R.I.P. - Kenny Kuhn

Kenny Kuhn, one of the most versatile and accomplished high school athletes in Louisville history, died Friday. He was 73.



In 1955, The Courier-Journal's Johnny Carrico called Kuhn "possibly the greatest all-around athlete ever to come out of Louisville."


Kuhn died at his daughter's home in Layton, Utah, after a two-year struggle with pancreatic cancer.


Kuhn excelled in baseball, basketball, football and track at Male High School in the 1950s.


"He was Mr. Male for a long time," his brother Charley said Friday.


Kuhn, a 5-foot-11 guard, was Mr.Basketball in 1955, scoring 25 points in the Kentucky-Indiana All-Star Game in Indianapolis. He was a Courier-Journal All-State player three years in a row. He averaged 24.9 points a game as a senior and 22.6 for his career.


In football, with brother Charley as his coach, Kuhn was an All-State quarterback with scholarship offers from several local schools, including Indiana.

Bernie Crimmins, IU's coach at the time, said, "If he decides to come to Bloomington, I'll give him a police escort."


He didn't have much time for track, but it didn't take much.


"He never was in track until it came state tournament time," Charley said, "and he won the broad jump." (In 1954, he missed the state record by a quarter-inch.)


But baseball was his choice. Kuhn was one of baseball's "bonus babies," signing with the Cleveland Indians for an estimated $40,000 in 1955.


Hank Greenberg, the Indians' general manager, called the 18-year-old shortstop "the finest young infielder I've seen in a long time." But Greenberg lamented the rule that kept bonus babies in the majors for two seasons before they could be sent to the minors.


Over three seasons, Kuhn played 71 games in the majors, batting .210 with no home runs and seven RBIs.

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