LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) -- A former power couple was honored Wednesday with a new banner in Louisville. 

"The Brown's Louisville" banner was unveiled at the corner of 5th and West Market streets in downtown Louisville. The Hometown Heroes banner features former Kentucky Gov. John Y. Brown Jr. and his wife Eleanor "Ellie" Brown-Moore.

"It's such an honor to be included with so many other ambassadors from the city," Brown-Moore said to a crowd Wednesday. "It was an honor to be a young adult in the late 60s and 70s in Louisville, Kentucky. It was such an exciting time, we felt there was so much energy all around us. There was such a great number of brilliant men and women who after their education decided to make this place their home to live, work and raise their families."

IMAGES | The Browns' Louisville banner unveiled on Market Street

John Y. Brown Jr., an entrepreneur who built Kentucky Fried Chicken into a powerhouse brand, co-owned the American Basketball Association's Kentucky Colonels and was elected Kentucky's 55th governor, died in November 2022. 

The son of a longtime Kentucky state representative who also served in Congress, Brown was part of a group that bought a chain of restaurants from Harland Sanders in 1964 and became president of Kentucky Fried Chicken in 1965. Under Brown's watch, the business expanded nationally and internationally before it was sold in 1971. 

Brown was part of a group that included Humana co-founders David Jones and Wendell Cherry that bought the ABA's Colonels in 1969; by 1973, Brown became the team's majority owner, according to the Encyclopedia of Louisville. 

Brown-Moore was the first Chairwoman of the Board of the Kentucky Colonels. She created an all-female board of directors who then broke ticket sale records for the basketball team.

"It was such a wonderful period for me, owning the Kentucky Colonels," Brown-Moore said. "We had support from all areas of the city and the women were so excited about this new opportunity. They had all served in other leadership positions."

Brown and his wife Ellie provided a financial gift that enabled Actor's Theatre to purchase property on Main Street and provided a $1 million grant to help save the Downtown YMCA.

"There was so much going on all around us, whether it was in the arts, sports or the business community, it just felt like nothing was impossible," Brown-Moore said. "So many opportunities during those years. Energy was just everywhere."

The Browns' banner replaces the Milton Metz banner, which has been retired and will become part of the future "Avenue of Heroes." Metz was known for his show on WHAS radio that ran from the late 1950s through 1993.

Earlier this year, the Greater Louisville Pride Foundation, Inc. released its six-member Class of 2024 after receiving 44 nominations.

Static Major, singer, songwriter and producer, who's best known for his appearance on Lil Wayne's 2008 single "Lollipop," will be honored with a Hometown Hero banner in Louisville on Friday. His banner was hung Monday on the east side of the Roots 101 African American Heritage Museum at 1st and Witherspoon streets in downtown Louisville, near Humana's Waterside building.

To nominate someone or to offer space on your building for a banner, click here.

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