Hometown Teams sports exhibit is free and open to the public at the Campbell County Public Library in Newport
By Terry Boehmker
NKyTribune sports reporter
An exhibit celebrating the city of Newport’s rich sports history was a trip down memory lane for a couple of the people who attended a preview on Friday at the Newport branch of the Campbell County Public Library.
The special guests included Donna Murphy, a Newport High School graduate who was named the first Miss Kentucky Basketball in 1976, and Bob Schneider, the record-setting football coach at Newport Central Catholic High School.
Photographs, awards and other memorabilia from both of their careers are among the displays put together by the library staff to accompany Hometown Teams, a traveling exhibit about the impact sports has on society. The Newport project was funded through a grant by the Kentucky Humanities Council that’s working with The Smithsonian to provide traveling exhibits as part of its Museum on Main Street national program.
NewCath graduate Frank Jacobs is among the athletes featured in displays at the exhibit.
The entire lower level of the Newport library branch is used for the exhibit that’s now open to the public. There are displays about two nationally known Newport sports figures – jockey Eddie Arcaro and pro basketball player Dave Cowens – along with a tribute to Red Bartlett, who promoted youth sports in the city for decades.
Visitors can also see photos, newspaper clippings and trophies commemorating the successful high school teams at Newport, Newport Central Catholic and Our Lady of Providence, a girls’ academy that closed in the 1980s.
Other displays tell the stories of local legends like Stan Arnzen, who had a long run of successful seasons as coach of the Newport boys’ basketball team. There’s also a case devoted to Frank Jacobs, a three-sport athlete at NewCath who played on an NCAA national champion football team.
Janet Arno, adult programming director for the Campbell County Public Library, said it took more than a year to collect material for the Newport sports displays. She worked on the project with Chantelle Phillips, the Newport library branch manager, and Christopher Harris, a student at Northern Kentucky University.
“We started a year ago in January (of 2016),” Arno said. “We have a gentleman here in Newport, Michael Whitehead, who was really instrumental. He knew what we were working on and took the time to make a list for us of the key people we could contact.”
Schools and individuals contributed vintage photos, jerseys, awards and other material for the display cases. The library staff members did some research to provide background on the memorabilia.
Arno said the Kentucky Derby Museum provided the jockey silks and saddle Eddie Arcaro used when he won the Triple Crown event in 1941.
“This is just the tip of the iceberg,” Arno said of the exhibit. “We almost hated to go forward with it because we didn’t want anybody to be disappointed there’s such a rich history here. We knew there was more, but it was just difficult to contact (more) people and put it all together.”
The Hometown Heroes exhibit will be at the library until June 3. Hours are 1-5 p.m. on Sunday; 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. on Tuesday, Wednesday and Saturday; and 1-7 pm on Friday. To arrange for a group tour, contact Chantelle Phillips at cphillips@cc-pl.org or 859-572-5035, extension 9.
