Kentucky Derby memories – 1983, part 1

Photo by wingbeats551/iStockphoto

Although I grew up in Kentucky and lived there until I was a young adult, I never attended a Kentucky Derby then.

Like millions around the world – and most Kentuckians – I watched the race on TV.

Even when I was very young, I loved the Derby. I wrote my first essay when I was 9 about the Derby. For years afterward, I kept scrapbooks filled with newspaper clippings about the race.

I finally attended my first Derby in 1983, several years after my husband and I had moved to Connecticut.

And I watched the race from the old press box roof top. Was I a member of the working press then? Uh, no. Here’s the story of how I got there.

Some background

My husband works for ESPN which airs (note, as of 2011 – maybe “used to air?) coverage of the other races on Derby Day, the races that aren’t the Kentucky Derby. We had arrived in Louisville about a week early so the crew could set up the cables for the TV cameras and microphones.

During those years, I traveled with him to sporting events whenever I could learn his schedule far enough in advance to book cheap airfares.

Anyway, on the day before the ’83 Derby, on Kentucky Oaks Day, I and the wife of my husband’s boss had showed up at the TV mobile unit compound behind the grandstand at Churchill Downs.

How I received my credential

The following is a comment I’d placed on a blog post written by Lisa Kemp for the blog Sharing Travel Experiences :

My husband’s network TV boss gave me a Churchill Downs press credential that allowed me to watch the 1983 Kentucky Derby from the rooftop of the old press box – right beside one of the spires.

When he took me up to the spot where I could watch the race – overlooking the Finish Line and the Derby’s Winner’s Circle — and gave me advice on how I should get there early and not move from the spot until after the race, I burst into tears.

He couldn’t understand why I was crying. He thought it was because I wasn’t looking forward to planting myself in one spot for an hour or more.

Little did he know that I’d never imagined that I’d ever get to watch the Derby except on TV. And here I was standing on prime real estate – even better and more exclusive, IMO, than the legendary Millionaire’s Row.

I did manage to blubber, “You just answered a little girl’s dream.” Or something like that.

Little did I know what I had ahead of me for Derby Day itself.

Part 2 - How the day went. No big hats and mint juleps for me.

Part 3 – My thoughts on watching the big race from the old Churchill Downs press box roof

And, if you enjoyed reading my Derby memories, check out how I spent my 2008 Derby.

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Tags: 1983 Kentucky Derby, 2009 Kentucky Derby, Kentucky Derby