LOUISVILLE, Ky. — The late John Asher will be inducted into the Kentucky Sports Hall of Fame, the Louisville Sports Commission announced Thursday.
Asher, a well-known sports journalist with WHAS Radio before working at Churchill Downs, joins NBA coach Dwane Casey, WKU star Romeo Crennel, Olympian Rachel Komisarz Baugh, UK baseball coach Keith Madison and Kentucky State All-American Elmore Smith in the Hall of Fame's class of 2021.
Each person was selected for their outstanding contributions to sports and strong Kentucky connections.
Casey spent most of his adolescence in Kentucky, winning a national champion as part of UK's 1977-78 basketball team. He now coaches the Detroit Pistons. After playing at WKU, Crennel spent 39 years coaching in the NFL, including five Super Bowl wins as a defensive coordinator.
An SEC-champion swimmer at UK and assistant coach at UofL, Komisarz Baugh set one world record and won Olympic gold and silver. Madison is the most winning baseball coach in the history of UK baseball. After leading KSU to back-to-back NAIA Championships, Smith achieved the NBA single-game record for blocked shots.
A Leitchfield native and WKU grad, Asher earned five Thoroughbred racing Eclipse Awards and the Scripps Howard National Headliner Award during his radio career before taking a public relations role with Churchill Downs.
Many knew Asher as the face and true historian of Churchill Downs, serving as the spokesperson and vice president of communications. While known for having a handful of passions, his biggest was the Kentucky Derby.
He passed away at age 62 in August 2018. In true Derby fashion, Asher's casket was escorted to the sound of "My Old Kentucky Home," and his funeral procession took a lap around the track.
Asher's wife, Dee, said the Kentucky Sports Hall of Fame is near and dear to him.
"I know for a fact that he was several times reaching out to whomever was on the nominating committee to campaign for someone he thought was really important to be inducted into this Hall of Fame," Dee Asher said. "This one was really up there, near and dear to John."
The 2021 KSHOF class members and their families will be honored Sept. 7 at the Galt House Hotel in downtown Louisville.
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