Kentuckians of the Years: 2022, 2023, and 2024

Here's the thing:  it's never easy to do these posts.  In the first place, it's usually not all that easy to pick Kentuckian of the Year.  In the second place, the end of the year is a hectic time filled with lots of other events to post about.  It's tempting to hold Kentuckian of the Year for a month like August where you don't have as much going on, but of course that wouldn't really work.  Anyway, here are the last three Kentuckians of the Year, along with an updated list going back to 2010:

The Kentuckian of the Year for 2022 was obviously Oscar Tschiebwe, the UK center who swept the honors as the National Player of the Year.  In the 2021-22 season, the Cats finished number 6 on Ken Pomeroy's rankings -- and that's the only time they have finished in the top 10 since 2019.  Oscar deserves a lot of credit for that.  He was also one of the most popular UK players of all time, and he came back to play for the Cats in 2022-23.  So he's the Kentuckian of the Year for 2022.

The Kentuckian of the Year for 2023 was Andy Beshear, who was re-elected as Governor over Daniel Cameron (the Republican) by a vote of 52.5 percent to 47.5 percent.  The total vote was 694,482 to 627,457.  Beshear's father -- Steve Beshear -- won in 2007 and 2011, so the Beshears have won four of the last five governor's races.  Their success is even more remarkable when you consider that the Beshears are Democrats.  Right now, Republicans hold 80 of 100 seats in the Kentucky House of Representatives, and 31 of 38 seats in the Kentucky Senate.  But the Beshears -- with their remarkable ability to balance the solid Democratic vote in Louisville and Lexington with just enough support in the rural parts of the Commonwealth -- have managed to maintain a stranglehold on the Governor's Mansion.  No wonder Governor Beshear is seen by many Democrats as a potential candidate at the National Level in 2026 or 2028.

So that brings us to 2024.  In many ways, the biggest story of the year for Kentuckians in 2024 was the re-election of Donald Trump.  Trump received 62.5 percent of Kentucky's vote in 2016, 62.1 percent of Kentucky's vote in 2020, and 64.8 percent of Kentucky's vote in 2024.  To put those figures in perspective, Reagan received 60.0 percent of Kentucky's vote in 1984, and FDR never received more than 58.5 percent of the vote in Kentucky.  There is a strong argument to be made that Trump is the most popular Presidential candidate in the history of the Commonwealth.  (Even Henry Clay only received 54.1 percent of the vote in 1844).  So Kentucky had an unusual stake in this election, and Trump's victory will undoubtedly resonate throughout the Commonwealth for years to come.  But interestingly enough, Kentuckians have also selected a team of officials who strongly disagree with President Trump.  Mitch McConnell's opposition to Trump is well-known, and as we just mentioned, Governor Beshear is a Democrat.  Even Sen. Rand Paul hews to a libertarian ideology that regularly conflicts with Trump's populism.  So who would be the Kentuckian of the Year from the perspective of a Trump voter?  The answer is probably Rep. James Comer, who used his position as a Representative from Kentucky's First District to investigate the Biden Administration and otherwise promote the Trump campaign.

But there was another story in Kentucky that was even bigger than the election.  Perhaps nothing captures the way Kentuckians see themselves better than the KHSAA basketball tournament.  The tournament is famous for the fact that Kentucky only has a single champion for the whole Commonwealth.  This fact captures Kentuckians' love of the underdog, and their belief that everyone -- regardless of background -- should have a chance.  On the other hand, Kentucky has always had a strong aristocracy, and that means that your chance is not always a fair chance.  The Commonwealth is a place where the little people certainly have the right to be heard, but where the big people usually have their way.  And so it is in high school basketball.  Yes, every school -- no matter how small -- is eligible for the title.  But we all know that most of the time, the champion will be one of the big schools.  That's life in the Commonwealth.

Now this balance is extremely difficult to maintain.  The difference between having a small (but real) chance, and having practically no chance, is very hard to measure.  If a small school never wins, then it becomes harder to convince everyone that they have a genuine chance.  But Kentucky has been lucky so far -- every so often, from Earlington to Edmonson County to Shelby Valley -- one of the smaller schools breaks through and gives hope to the rest of them.  And this year, that school was Lyon County.  Not only did the Lyons represent a small school -- Lyon County H.S. doesn't even have a football team -- but they come from the far Western end of the Commonwealth, which traditionally struggles in basketball.  2024 was the first time since 1967 that the State Champion came from a school west of Hopkinsville.

So score one for the populists.  But also don't forget the aristocrats.  Lyon County's success resulted from the fact that the best player in the Commonwealth and the Coach of the Year were both members of the same family.  Ryan Perry coached the team.  Travis Perry was the Star who set the all-time record for points scored and won a scholarship to UK.  So yes, the little guys had their day.  But only because they had some Big-Time talent.  And therefore, our Kentuckian of the Year for 2024 is Travis Perry.

Here is the list of all Kentuckians of the Year since the HP began:

2010:  Rand Paul (Bowling Green)

2011:  John Calipari (Lexington)

2012:  Darius Miller (Maysville)

2013:  Jennifer Lawrence (Louisville)

2014:  Mitch McConnell (Louisville)

2015:  Matt Bevin (Louisville)

2016:  Mitch McConnell (Louisville)

2017:  Justin Thomas (Louisville)

2018:  Stephanie Winkler (Richmond)

2019:  Andy Beshear (Louisville)

2020:  Andy Beshear (Louisville)

2021:  Chris Smiley (Dawson Springs)

2022:  Oscar Tschiebwe (Lexington)

2023:  Andy Beshear (Louisville)

2024:  Travis Perry (Eddyville)