Louisville, KY (August 8, 2014) – The Kentucky Derby Museum has announced that Greg Keightley has joined the museum as its new Director of Marketing.

Mr. Keightley who had been Marketing Director with the Southern Kentucky Performing Arts Center (SKyPAC) in Bowling Green, KY will oversee marketing and public relations activities at the Kentucky Derby Museum. Keightley was instrumental in launching the performing arts center’s brand in 2012, when the center first opened, and leading its ongoing marketing initiatives.

“Greg’s wealth of marketing experience and knowledge has already made him a key addition to the Kentucky Derby Museum family,” noted Lynn Ashton, Executive Director of the Kentucky Derby Museum. “We view his appointment as a sign of our commitment to the growth of the museum and its brand stature.”

Prior to SKyPAC, Keightley’s experience includes work in the financial services industry. He worked with Hibernia National Bank in New Orleans, LA as SVP, Marketing Communications and SVP, Regional Marketing and Sponsorships. He joined Capital One Bank as Director of Regional Marketing and Sponsorships at its regional headquarters in Plano, TX, and left as the banking division’s Director of Sponsorships, where he managed an $11M sponsorship portfolio.

“I am very excited to join the one and only Kentucky Derby Museum,” said Keightley. “I see tremendous opportunities to build upon the great work that has been done at the museum. I look forward to promoting the cultural attraction within the local and regional communities and to the national and international guests who visit Louisville. Preserving the history and sharing the fun and excitement of the Kentucky Derby while attracting tourists to Louisville will now become a part of my marketing DNA.”

Keightley is a Bowling Green, KY native and attended Western Kentucky University where he earned a BA, Broadcast Communications.

About Kentucky Derby Museum

The Kentucky Derby Museum is a 501(c)3 non-profit museum in Louisville, KY dedicated to sharing the fun of the Kentucky Derby experience. www.derbymuseum.org

The Nova Scotia Sport Hall of Fame is pleased to partner with the Museum of Industry in order to host a section of a traveling exhibit on gold in Nova Scotia. Visit the NS Sport Hall of Fame in the Halifax Metro Centre and discover the role that gold has played in Nova Scotia’s rich sport heritage. Gold in Society: Gold as Reward will be installed in the Hall of Fame gallery until the end of August, and, as always, admission is free.

The full traveling exhibit, titled Gold: A Nova Scotia Treasure, opened in Stellarton at the Museum of Industry in November 2012, and the section featuring Nova Scotians who have won gold for achievement in sport arrived at the Hall of Fame on June 9. The sampling of medals represents Hall of Famers and Nova Scotia sport heroes who have claimed undisputed first place, and their stories are presented in a beautiful bilingual exhibit.

The Hall of Fame has also created a gold-themed scavenger hunt that ties the gold exhibit into the rest of the gallery exhibits and the Hall’s other “golden” artifacts. This activity will be available at the visitor information desk for the rest of the summer.

The Georgia Sports Hall of Fame has recently updated its “College Athletics” section to highlight collegiate athletic programs from across the state.  Featuring game-worn jerseys, sports equipment, and team photographs, the exhibits focus on great athletes and teams from such schools as the University of West Georgia, Morehouse College, Mercer University, Kennesaw State University, and Berry College.  Along with information on numerous sports including football, basketball, soccer, track, softball, wrestling, and rugby, these updated exhibits allow The Georgia Sports Hall of Fame to celebrate athletic programs at all levels of competition.

In February 1936 two local boys from Keene Valley, Ivan Brown and Alan “Bob” Washbond, slid into Olympic history and won the gold medal for two-man bobsled at the IV Olympic Winter Games in Garmisch-Partenkirchen, Germany. The dynamic duo began sliding together in the mid 1930’s; Brown was famous for his “leap frog” jump over his brake-man in order to gain more speed, while Washbond was known as the brake-man who never touched the brakes. In an interview after the 1936 Winter Games, Brown attributed his success at the Olympics to his partner’s powerful bobbing and the fact that he refused to wear goggles in any of the event’s four heats. The only goggle-less driver in the field, Brown’s dare devil tactics helped him break all existing world records and outrun the Swiss team by a combined time of 3 seconds. Brown and Washbond slid together for over eight years and again qualified for the 1940 Olympic Winter Games which were to be held in Sapporo, but were cancelled due to the outbreak of World War II.

Earlier this summer the Lake Placid Olympic Museum was fortunate enough to acquire Ivan Brown’s 1936 Olympic gold medal which had been passed down to his daughter, Gail Brown Colangelo. Along with her father’s priceless medal, the museum also received a collection of Ivan Brown’s personal papers. Some of the items include official documents from the 1936 Winter Games, photographs and personal correspondence including letters, postcards and telegrams. One of the greatest delights of working in a museum is having access to the special collections and discovering a unique artifact or document is the greatest thrill of all. Of particular interest are a set of letters Ivan wrote to his wife while he was preparing for the 1936 Olympic Winter Games in Europe. In these heartfelt letters Ivan describes his voyage across the Atlantic, the hardships of training, and the loneliness of being away from home. These letters provide a unique insight to this moment in time and add a personal connection which is not often found in history books. A personal favorite is a letter which Ivan wrote on February 7, 1936, in which he writes about seeing Hitler, practicing on the German track and walking in the Opening Ceremonies:

“Dearest Girl,

The Olympics opened yesterday, I hope you heard it. It was very impressive and beautiful, all of the flags of different nations flying in the wind and all of the different uniforms. Adolf Hitler was there and we all saw him. He is a fine looking fellow. He looks much bigger than his picture shows. I drove the run Wed. P.M. with old bender [Washbond] on the brakes. We were the first American sled ever to come down the run and we were on a spot, if our sharp runners had cut the curves all of our sleds would have been banned… On each curve were three Olympic Committee members and people said as Bob and I went by, they ran out and tested and looked very carefully to see if we had hurt the track… I don’t know where they got that about Bob and I winning the Olympic tryouts here as we haven’t had any yet and don’t know whether we are going to compete or not but I hope we do. I love you sweet kid and the quicker I get home to you the better I am going to love it. I dream of you and the baby all the time and sometimes it is almost more than I can bare. But I have got to stick it out now and every day brings me closer to you… Please give my love to all the family and tell them I love and miss them terribly… All of the boys are out at the run and Bob and I stayed in to write to our honeys. This place is full of people… If all of the pictures taken of Bob and I were laid end to end we could walk home… I hope you heard the Opening Ceremony because your boy was marching as proud as a peacock and all for you and him.

I love you Sweet Girl,

Ivan”

Shortly after writing the letter, Ivan Brown and Alan Washbond became the only Americans to bring home Olympic Gold that year. In 1991 both Brown and Washbond were inducted to the Lake Placid Hall of Fame.

For more information about the Lake Placid Olympic Museum and our research facilities, visit our website at: www.lpom.org

A native of Woodstock, Ontario, Kerry Leitch reached the junior ranks as a figure skater and was also a professional baseball player. After his competitive days ended, he turned his attention to coaching which led to a career that spanned six decades. His early mentors were world-renowned coaches Otto Gold and Marcus Nikkanen. He was the long-time head coach of the Preston Figure Skating Club and he coached both pair and singles. A world championship and Olympic coach, his Champions Training Centre in Cambridge, Ontario, was home to both Canadian and international competitors. He and his coaching team led 48 Canadian champions to the top of the podium, including Lloyd Eisler, Katherina Matousek, Christine (Tuffy) Hough, Doug Ladret, Cynthia Coull, Mark Rowsom, Cindy Landry, and Lyndon Johnston.

As a former Figure Skating Coaches of Canada President and board member of the Canadian Figure Skating Association (now Skate Canada), Leitch helped to push the sport forward through his roles as a coach and sport administrator. He authored figure skating coach certification courses in both Canada and the USA, and was a featured presenter at many Canadian, US and ISU seminars for coaches, skaters and judges.

Inducted into the Skate Canada Hall of Fame.

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. – The ProRodeo Hall of Fame is excited to announce it will be celebrating 35 years in the Pikes Peak region with an open house on Aug. 6.

The event will take place from 9 a.m. to 7 p.m. on the Hall of Fame grounds, is free to the public, and will feature food, entertainment and music throughout the day.

There be fun for all ages, including pony rides and face painting for kids, stage coach rides, caricatures and roping demonstrations.

Additionally, the open house will feature several different forms of entertainment, including the Gold Canyon Wild West Gunfighters, trick roper Craig Ingram and the Pikes Peak Rangerettes Drill Team.

Country music artist Trinity Seely will perform at 10:30 a.m., 12:30 p.m. and 2:15 p.m., and the Flying W Wranglers will close out the day’s festivities, performing from 5-7 p.m.

“The ProRodeo Hall of Fame has 35 years of proud history to celebrate since first opening in 1979 here in Colorado Springs,” HOF Director Kent Sturman said. “This open house is a way to showcase our history and achievements to both tourists and local residents alike. We hope the community of Colorado Springs, as well as many people from across the country, join us to celebrate this milestone. We are proud to call Colorado Springs home.”

The event will feature vendors in the pavilion area and autograph sessions with state rodeo queens and 2014 Miss Rodeo America Paige Nicholson, as well as past and current inductees and world champions.

“A Look Back at the ProRodeo Hall of Fame and Professional Rodeo” historical exhibit featured in the 101 Gallery opened May 1, and will be open through September. In the gift shop, 35th anniversary merchandise will be featured.

CSHoF has been involved in the 150th anniversary of the 1864 Charlottetown Conference in PEI by installing an exhibit featuring our Maritime Honored Members as well as showcasing some of our Special Treasures. Special artifacts featured are the Olympic relay torches used in each of the Olympic Games Canada has hosted, miniature replica Grey Cup belonging to Wayne Gretzky, 1887 shotput trophy from the World’s Fair won by George Gray, and a Gold Medal from the 1928 Olympic Games in Amsterdam won by the Women’s 4x100m team.   This exhibit is located on the Waterfront in Charlottetown until Sept. 7, 2014.  A special thank you to PEI 2014 for their support of the creation of this major off-site exhibition.

Canada’s Sports Hall of Fame’s (CSHoF) 2014 Induction will be held in Toronto on Oct. 22, 2014 at the Mattamy Centre. The Athletes who will be recognized with Canada’s highest sporting honor are Ski Jumping champion, Horst Bulau, pioneer of the Superpipe event, Sarah Burke, dual sport champion, Pierre Harvey, Women’s hockey pioneer, Geraldine Heaney, Figure Skating superstar, Elizabeth Manley and Canada’s gift to rugby, Gareth Rees. The Builders who who will be honored are wheelchair basketball pioneer, Tim Frick and renowned basketball coach, Kathy Shields.