger was offset by the emergence of a new love in his life, Pat Quantrell née.

The couple would marry in 1990.

Marc: There was this lady who just brought a sparkle to Jim.

He really loved her and liked her early and that like turned into love.

Jane: I really don't know when they first-- when their relationship first developed, but I can tell you it's a loving relationship.

Jim, never, never, at any time that I talk to him, does not say I have the most beautiful, wonderful wife.

Dewitte: Pat's got a lot of energy too and he met his match there.

So, it was a love affair that worked, but it was also a partnership that worked.

Marc: I tell you he's as happy in that relationship as I've ever seen him, and I feel like that they make for good teammates and good partners.

She's the greatest human being I've ever been around in my life.

We'll be married 34 years next May, and we've never had a cross moment, never a tenseness in our household.

She inspires me every minute of every day.

And ironically, this was at a time when we were in the middle of negotiating, the CBS rights were going on at this time.

There was a company called Creative Sports Marketing that Bray Cary ran.

Jim had decided to merge our company with Bray.

After a period of time, it became clear that, that merger probably was not going to go well, and he said, "Look, we're gonna break this merger up, but we're gonna need some help."

Pat had agreed to lend the money to the company to be able to bridge us during that very, very crucial time, and it saved the company because we could have easily missed payroll, missed the rights fee payment or something have happened, and Pat was very instrumental in Jim's life and instrumental in the company surviving during that period of time.

I have probably lost more money over a period of time than anybody in business history, over walking away from deals that I knew weren't right for our company, weren't right for me personally, weren't right overall, and so, rather than stew about it, rather than do a deal that I knew wasn't in the ethical best interest of our company or anything else, I would just simply say I'm not interested in it.

I believe very strongly in winning and being competitive, but I also believe very strongly that you do it right, ethically and morally, and in every other way.

Abe: You know, in the end, Jim Host, he changed the relationship between sports and business in the conservative world of college athletics and academics.

Also, his influence was significant and widespread.

College and university presidents turned to him, athletic directors turned to him, coaches turned to him.

It seemed like whenever there was a key business decision to make, Jim Host was consulted and yes, he was a major salesman, but he was also a major visionary.

I mean, he is a visionary and I think he's a master at recognizing people, and their potential.

Derrick: When I moved back here, I went and spoke with C. M. Newton who was our Athletic Director at the time.

I told him I want to get involved with our athletic program.

C. M., then told me to go and meet with Jim Host.

I remember I called him, and he says, "Yeah, I've spoken with C. M., and we can meet tomorrow morning at my office, be here at 6 a.m." 6 a.m.?

Sure.

And I wanted the opportunity, if he said 5, I would have been there.

So, I go there.

I'm meeting him at 6 a.m., and we talk roughly for 15 minutes, if that, and he told me what he was expecting of me, how important it was to be professional.

You gotta be on time, you gotta do your research, you gotta study, and so he was a person that was like an old coach, that was always grindin' you and grindin' you, because he knew that there was something better in there, and so I was always up for the challenge.

P. G. Peeples: He's made Derrick a better person.

He's made me a better person, and everybody who's been around him, if they're totally honest, they'll tell you the same thing.

It stinks sometime, but you could care less about you being stunk, because he knows that what he's saying and doing is right.

Jim has no problem with friction, and some would think that he likes friction.

Not really, not really.

He just want the best result.

I think it just may have been his competitiveness and his wanting to be the best at whatever it was, that brought that drive forward, and when he brought it up in him, he wanted you to be the best.

He wanted you to be the best at what you could do.

I remember Jim Host staying in charge until 2003 when he retired, and IMG the huge agency eventually bought Host Communications in 2007 and rebranded it IMG College.

Male Narrator: While Jim Host's sports marketing career was now behind him, some of his greatest achievements still lay ahead.

In 2004, Jim returned to state government as Commerce Secretary and Governor Ernie Fletcher's administration.

Derrick Ramsey was appointed Deputy Secretary.

Well, I'm proud of a lot of things, but if I had to pick two projects that really stand out - one is Kentucky Horse Park, and the second is the KFC Yum!

Center in Louisville.

Jim saw the opportunity to be able to help facilitate building a significant building like this, and he saw it as not just doing it for the University of Louisville, but really a gift for the State because it does belong to all of us.

Jim was Cabinet Secretary at that time, and he came back with the idea that the Governor would love to help Louisville to be able to get their own arena and their own facility on campus.

We made the case for how the return to the taxpayers and to the people would be so much greater.

If you did it downtown, the development would spread out from downtown with, you know, restaurants and other businesses and so forth, which has happened.

This would not have happened without Jim, just would not have happened, you know, because when you're putting big pieces like that together, when you're talking about state funds, when you're talking about city funds, you're talking about university funds, and you got all these different components to this thing, to make them actually fit and come together, it's no small task.

Larry: Jim was the facilitator for that.

You had a Republican governor with Ernie Fletcher, a democrat mayor of Louisville at the time, Jerry Abramson, and Jim and a couple of others of us that were involved in this thing, and it wasn't political, it wasn't parochial, it wasn't anything, it was, this is what we need.

It's probably a prime example of how we ought to seize opportunities and solve problems.

He says his job is to connect the dots.

So, he was able to connect the dots between Democrats and Republicans, you know, that after all, we are all Kentuckians.

He just never was one of those that held his party above everything else, he held the State above everything else.

Larry: Jim's whole engagement with dealing with both the unions - the labor unions, the local urban league, and so forth- in terms of using specific kinds of labor and conscious of minority participation and women participation, and Jim codified that into agreements.

What I did with the KFC Yum!

Center is to make sure we had over 20% of the people hired on the job were minorities and so on, and I drove that to make it the first project ever done in this State, that had the minority hiring goals met; did it through the unions, did it all by making sure that we adhered to all of that.

Jim was a 500-pound gorilla.

He sits in the way he wants to, but he would go there and he really, really made sure that they had diversity, and with the people who worked on that project, because Jim is a fair person.

He thinks that we all should be treated equal, but the only way you can do that is someone's got to stand up and speak truth to power and Jim will do that.

He is a project manager par excellence.

I mean, he wants you to do what you said you were gonna do, when you said you were gonna do it, and it's not an easy conversation you're gonna have if something gets in the way of that, I mean, Jim can be pretty stern with his expectations about that.

So, what you see happening and I saw it happen with some of the contractors that were here, that's the last conversation they really wanted to have.

So, they were doing everything they could to do what they said they were gonna do, when they were gonna do it, and it takes up somebody with that kind of personality and that kind of confidence.

I remember at the time, Host telling me that he was getting up at like 4 a.m. every day, driving to Louisville, working on this project, coming back home late at night and so forth, for months.

Larry: Jim never turned in a receipt.

Jim didn't turn in any expense reports at all.

This was really a labor of love for him.

Jane: The dedication that he gave for that facility and what it provides for Louisville, both in sports, which is his love, but also as an entertainment facility, we wanted to see it finished and we knew the person to get it finished was Jim Host, because there ain't another one like him.

Male Narrator: The KFC Yum!

Center opened in 2010 as the home court arena of the Louisville Cardinals.

It is among the largest multipurpose venues in the country, attracting visitors each year for concerts, games and events.

While that success drew national attention, Jim Host's efforts in another arena put his home state in the international spotlight as Kentucky hosted the World Equestrian Games.

Jane: Jim was instrumental with Ernie Fletcher at that point in time of getting us the bid to put on the World Equestrian Games, first time that had ever been done in the United States.

Jim was the guy that helped push that along.

When you put Jim and Pearse Lyons together with Dr. Lyons, I mean, there was little that they wouldn't think of and little that they wouldn't try to do, I mean, neither one operated without having a big vision.

Derrick: I was a part of the team that brought the World Equestrian Games here in 2010, and that was under Jim's tutelage because it was all under our cabinet, and so again, he allowed me to now go on an international stage to get some more experience, and so I'm always thankful to him because he again, not only challenged me, but he trusted in my abilities and allowed me to go, and see, and do, and accomplish things that I could never have imagined.

It was the World Equestrian Games, and you had people literally from all over the world, and you had people that were helping to fund it from all over the world.

And we did it well, you know, it took many people, a lot of money, but we showed the rest of the world how beautiful Kentucky was, how wonderful its people were, and how great the horse is, and I give Jim so much credit for being, you know, a part of that.

All these things he did after he left Host Communications was in his free time.

He would do stuff like that.

So, he's a bit of big, big advocate for the State and everything it represents.

Jane: After Jim and I became involved with the park and with the World Games and other things, we were doing the centennial - the 100-year anniversary of the governor's mansion.

He helped me raise over a million dollars for an endowment for this governor's mansion, and it's evident for anybody that comes here and walks through this Centennial Garden.

When people gave money, the stone was placed here to remind people of the commitment.

The only way that you keep these treasures is if we all support them.

So, regardless of who lived here - Democrat, Republican, or whatever, this mansion would still be here as a gift to the people of Kentucky.

Larry: What he exudes is a love for his State, and he's never forgotten the region that he comes from in Eastern Kentucky and he's proud of that, but he's not just someone who's wed to the University of Kentucky and Central Kentucky and Eastern Kentucky, Jim truly has a love for this entire State and he has knowledge of the opportunities and the disadvantages and advantages that people in the State have in different regions, and it is very different.

And some of our communities still today, there is no internet source, and I know that was something that Jim cared deeply about, and I know that Congressman Rogers and I know Jim is still involved in it.

They're doing everything they can to remedy this because this is how we become competitive.

We've got to do something that's different, and so out of that came an organization called SOAR (Shaping Our Appalachian Region), which Host to helps us devise, and he signed on to help me and others sell this idea of bringing the internet into the hills and hollers of Eastern Kentucky.

I felt strongly that we need to have broadband in 2003, and so it's been something that I've worked on all that time as a volunteer.

KentuckyWired has been a passion of mine.

Don't get in the way if Kentucky is to benefit because he will be there at your side to help pull through whatever it is civically, that you're doing in his beloved State, and he knows how to build connections, build an organization, build a movement, and that helped me with things like creating civic groups, like, unite to fight the drug problem.

He was instrumental in that.

But he's a very civic-minded person, but he's been of enormous help to me in my job as congressman.

It's what he did with all those connections, like, putting the track and field in the west end of Louisville, in that venue that was built down there, and bringing in NCAA events.

Jim: Then I went to see her, Sadiqa Reynolds.

I said I'd help her.

Well, we've put it together, she did, it was her drive.

We built the first track and field indoor complex, it's the best one in the country.

We gotta finish this now, an unbelievably successful facility.

Jim is a guy he has an entrepreneur spirit and he's a business guy, but he really has a servant's heart.

I mean, he will meet with anybody that calls him.

It's pretty incredible the number of people that he mentors, and he loves every minute of it.

Abe: You know, the amazing thing about Jim Host is his executive tree.

He has disciples across the sports business to this day.

He mentored so many, and jumpstarted so many careers.

He let the young people who worked for him, spread their wings.

Jim Host never had to be front and center, he really loved to see his young people succeed.

"You can talk to me.

I will give you time, I will help you," and so, the number of young people over a period of time that I've met with, to be able to help them get started, and a number of them today are successful, have gone on to be great things.

I'm very proud of a lot of them.

And there's really no difference between the Jim Host you see when he's talking to your grandson and when he's talking to the CEO that we all recognize those names.

That's just Jim, and he doesn't spend all his time thinking about how something benefits Jim Host, he spends all his time trying to solve problems and move projects forward.

Jim Host got the Bunn Lifetime Achievement Award, and he was speaking to the audience and Jim Host has a message for everybody, right -- you know, people ought to participate in their communities.

Make sure that if you, you know what you have you're giving back, taking a portion of that.

Those that are rewarded with much have an obligation to reach out to their communities - and I think that was Jim's message to everyone at that enshrinement ceremony, I think it's a consistent message and Jim lives and breathes that message every day, both in Kentucky, and I think, around the country.

Using someone like Jim as a role model will encourage people to be successful in business, to be successful in their personal life, and to give back to their State and their community.

He was on the Basketball Hall of Fame.

He was on their board of trustees and very involved in building the new Hall of Fame up in Springfield.

He invited me to go up to the Basketball Hall of Fame, on the induction weekend.

John: He gets up very early.

He plants himself in the hotel lobby, and I've watched this, it is like the Pope; people go by, they stop, they talk, and they move along, and then the next person comes, and there's a little bit of a line.

You see this guy, this tall fella coming over and he looks a bit familiar, and he comes walking over and sees Jim and he grabs him and says, "Mr.

Host.

Mr.

Host."

It was Julius Erving.

You go two steps, and this guy comes up, this older fella, he's Bob Cousy.

Later on, the CEO of ESPN.

They all knew about him because of things that he was involved in, that was beneficial to them.

Abe: And it's just amazing to have all these people, big names in college basketball, and the media community, come up and pay homage to Jim Host, that speaks volumes to the impact that he's had.

Male Narrator: Jim Host is a recipient of three honorary doctorates and over 14 different lifetime achievement and hall of fame awards from organizations across the country.

He continues to mentor and consult his entrepreneurial spirit, changing the game with every project he touches.

Jim's integrity, I think is visible in everything that he's done.

Everything that he has been a part of was not for his own personal gain, but it was for the State, or for the community.

I think Jim's idea is, life is not about money, it's not about how much you have, it's about how much you give.

Whether it's your time or your energy or your own money itself.

You can be successful, and you certainly can make more money, but the opportunity to make a difference to people in their lives... To have mattered to your community.

I think that's something that people are maybe just born with, whatever it is, Jim Host has it.

People can be long gone, and you know, and the things that Jim did, when he takes his last breath, he will know that he's made this a better place.

I've got the greatest life anybody could ever have.

I've got the greatest future anybody could have.

I've got the greatest wife anybody could have.

I've got the greatest life, I mean, and so, no, I don't want to live my life over again.

I'm sure I'll come back in another form someday, I don't know, but with whatever time I got left I'm gonna maximize every minute of every day doing the best I can.

Take me out to the ball game, Take me out with the crowd Buy me some peanuts and Cracker Jack, I don't care if I ever come back Oh, let's root, root, root for the Wildcats, If they don't win, it's a shame For it's one, two, three strikes, you're out At the old ball game.

Hey!

Female Narrator: Funding for this program is made possible in part by the KET Endowment for Kentucky Productions.