1997 Hall of Fame Inductee Albert B. Happy Chandler Class of 1924

Governor Albert B.``Happy” Chandler was born in Henderson County, Kentucky.  He received his law degree from the UK College of Law, now the University of Kentucky J. David Rosenberg College of Law,  in 1924. That year, while serving as the football coach for Centre College, Chandler began his law practice in Versailles. His first run for public office came in 1929 when he was elected to the State Senate. This proved to be the beginning of a lifetime of service to the Commonwealth. He became the Lieutenant Governor in 1931 and was elected to his first term as Governor of Kentucky in 1935. Governor Chandler was the first UK College of Law graduate to hold Kentucky's highest elected office. Upon completion of his term, he was appointed to the U.S. Senate to fill a vacancy caused by the death of Marvell Mills Logan. In 1940 he was elected to fill the remainder of this term and was re-elected in 1942. In 1945 Chandler resigned from the Senate to accept the position of Commissioner of Baseball.In 1947, he made an indelible mark in the history of our national pastime while holding this office by presiding over the integration of major league baseball. 

After his tenure as Commissioner of Baseball, Chandler returned to Kentucky where he embarked upon another successful gubernatorial race, winning the office in 1955. Among his many accomplishments during his second term was the establishment of the University of Kentucky Medical Center. The Medical Center was named in his honor in 1959. Although this term as governor was the last political office he would hold, Happy Chandler continued to be deeply interested and involved in Kentucky politics until his death in 1991. 

Governor Chandler was an active supporter of civic and professional endeavors throughout his career. He served on both the UK and Transylvania Boards of Trustees, he was President of the International Baseball Congress from 1945-51, and was Commissioner of the Continental Professional Football League in 1965. Chandler was Director of the First Flight Golf Company and Coastal States Life Insurance Company, an organizer of the Kentucky Home Life Insurance Company, and was very active in the Democratic Party throughout his career. He was a longtime member of the UK Athletics Board and was inducted into the Kentucky Sports Hall of Fame as well as the National Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown. He was named Kentuckian of the Year by the Kentucky Press Association and the Kentucky Broadcasters Association. Happy Chandler was known throughout the Commonwealth for his love of his “Old Kentucky Home” and his alma mater, the University of Kentucky.