Interview with George Park, February 23, 1977

Partial Transcript: Now, uh, I have just a few--I have a, you know, just a bit of an outline of things I wanted to touch on but I'd just like to let this interview go wherever it may and whatever ideas you have to bring up.

Segment Synopsis: Dr. George Park is introduced. He talks about growing up in Richmond and describes his first visit to the "big city" of Lexington. He talks about finding a collar button to wear, riding the train, and eating too many bananas. Park talks about what it was like to come back home to Richmond after being in Lexington. He talks about a local hangout in Richmond where people would buy Coca-Cola. He talks about the Benwood Foundation which gets its funding from the royalties from the Coca-Cola bottle patent.

Keywords: Bananas; Benwood Foundation; Bottles; Coca-Cola; Collar buttons; Coming home; Farmers; Farms; Health issues; Impressions; Perry Drugstore; Royalties; Trains; Visiting

Subjects: Clothing and dress.; College students--Attitudes.; College students--Conduct of life.; Fashion.; Lexington (Ky.); Richmond (Ky.); Rural conditions; University towns

Partial Transcript: Well back to Richmond, how about your school?

Segment Synopsis: Park discusses his education, beginning with his experiences at high school in Richmond. He talks about where his classmates went to college and why he chose to attend the University of Kentucky. He talks about the cost of his education, choosing his major, and why he decided to go to medical school.

Keywords: Brothers; College; Credit hours; Curtis Park; Eastern Kentucky State Normal School and Teachers College; Fathers; Football; History; Jim Park; Medical school; Model High School (Richmond, Ky.); Smith Park; Student Army Training Corps (SATC); Tuition

Subjects: College choice; College costs.; College credits; College majors; College students--Social conditions; Eastern Kentucky University; Education, Higher--Kentucky; Medical education; Richmond (Ky.); University of Kentucky

Partial Transcript: Well what was your first impression of the campus?

Segment Synopsis: Park describes his impressions of UK as a freshman. He talks about the hazing he underwent, where he lived, and the courses he took.

Keywords: Bob Arnold; Brothers; College classes; College courses; General education; Governor Earle C. Clements; Haircuts; Hazing; Impressions; Mrs. Scofield; Shaving heads; South Limestone Street (Lexington, Ky.)

Subjects: College campuses.; College environment; College freshmen; College students--Conduct of life.; College students--Social conditions; Student housing

Partial Transcript: How about extracurricular activities?

Segment Synopsis: Park talks about the social activities he participated in as a college student at UK. He talks about the benefits of joining a fraternity and names some of his fraternity brothers. He tells a story about taking a girl to a dance.

Keywords: Baseball; Brothers; Corsages; Dances; Dates; Dating; Extracurricular activities; Fraternities; Fraternity brothers; George Zerfoss; Identity; Joe Torrence; Karl Zerfoss; Lamp and Cross; Parties; Phi Delta Theta fraternity; Tom Zerfoss

Subjects: College environment; College students--Attitudes.; College students--Conduct of life.; College students--Social conditions; College students--Social networks; Greek letter societies.

Partial Transcript: Well in our correspondence, just these couple of letters we exchanged, you had mentioned an interest in university athletics at the present time.

Segment Synopsis: Park talks about some of the athletes he knew, including his brother Jim Park. He talks about the popular sports at the time, UK's sports rivals, and the number of students who attended games. He talks about his own experience on the university baseball team.

Keywords: Athletics; Attendance; Auburn University; Baseball; Basketball; Cars; Catching; Centre College; Coach Andrew Gill; Football teams; Georgia Tech University; Jim Park; Knoxville (Tenn.); Ohio State University; Pitchers; Riots; Rivals; Tennis; Tony Dishman; Trains; Traveling; University of Louisville; University of Tennessee; Women's athletics

Subjects: College athletes; College environment; College football players; College sports.; College students--Attitudes.; College students--Conduct of life.; College students--Social conditions; College students--Transportation

Partial Transcript: I, I went back to Eastern one year after being over at the university there.

Segment Synopsis: Park talks more about what it was like going home after being in Lexington. He talks about students' attitudes during his time at the university, including their discipline and loyalty to the school. He talks more about hazing and the relationships between the various school classes.

Keywords: Character; Classes; Discipline; Freshman-Sophomore Tug-of-War; Going home; Growing up; Haircuts; Hazing; Learning; Loyalty; Maturity; Northwestern University; Plays; Rules; Shaving heads; Student body; Work ethic; Working

Subjects: College environment; College freshmen; College sophomores; College students--Attitudes.; College students--Conduct of life.; College students--Social conditions; Eastern Kentucky University; Universities and colleges--Faculty.; University of Kentucky

Partial Transcript: How about town and gown relations?

Segment Synopsis: Park talks about whether the students and faculty of the various colleges in town were accepted by the local community. He talks about the students parading through the town after winning games. He talks about whether he has kept in contact with his classmates.
[Brief noise at the end of this segment.]

Keywords: Classmates; College Night; Dances; Downtown Lexington; Enrollment; Entertainment; Hamilton College; Indifference; Lexington community; New shoes; Parades; Population; Sayre College; Transylvania University; Winning

Subjects: College environment; College sports.; College students--Conduct of life.; College students--Social conditions; Lexington (Ky.); Universities and colleges--Public relations; University of Kentucky; University towns

Partial Transcript: How about the faculty?

Segment Synopsis: Park talks about some of his favorite professors at UK, and discusses the doctor he says probably had the most influence on his decision to attend medical school. He talks about the quality of professors at UK, and discusses Dr. Farquhar, who he says influenced students' opinions on religion.
[Brief noise at the beginning of this segment.]

Keywords: Army; Bible; Chicago (Ill.); Dr. Joseph Pryor; Dr. Lehre Dantzler; English classes; Influence; Leaving; Medicine; Personality; Physiology; Professor Edward Farquhar; Quality; Religion; Research

Subjects: College environment; College students--Conduct of life.; College teachers--Political activity; College teachers--Rating of.; College teachers--Social conditions; College teaching.; Educators; Medical education; Universities and colleges--Faculty.

Partial Transcript: Those were the, um, the early years of McVey's tenure as president.

Segment Synopsis: Park talks about various presidents of the University of Kentucky and Eastern State University. He describes presidents McVey and Barker, and talks about their influence on the university. He talks about politics at the university, and discusses whether the university presidents were involved with politics. He talks about EKU presidents Donovan and Martin.

Keywords: "Ivory tower president"; Administration Building; Contact; Dr. Frank McVey; Dr. Herman Donovan; Dr. Robert Martin; Entertaining; Expansion; Frankfort (Ky.); Governor Augustus Stanley; Henry S. Barker; Inauguration; Legislature; Mary Frances Jewell McVey; Maxwell Place; Offices; Politicians; Politics; Quality; Reorganization; Reserve Officers' Training Corps (ROTC); Teaching; University presidents

Subjects: College administrators--Rating of; College environment; College presidents; College presidents' spouses; College presidents--Dwellings; College students--Attitudes.; College students--Conduct of life.; Eastern Kentucky University; Universities and colleges--Administration.; Universities and colleges--Departments; University of Kentucky

Partial Transcript: How about the library? Do you remember anything about the library of the university?

Segment Synopsis: Park talks about whether he used the library while he was a student at UK. He talks about where he would study and talks about writing term papers. He and the interviewer discuss how the role of the library has changed since he was a student.

Keywords: Functions; Medical library; Non-essential; Roles; Student Union Building; Studying; Term papers; Writing

Subjects: Academic libraries.; College environment; College facilities.; College students--Attitudes.; College students--Books and reading.; College students--Conduct of life.; Educational change--Kentucky; Universities and colleges--Faculty.; Universities and colleges--Research; University of Kentucky. Libraries

Partial Transcript: One, one other thing about your, um, period at the university interests me and that's the, the effect of the war on the campus.

Segment Synopsis: Park discusses how World War I affected the University of Kentucky. He talks about the required ROTC training for all male students, and talks about the physical activities they participated in. He talks about the people he knew from the university that went overseas during the war.

Keywords: Brothers; Classmates; Commanding officers; Curtis Park; Experience; France; Guns; Jim Park; Joe Torrence; Leaving; Male students; Marches; Military drills; Military training; Physical activities; Requirements; Reserve Officers' Training Corps (ROTC); Sergeants; Student Army Training Corps (SATC)

Subjects: College discipline; College environment; College students--Attitudes.; College students--Conduct of life.; University of Kentucky. Army ROTC; World War, 1914-1918

Partial Transcript: You left the university then for your senior year and you came up here to the army.

Segment Synopsis: Park talks about joining the Army after deciding to study medicine. He talks about being sent to Chicago with the SATC and attending medical school there. He talks about an experience that may have influenced him to study medicine.

Keywords: Army; Birth; Chicago (Ill.); Draft; Medical school; Medicine; Sheep; Student Army Training Corps (SATC); Training

Subjects: College students--Attitudes.; College students--Conduct of life.; Medical education; World War, 1914-1918--Veterans

Partial Transcript: Well over the years you have maintained these ties with Kentucky and Richmond and Lexington.

Segment Synopsis: Park talks about continuing to visit Kentucky after moving to Chicago. He talks about visiting his family's farm and attending football games. He talks about attempting to work with people from the university on the issue of dyslexia. He talks about current UK athletics. The interview is concluded.

Keywords: Adolph Rupp; Association; Athletics; Attitudes; Changes; Chicago (Ill.); Coach Fran Curci; Connections; Dyslexia; Enrollment; Experiences; Family farms; Football; Football games; Influence; Joe Hall; Kentuckians; People; Research; Size; Speaking; Traveling; University of Kentucky Medical Center; University of Tennessee; Visiting; Winning

Subjects: College attendance; College graduates; College sports--Coaching; Kentucky Wildcats (Basketball team); Lexington (Ky.); Richmond (Ky.); Universities and colleges--Alumni and alumnae.; University of Kentucky