Keith Elkins

Mike Fields’ 45-year sportswriting career included 36 years covering high school sports for the Lexington Herald-Leader. Fans, coaches and players across the state looked for his stories throughout the year, especially in March, when the Sweet 16 basketball tournaments are in the spotlight. In this conversation, Mike shares his thoughts on a high school writer’s job, his working relationships with coaches, and his memories of the Sweet 16 and the great players he covered.

Alan Stein may be best known for bringing professional baseball back to Lexington in 2001 as the founder of the Lexington Legends, but he has a long list of interests and accomplishments. Keith Elkins catches up with the ‘newly retired’ businessman who appears to be busier than ever.

Jim Andrews was recently elected to the University of Kentucky Athletics Hall of Fame. He played basketball at UK from 1970-73. In three seasons -- freshmen were not eligible for varsity play at that time – he had 43 double-doubles, third in UK history behind Dan Issel and Cotton Nash. He averaged a double-double in each of his last two seasons – 21.5 ppg and 11.3 rpg as a junior, and 20.1 and 12.4 his senior year. The Wildcats won SEC championships in all three of his seasons, and he earned first team all-SEC honors in both his junior and senior years. In this conversation, he talks about his recruitment by UK (it included some help from a gas station attendant who was filling up assistant coach Joe B. Hall’s car on a recruiting trip), the transition from Adolph Rupp to Hall as head coach, the matchups with rival Tennessee at a time when only the conference champion made the NCAA tournament, and how the uncertainty and eventual demise of the ABA affected his professional career. He also covered his int

On the eve of what many fans hope to be a successful football season, Keith talks with Tony Neely, assistant athletics director for athletics communications and public relations at the University of Kentucky. In this conversation, he talks about his relationships with coaches and players, the ever-changing environment in sports communications, and the occasional bad-news situations that every public relations official encounters. He also pays tribute to C.M. Newton, former UK athletics director and Vanderbilt basketball coach, who had an important role in his career. A breakfast meeting with Newton and former Alabama basketball coach Wimp Sanderson provided a memorable experience.

As Kentucky’s quarterback, Pookie Jones helped lead the Wildcats to the 1993 Peach Bowl. He is a former Kentucky Mr. Football from Calloway County High School, and was recruited by Penn State, Nebraska and Tennessee among others before choosing UK. He was also a UK baseball star, and played professionally in the Colorado Rockies organization. In this interview, he talks about his two-sport UK career, the Wildcats run to the Peach Bowl, life in baseball’s minor leagues, and his current part-time coaching position at West Jessamine High School, where his son Jacob is a highly regarded college prospect.

This week on the WUKY SportsPage Keith Elkins chats with new UK Athletics Hall of Famer Derek Bryant who played baseball for the Big Blue and then a successful career in Major League Baseball.

Cameron Mills was a member of two national championship teams at Kentucky. He began his college career as a walk-on, but became a key contributor with his outstanding shooting. He still holds the UK record for three-point field goal percentage for a season (53.2, 42-79 in 1996-97). As of this season, he realized a long-term goal in his broadcasting career, joining the UK Sports Network radio team on the basketball pregame show. This conversation covers his development as a player, which was guided early by his father, former Wildcat Terry Mills, as well as his experience at UK. Coach Rick Pitino delivered an unexpected type of motivational message in their first conversation after Cameron joined the team, but success and championships followed under Pitino and Tubby Smith. Mills’ faith has always been an important part of his life, and today he continues to bring that message to a wide range of audiences through Cameron Mills Ministries. His dedication to his broadcasting career — with many high school ga

Tom Hammond recently retired after a distinguished career in sports broadcasting with NBC. A University of Kentucky graduate, he got his start on radio in his hometown of Lexington, and began his television career as sports director at WLEX-TV in the late 1960s.This conversation covers, among other topics, the early assignments he handled in Lexington, the variety of events he broadcast to a network audience, and some of the partners he worked with over his 34 years with NBC.

In celebration of Opening Day in Cincinnati we present this conversation between Keith Elkins and Reds play-by-play announcer John Sadak. The two discuss his long and varied sportscasting career which now includes calling the action for professional baseball's oldest franchise.

Mike Battaglia is known to thoroughbred racing fans everywhere as an announcer, an analyst and handicapper. He called the races at Churchill Downs, including the Kentucky Derby, from 1977 to 1996. He worked with ABC and for many years, NBC, on national coverage of the Triple Crown races. He has set the morning line odds at Churchill Downs and Turfway Park. For years, racing fans would look for Mike’s picks in newspapers around the state before heading to the track. A native of northern Kentucky, he was inducted into the Kentucky Athletic Hall of Fame in 2017. In this conversation, he recalls his first assignment in race calling at Miles Park in Louisville, his days on network television (including a less-than-smooth relationship with ABC’s Howard Cosell), and his first call of a Kentucky Derby, the 1978 running that was part of the great Affirmed-Alydar rivalry.