Every Thursday morning like clockwork, nearly 30 alumni gather at storied Wagner’s Pharmacy on 4th Street for breakfast and stories. They reminisce and keep up-to-date on each other’s lives and families. The stories stand out for one particular reason — all of the men are University of Louisville alumni and former student athletes. This group’s attendee list reads like a Who’s Who of Cardinal Athletics. Nearly all of the men played football, basketball, track or a combination of these three sports, spanning the 1950s–1970s. There are All-Americans (Ken Kortas, 64A), 1958 Sun Bowl championship team members, Alumni Association board members (Mario Cheppo, 58A, Bill Pierce, 77A, 81GM, and Phil Rollins, 56B) and even football great Lenny Lyles, 58A, was part of the group before his passing. Jim Gatewood, 57E, jokes about the pressure of taking over as quarterback after Johnny Unitas left.
Most men are connected not only by their teams but through the late Coach Clark Wood, AC. Coach Wood succeeded Dean David Lawrence as the UofL men’s track coach in the 1950s and remained for 25 years. In 1965, he founded the present men’s cross-country program. While at UofL, he served as a professor and eventually became the chairman of the Department of Health, Physical Education and Recreation (now HPES) until his retirement in 1985. Clark Wood was inducted into the University of Louisville Athletic Hall of Fame in 1986.
The breakfast tradition began around 12 years ago when a small group, including Coach Wood, Gil Sturtzel, 58A, Kenny Porco, 61A, and Elmer Collina, 60A, regularly met for golf. Golf turned into breakfast at the campus McDonald’s, then the Parrish House, until about five years ago when the meal moved to Wagner’s Pharmacy down the street from UofL’s campus. Although each of their lives took a different path, their alma mater, sports background and mutual love for the Louisville Cardinals are the ties that bind this breakfast club for the record books. As Sturtzel says, “You might say we are the inspiration behind the slogan ‘Louisville First, Cards Forever.’”
Jay Davidson, 91K
Jay Davidson, who enjoyed a successful military career for more than 20 years, had no idea that a visit to an Alcoholics Anonymous support group would change his life. After his experience with the support group, he retired from the military with high honors and returned to school at the University of Louisville to receive his degree and become a social worker at age 50. In 1992 he opened The Healing Place, bringing the AA ideals to the shelter. It allows individuals to stay there free for six months while going through treatment and provides essential life skills. “The Healing Place works because of accountability. People are with each other 24 hours a day, seven days a week. We raise the bar and give them the tools and vision to do better,” says Davidson. Money Magazine chose Davidson to be part of its “50 Heroes in 50 States” for Kentucky in honor of his extraordinary efforts to improve the personal finances of others. The state of Kentucky also modeled its Recovery Kentucky initiative after The Healing Place, opening 10 centers across the state.
