“Drs. Hiram Polk and J. David Richardson always took the fifth-year general surgery residents to Churchill Downs,” Mitchell said. “That was my first trip to Churchill Downs. Even if you had asked me then, I would never have thought I would own a horse or have a Kentucky Oaks winner that was born on my farm.”

Yet on May 6, Secret Oath, a filly that Mitchell and his wife Stacy raised on their farm, out of a mare that they also raised, won the Kentucky Oaks. While many high-performing racehorses are owned by groups of investors, having a home-bred horse win the prestigious Oaks is a bit unusual.

“I live on the farm. We have never put a horse on the racetrack that wasn’t born here,” Mitchell said. “I have never bought a racehorse.”

In 2002, the Mitchells purchased Briland Farm in Lexington, where he practices as a heart surgeon. They bought a mare for $1 and began a small-scale Thoroughbred breeding operation.

“I’m not a typical doctor type. I don’t play golf. I get my relaxation by driving the tractor and delivering foals. We had one born 48 hours ago,” Mitchell said. “We mostly breed horses and sell them, but in the breeding business you tend to get in the racing business by default if horses don’t sell.”

Such was the case with Secret Oath. When buyers showed little interest in her as a yearling, the Mitchells withdrew her from the Keeneland sale and put her in training with a successful Thoroughbred trainer, D. Wayne Lukas. The move paid off as Secret Oath proved her ability with four wins leading up to the Oaks.

Although he was introduced to Churchill Downs by Hiram Polk and J. David Richardson, chair and vice chair of surgery at UofL at the time, Mitchell said that for him, horses and medicine are very distinct endeavors. Nevertheless, both are knowledge-based and involve a lot of data – and both are serious business.

“You have to be very objective when you’re in the horse business. It’s easy to fall in love with these animals and think of them as pets. It is easy for the emotions to take over and for you to lose your objectivity,” Mitchell said. “And you have to be objective and analytical to be a heart surgeon.”

Mitchell, who strategically plotted the best match for Secret Oath’s dam, Absinthe Minded, said he enjoys the analytical aspect of breeding.

“I like trying to find the breedings and the matings and the genetics. It’s like trying to play chess with Mother Nature. Every now and then, Mother Nature lets you win.”

Secret Oath followed her Oaks win with a fourth-place finish in the Preakness Stakes on May 21.

There the is creating her heart out with fellow contestants for its “Master Maker” title and a $100,000 prize, which would come in handy for investing in her own store featuring her work and that of other creatives.

Each of the six episodes has themed and timed contests: a three-hour Faster Craft and a longer Master Craft, which will determine weekly winners who earn craft patches and also which contestant goes home. The quirky competition occurs in a supply-stocked barn studio and features two judges plus executive producers, hosts and comedians Amy Poehler and Nick Offerman.

In the first episode June 24 of its third season, Ravi crafted a yak pull-toy with layers of textured yarn fur, gold-leafing and a sari blanket for the quicker challenge of making a toy that reveals something about the maker.

The longer challenge focused on techniques or materials meaningful to the contestant in creating a new take on a family portrait. For that one, the Louisville textile artist embroidered, sewed, beaded and stuffed shaped pillows that represented her and her husband, Guru, plus their dogs Zorro and Spock. ��

Ravi explained to the judges that when she was growing up in India, women were often in the background and encountered many boundaries, which are “out the window now.” She was blessed to marry someone who believed in her artistic dreams, she said, and encouraged her to study what she wanted, even though she had been trained as a biochemist.

“My husband saw in me what I didn’t see in myself,” Ravi said. When they moved to Louisville 15 years ago, he supported her in her quest to pursue her UofL fine arts degree focused on interior architecture.

works as a window display coordinator for Anthropologie and also has an independent online business, Khromo+philia, offering bright textiles, jewelry and mixed media items with the motto “unapologetically colorful.”

“Making things and creativity bring color to this world, and all of us need color,” she explained on the show.

A co-worked nudged her to consider competing on TV, and she flew to Universal Studios in Los Angeles after she was accepted.

“Until I entered that barn and I started doing my first challenge, it was so surreal,” she told NBC local affiliate .

“I’m speaking from my own experience (which) might be different for every other Southeast Asian brown woman out there,” she told WAVE. “I don’t see people like me on the DIY-making community stage. It’s so rare. I’m hoping that by seeing me on TV to try, experiment and use those tools to learn, maybe there is another Kaviya that wants to be in the creative field.”

The hourlong airs Thursdays at 8 p.m.

Graw was a talented player who won several awards, including the 1958 Women’s Falls City Championship as a teenager. In 1960, Don Kaiser, UofL’s men’s tennis coach, needed more athletes to compete, so he invited Graw, a then-18-year-old freshman, to tryouts. Two other women, Liz Crady and Nancy Butler, also tried out for the team. All three made it. ��

According to Graw’s husband, Paul, also a former UofL athlete, Kaiser wanted to harness Graw’s championship energy for the team. In fact, Kaiser offered her a partial athletic scholarship for joining the team, making Graw the first woman at UofL to receive such an honor.

“Coach Kaiser thinks so highly of (Graw’s) potential that she was given a partial scholarship,” wrote Marvin N. Gay, Jr. in a 1960 sports column in the Courier Journal. “Athletic director Peck Hickman said (Graw) is the first girl in the school’s history to receive aid because of athletic ability.”

At the time of Graw’s scholarship, most financial aid was based on academics or need rather than athletic ability, said Nancy Worley, associate sports information director for the Cardinal tennis teams.

It would take many years before other women had the opportunity to follow in the shoes of Graw, Crady and Butler.

“Officially, we did not have women’s athletics until 1975 when Title IX was interpreted to include sports for women,” Worley said. “The NCAA did not offer women’s sports until 1982.”

Tennis led to love off the court for Graw, too. She met Paul, a former track athlete, in the summer of 1962. Paul loved Martha’s exceptional talent for the sport and how happy tennis made her no matter where she was. The pair became engaged their senior year, in 1963. That year, both also lettered in varsity sports.

When Paul left for Texas to attend Officer Training School, Martha taught tennis in the Louisville Public Parks program. The couple married upon his return and Martha took a step away from tennis to have two children. After moving to Wright Patterson Air Force Base during Paul’s service, Martha found there was an incredible tennis program, and she even got Paul to share in her passion.��

“Marty (Martha) and I played singles together a lot. It was an awful long time before I won a set from her, but eventually I could win a set every now and then,” Paul said. “We liked to play mixed doubles. Over the years, that became really important. We, through her, got to be a part of the local tennis scene.”

Graw was a natural athlete who took pride in her athletic victories and shared her love for the sport that helped pay her way through college with anyone who was willing to learn. She died in 2014 after a battle with cancer, but her legacy lives on in the hundreds of women who have taken the courts, fields, tracks and pools for UofL since Graw’s first serve

Continuing her passion for helping people realize their educational dreams, Clark recalls the 1999 day that Jenny Sawyer in admissions told her she was getting what Clark described as her then-dream job of admissions counselor to recruit minority students to UofL. She discussed her growth through many UofL roles as student and staff member in a Q&A with Louisville Alumni:

Degrees: Bachelor of science in music education (1993) from University of Arkansas; master of educational psychology with an emphasis in college student personnel (2001) from University of Louisville; PhD in leadership in higher education (anticipated 2022) from Bellarmine University.

Current Occupation: Vice president for student services at Simmons College of Kentucky; owner of Phyllis Clark Consulting; owner of Essence Promotions; founder of EMERGE Institute for Women & Girls.

How has your UofL experience shaped your career or community involvement? I am thrilled to acknowledge that I served 17 years at the University of Louisville in capacities that fueled my professional growth and augmented my personal and professional development. The opportunities I received and the relationships I formed with beautiful colleagues and cohort members, (many of whom I still know and love to this day), coupled with my graduate school experiences have positioned me for the service to which I have been called at Simmons College of Kentucky, the nation’s 107th historically Black college and university.

I distinctly remember the hug Jenny Sawyer, the executive director of undergraduate admissions, shared with me on a warm August afternoon of 1999 after telling me that I was the candidate of choice for the position for which I applied and that I’d be working to also recruit minority students to the university. This was my first professional position at UofL as an admissions counselor and was my absolute dream job after concluding my service as orchestra teacher for seven schools in Jefferson County.

Although my roles changed throughout my tenure on campus, I was always afforded the opportunity to sharpen my skillset and increase my higher education knowledge base in and out of the classroom through a variety of professional development activities, educational badges, trainings, and asset-mapping and building. I’ll never forget being able to sharpen my speaking and presentation skills through sharing information about UofL through our weekly campus visit programs, open houses or representing the university at community and/or faith-based events. Being encouraged and given the space to create innovative programs and services for students through Diversity Recruitment and the Cultural Center stretched me to the max but I loved all of it. I just recently learned that many of the programs my team and I created in the early-to-mid ‘90s remain active in some form today.

What is most memorable for me is that UofL provided me the opportunity to work in critical positions that permitted me to assist in the personal and professional development and persistence of Black students. You might know them collectively as the Porter Scholars and the Martin Luther King Scholars. These scholarship student groups represent the best and the brightest from the local area, region and state. Helping young minoritized men and women realize their educational dreams remains my passion, in this, my 26th year of service to the education profession.

The graduate and professional experiences I received at UofL have shaped who I am today and I am better for it. All of my “learning moments” helped to preserve and prepare me for the service, coaching and entrepreneurial endeavors with which I am engaged today and I am eternally grateful.

To read the entire Q&A, click .��

After a succession of high-profile growth assignments in technology, manufacturing, lean enterprise, quality and commercial services, Brey’s latest position in distribution is one she is particularly passionate about.

“I’ve worked in almost every function at GE Appliances, and I love distribution,” Brey said. “It’s like problem solving on steroids. This job has a large scope of responsibilities ranging from broad and strategic to figuring how to get an individual in Baltimore their refrigerator today.”��

Foundation for professional development

Starting with her��, these experiences laid the foundation for the mechanical engineer, who did her first two rotations with GE Aircraft engineering and then moved back home to GE Appliances for her final co-op, where she remains today.

A Louisville native who graduated with her master’s in����in 1994, Brey credits her engineering education for her steady career climb and series of professional accomplishments within the company over the last 27 years.

“Speed School teaches you how to learn and think,” said Brey. “You learn how to absorb information quickly, ascertain what you need to solve the problem at hand, and move at a fast pace with logical thinking. It’s something I’ve used in every role that I have had in my professional career and it’s served me very well.”��

Dedicated instructors at Speed School were also key to her development, said Brey.

“I had phenomenal professors who didn’t just teach the material, but developed a relationship with you and challenged your thinking. It went beyond providing just enough information to pass the test. It was about teaching you the mindset of an engineer,” she added.

Brey said her experience at Speed allowed her to compete and win a sought-after entry-level program role as an Edison engineer.

“Where I started as a timid freshman and where I ended up had a lot to do with Speed School. It made all the difference for me,” she said.

Paving the way for women engineers

For Brey, being a woman in a non-traditional career path like mechanical engineering in the 1990s wasn’t always easy or comfortable.

“Back then there weren’t many women. When I went to Speed School, I felt like I went from an all-girls high school (Assumption) to what felt like an all-boy college. It was a cultural difference and I spent a lot of time figuring out how to be one of the guys,” she said.

Brey said she has had the distinction of being the first or second woman in many of the roles along her career path, such as the first female plant manager at the refrigeration factory, and the first female warehouse manager for GE Appliances across the U.S.

Today, diversity in the field is improving, said Brey, thanks in part to her alma mater.

“We recruit co-ops and full-time hires from Speed School, and as one of the largest local employers of engineers, we appreciate the emphasis on diversity,” she said. “We need people behind the scenes designing and building the products that reflect the diversity of our consumer base.”

As the executive co-sponsor of GE Appliances Women’s Network, Brey is strongly committed to paying it forward to support the career development and promotion of other women.

“I love mentoring and talking to young women. We reach back into high schools and all the way into grade schools to start talking to young women about careers in engineering. I had phenomenal mentors and coaches starting in Speed School and continuing throughout my GEA career, and I want to pass it on.”

Through the Women’s Network, she is also deeply involved in outreach to support women in STEM careers, and continuing to look for opportunities to pull women in. Women from Speed School and the Society of Women Engineers are invited to participate with GEA women in leadership forums and networking events.

“If you like a fast-paced, team-oriented environment and you want to build and create things where people are really going to use your designs, technology and manufacturing can be great careers. You can be part of designing something, like appliances, that millions of people use every day in their homes. It can be thrilling,” she said.��

Outside the office, Brey and her husband, an electrical engineer whom she met at Speed School, are raising three boys and continuing on the family tradition, with one son in industrial engineering at the Speed School, and another high school senior planning to study computer engineering at Speed.��

This story was provided by Holly Hinson from the J.B. Speed School of Engineering.��

UofL alumna Savannah Foster (’07) is part of the trailblazing women who are making a name for themselves in professional sports. Foster is vice president of client relations for Athletes First, a sports agency that specializes in NFL representation.

Foster, who helps negotiate player contracts, about her experiences as an NFL agent and the evolution of the NFL to include more women.

Foster said attending a seminar with a nearly all-male audience at the NFL Combine a few years ago illustrated the lack of women in the field.

“There were maybe four or five women peppered around the room, but that’s when it hit me in the face that were not a lot of women doing in this,” . “But I think we’re gaining a ton of momentum. For example, in 2020 at the NFL Draft, there were four women agents representing a first round pick. The NFL is definitely becoming a more friendly environment for women. There are women refs and some coaches, I hope it will continue to go up from here.”

While she’s now completely engrossed in the game, the passion for her career began with collegiate athletics. While an undergrad at UofL, Foster worked for the president’s office where she got to travel to the College World Series, NCAA Tournament and the Orange Bowl.

“And after those great opportunities, decided I wanted to be somewhere where I could be a successful sports agent,” Foster said.

Prior to working with Athletes First, Foster worked for the San Diego Padres and the Upper Deck Company while completing her education at California Western School of Law.

Master Sgt. Byrne��is currently a member of the U.S. Army Band known as “Pershing’s Own.”��His primary duties include performing for ceremonies in Arlington National Cemetery and at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier as well as military functions in and around Washington, DC.

Byrne��was a teacher’s assistant at the University of Louisville School of Music. He graduated Phi Kappa Phi and earned his master’s degree in Music Performance studying with the late professor of Trumpet Michael Tunnell. While at the University of Louisville, he auditioned for and won a position with Pershing’s Own��and joined the unit upon completion of basic training in 2004.

The playing of Taps begins at approximately the 02:50 mark of the video

Byrne is the second alum in the last few years to play Taps at the Tomb. is the premier bugler for the U.S. Army Band and has also played “Taps” at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier, one of the highest honors available for military musician.��

But when the experience turned sour, 13-year-old Haynes was left distraught.

“It was one of those moments I knew that when I became a doctor, I would be the type of doctor I wish I had,” said Haynes. “I always see the seventh-grade version of myself popping up if I’m going to make a decision, and I ask myself, ‘Would she be proud of me?’”

Although Haynes’ first experience with medicine was memorable for all the wrong reasons, it did not deter her from turning her dream of becoming a doctor into a reality. After graduating from the University of Louisville����with a degree in biology, she continued on to medical school.

Haynes, who overcame suicidal thoughts in high school, experienced another episode of depression during her second year of medical school. She made the difficult decision to take time off from school to receive treatment – a choice she knows was one of the most important decisions of her career.

“One of the challenging things of being someone who’s very mission-driven and goal-oriented is it’s really easy to lose sight of my own self-care,” she explained. “As doctors, we’re driven to take care of other people, but we’re not really driven to take care of ourselves.”

After getting the treatment she needed, Haynes returned to medical school stronger than ever. When it came time to do a research presentation in her family medicine residency program, Haynes chose the topic of suicide and depression among physicians.

Those are the three words UofL alum Javion Duncan (’20) would use to describe his artwork. The young entrepreneur has taken those same characteristics and applied them to his new business, Starving Artist Visuals.��
Duncan became interested in art during his middle school years but quickly realized the artists he was learning about in class did not look like him. Motivated to do his own research into Black painters, Duncan came across the work of Jean-Michel Basquiat, one of the first Black artists to go mainstream in commercial art.��

Although their styles differ, the late Basquiat inspired Duncan to not only take art more seriously, but to change the narrative of what it means to be successful as a Black man.

“When I think about African Americans in history, you’re told that if you want to be successful at something, you better be an athlete, a dancer, an actor,” said Duncan. “We have to kill the idea that there’s only a certain avenue you can take as a young Black kid to be successful.”

Eager to break away from the status quo, Duncan embarked on a journey with the goal to inspire young kids who want new ways to express themselves.��

As a former Division I football player, Duncan did not have as much time to devote to his art as he would have liked. But when the coronavirus pandemic put everything on pause, he took the opportunity to further grow and develop his artistic passion.

“COVID-19 forced me to sink or swim,” said Duncan, who earned his master’s in sport administration from the��. “In this predicament, being fresh out of college with very few people hiring, I wasn’t going to feel sorry for myself. So, I started a business.”

And that’s how����came to be.

Duncan’s business allows him to share his original art with the world, and he designs each piece in such a way to inspire, uplift, and bring joy to others. Through his desire for realism, the majority of his art centers around historical figures, musicians and prominent athletes.“If I find something inspiring through a book I’ve read or a documentary I’ve watched, I will be more inclined to want to recreate that person, especially if they passed away,” he said. “Painting is recreating them and getting to know them without ever getting to meet them.”

Although realism is inherently subject to scrutiny, Duncan knows he is continuing to improve and uses each painting to further enhance his skills. Duncan, who strictly does portrait work, creates art that is representative of his culture and who he is as a person.

“My style is being a modern historian. What I mean by that is adding elements of today and what we consider culturally relevant, but with the history of the past so it’s reflective of both a young community as well as an older one,” he said.

Duncan’s mission as an artist is to ensure each painting is affordable, high-quality, and authentic – but with his own spin. One unique element to his business model is a YouTube channel, which provides him a platform to tell his story in addition to serving as an educational tool to share techniques with other aspiring artists.“I didn’t see too many Black art teachers on YouTube, so I thought I might as well do my twist on it,” he said. “At the end of the day, I want to be able to help in any way possible for anyone who wants to be an artist.”

While there have been highs and lows for the young business owner, Duncan credits his time at UofL for teaching him how to believe in what he wants to create, noting how the artsy nature of the city of Louisville was inspiring to him.

“UofL taught me so much about myself, including the idea that you can truly make it happen if you put the work in,” he said. “My experience at UofL showed me that I can do whatever I want to do, as long as I’m willing to make sacrifices and put in hard work.”

Visit Starving Artist Visuals’��,��, and����page to learn more and view the gallery, and follow Javion Duncan on�������Ի�����to stay up to date on his art.��

The CBS adventure reality show’s 32^nd season, filmed in 2018 but airing this fall, features father-son team Jerry Eaves ’82 and Frank Eaves as well as Gary Barnidge ’07 with his former Carolina Panthers teammate and former NFL division rival DeAngelo Williams.

The 11 two-person teams competing to avoid elimination and win $1 million travel internationally to speed via all modes of transportation and to vie through a wide array of endurance tests posing physical and mental challenges. By show design, there are lots of clues, speed bumps, pit stops, U-turns and detours along the way.

So far longtime friends Barnidge and Williams have made it through adventures (steel-drumming, goat-racing, watermelon-stacking and cream-whipping, to name a few) in Trinidad and Tobago, Colombia, Brazil, Paraguay and France. The duo heads to other countries for Wednesday episodes, most scheduled to air at 8 p.m. EST with some additionally at 9 p.m.

Spoiler alert, though: The Eaveses were eliminated in the third episode, thwarted in the Amazon by coming in last during the contest’s tasks and clues, including a bag of market groceries left behind and an extra U-turn thrown their way.

The elder Eaves is athletic director and men’s basketball coach for Simmons College of Kentucky and also hosts a weekday WKJK-AM radio talk show and podcast through his Eaves Sports Radio. Frank Eaves sells luxury vehicles in Louisville.

A 1998 inductee to the Cardinal Athletics Hall of Fame, the coach played point guard for Louisville as part of the 1980 NCAA Championship team and went on to be drafted by the Utah Jazz in 1982 and continue professionally with the Atlanta Hawks and Sacramento Kings; he is a 1998 inductee into the Cardinal Athletics Hall of Fame. It was son Frank, also a former collegiate basketball player, who talked his dad into becoming this season’s oldest competitor at 59.

“From running this race I hope to strengthen an already tight bond with my father, as well as show him he has raised a great and capable young man,” Eaves said in information posted to “” site. “He is the best father I could have ever asked for and I want to give back by showing him his work didn’t happen in vain or go unnoticed.”

For former UofL tight end Barnidge and teammate Williams, “The Amazing Race” isn’t the first time they’ve appeared or competed on a show or traveled the world. When Williams was on “Impact Wrestling,” Barnidge joined him on an episode.

Barnidge also co-founded in 2011 the nonprofit American Football Without Barriers, which brings NFL players overseas to put on camps for adults and children and to visit charities in the various cultures.

The sport administration alumnus was drafted by the Carolina Panthers in 2008 and later played for the Cleveland Browns, making it to the Pro Bowl.

What did Barnidge hope to accomplish by embarking on “The Amazing Race”?

“Just get that adrenaline going again because when you are retired you don’t get that competitive environment again, so this allows us to achieve that environment in a race around the world,” the ardent traveler told the show organizers. “Also, just getting a chance to see so many countries is another big plus. Our main goal is to make it to every country.”

Stay tuned.

Other former UofL athletes have fared well in the series, with Kisha (basketball) and Jennifer (volleyball) Hoffman taking the prize in the season that aired in 2011.