LOCAL

Louisville has honored 'hometown heroes' with a banner since 2002. Now, it's ending

Courier Journal

Alberta Jones, the first African-American woman to pass the bar exam in Kentucky, will be honored with a Hometown Hero banner on the River City Bank building, located at 500 S. 6th St.

The first image was put up in 2002 – the familiar face of Muhammad Ali on a building overlooking the Ohio River.

Since then, 28 additional vinyl, banner-style images – individuals and the Kentucky Derby – have been raised on buildings across Metro Louisville as part of the Hometown Heroes campaign sponsored by the nonprofit Greater Louisville Pride Foundation.

But city officials say the Pride Foundation has served its purpose, and that they are putting it to bed.

First, however, the 30th large image – of the late attorney Alberta Jones – will be dedicated Monday afternoon on the River City Bank at Sixth Street and Muhammad Ali Boulevard.

More:These Louisvillians deserve to have their own Hometown Hero banner

She was the first African-American woman to pass the Kentucky bar and the first woman to serve as a prosecutor in the state. She was also Muhammad Ali's lawyer. Jones was a civil-rights activist who was murdered in 1965, a case that remains unsolved.

The Pride Foundation has in mind at least three more images of Louisville born or bred individuals that it wants to honor.

They are the late Enid Yandell, a sculptress who designed the Daniel Boone statue near Cherokee Park; the late artist Julius Friedman, and the late religious leader Thomas Merton. A fourth honor is planned to recognize Louisville-based bands, including My Morning Jacket, in an effort undertaken with Louisville Public Media.

But Mike Sheehy, a founder of the Pride Foundation, and officials of the Louisville Downtown Partnership, which serves as Mayor Greg Fischer's lead agency on center city activities and affairs, say the campaign is being discontinued after those four images are hung.

Who killed Alberta Jones? Five decades later, her murder remains unsolved

Partnership spokeswoman Jeanne Hilt said a goal is to have the remaining images in place by the end of next year.

The sponsors believe the program has run its course. It was created in 2001, in part, to promote unity at a time when Louisville and Jefferson County governments were being merged.

Numerous Louisville individuals probably deserve recognition, the sponsors said. The "heroes" are nominated by the public, through the Pride Foundation website, Louheroes.org.

But, with the program being shut down, the ability to nominate people has been closed.

Sheehy said it is getting tougher and tougher to find suitable buildings to display the images.

Sheehy said the ideal is to find a building with high visibility and plenty of passing traffic.

When possible, the sponsors try to find a display site that has some connection to the honoree. The image of actor Victor Mature, for instance, appears on a building in Shelby Park, near where he lived, and the image of football star Phil Simms is on a building at Southern High School, which he attended.

The images need the approval of the building owner, who is required to sign an agreement with the foundation pledging to keep the image up for at least two years.

The foundation strives to find a different corporate sponsor to cover the cost of each image, typically around $15,000 per project. No one makes any money, with either in-kind or at-cost financing, Sheehy and Hilt said.

More:Could Muhammad Ali's boyhood home end up in Philadelphia or Las Vegas?

The large vinyl, mostly black-and-white images are often based on a photograph and are put together and usually also installed by Tyler Allen's USA Image Technologies Inc. of Louisville.

Sheehy said the hope is that the banners will last around 10 years, with their life largely depending on how well they stand up under exposure to the elements. One or two of the images became worn and were redone.

The banners have proved popular with tourists and other visitors, said Rebecca Matheny, the partnership's executive director.

The Hometown Heroes campaign "was an amazing idea" at the outset and "has been tremendously successful," she said. "It has given us an opportunity to introduce important Louisville figures to the public who otherwise might have remained largely unknown."

Officials said the community is lucky to have so many deserving citizens.

The foundation and downtown officials say they are contemplating some replacement program that somehow will promote the legacy of deserving Louisvillians.

Now, however, "it's time to move on," Hilt said.

Reporter Sheldon S. Shafer can be reached at 502-582-7089, or via email at sshafer@courier-journal.com.

Other Louisville Hometown Heroes include:

Muhammad Ali (Installed April 2002) – LG&E Building at Second Street & River Road, facing the Ohio River
Pee Wee Reese (Installed February 2003) – Fetzer Building at 209 E. Main St., headed west from Slugger Field toward the H&B Factory and Museum
Mary T. Meagher (Installed June 2003) – Norton Suburban Hospital Building in St. Matthews, viewable from I-64 East (since removed)
Ed Hamilton (Installed September 2003) – Glassworks Building at Ninth & Market Streets, facing Ninth Street
Bob Edwards (Installed January 2004) – 624 Baxter Ave., seen headed north
Pat Day (Installed April 2004) – Second & Broadway viewable from I-65 North/South
Colonel Harlan Sanders (Installed April 2004) – BP Apartment Building at Third Street and Guthrie
Judge Louis Brandeis (Installed May 2004) – Chase Bank Building, best seen headed east on Liberty Street between Fifth and Fourth streets
Kentucky’s Derby (Installed May 2005) – US Bank Building 5th and Market
Diane Sawyer (Installed September 2005) – Starks Building on Muhammad Ali between Third and Fourth Streets, viewable from I-65 North/South
Bud Hillerich (Installed July 2006) – Heyburn Building at Fourth & Broadway
Darrell Griffith (Installed September 2006) – Watterson City Building, along I-264 East at Newburg Road
Paul Hornung (Installed October 2006) – Watterson City Building, along I-264 West at Newburg Road
Tori Murden (Installed May 2007) – Kentucky Exposition Center, facing I-65 South just passed the Crittenden Drive exit
Patrick Henry Hughes (Installed February 2008) – OK Storage Building, East Broadway at Barrett
Kleinert & Kutz (Installed May 2009) – Jewish Hospital Heart and Lung Building
Phil Simms (Installed August 2009) – Southern High School east wall at Preston Highway
Wendy Whelan (Installed March 2010) – J Graham Brown School corner of First Street and Muhammad Ali Boulevard
George Garvin Brown (Installed September 2011) – 122 W. Main St.
Denny Crum (Installed February 2012) – Marriott Courtyard across from KFC YUM Center
Victor Mature (Installed April 2013) – Derby Dental Building on Shelby Street
Rudell Stitch (Installed May 2013) - Fifth Street just north of Ali
Tom Bulleit (Installed April 2014) - Third and Main Street
Will Wolford (Installed May 2014) - Market at Third Street
Bobby Nichols (Installed August 2014) - Watterson City Building
Jennifer Lawrence (Installed September 2015) – Kentucky Center for the Performing Arts
Sue Grafton (Installed April 2016) – Springhill Suites by Marriott – 132 E. Jefferson St.
Lisa Harrison (Installed October 2016) – Southern High School
Milton Metz (Installed April 2017) –Architection Building, 425 W. Market St.