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John Y. Brown Jr., Rajon Rondo and Howard Schnellenberger were selected as "Hometown Heroes" by the Greater Louisville Pride Foundation, Inc.

LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) -- Louisville is honoring a new set of "hometown heroes" this year.

The Greater Louisville Pride Foundation, Inc. released its six-member Class of 2024 after receiving 44 nominations. This year's group of selections include Rajon Rondo, Howard Schnellenberger, John Y. Brown Jr., Stephen Ellis Garrett Jr. (known as Static Major), Dr. Allan Lansing and Mildred and Patty Hill.

"This enthusiastic response of so many outstanding nominations once again underscores the community’s desire to show pride in Louisville by recognizing the city’s most famous sons and daughters," Mike Sheehy, GLPF’s president and founding member, said in a news release. 

Greater Louisville Pride Foundation is working with property owners to determine the status of current faded banners around the city.

"Hometown Heroes 2.0 continues to develop strategies and pursue funding to refresh the original banner program by replacing, as needed, Louisville’s most iconic banners like Muhammad Ali, Pee Wee Reese, Colonel Harlan Sanders, Judge Louis Brandeis, Denny Crum, Bud Hillerich and others," Sheehy said. "In some cases, we are retiring some banners to free up a previously used building walls from the original program in order to make space for a new Hometown Heroes 2.0 honoree."

This year's class includes people who made a lasting positive impact on Louisville.

  • Rajon Rondo: The Louisville native played college basketball at University of Kentucky before being selected in the first round of the NBA Draft in 2006. Rondo won two NBA championships, one with the Boston Celtics in 2008 and another with the Los Angeles Lakers in 2020. He started the Rajon Rondo Foundation ins 2011 to help underserved youth. Rondo also hosts Camp Rondo annually since 2007.
  • Howard Schnellenberger: The football coach graduated from Flaget High School in Louisville and played collegiately at University of Kentucky. He coached University of Miami to a national championship in 1983 and then took on the head coaching position at the University of Louisville in 1985. In his ten seasons, Schnellenberger won two bowl games, including a victory against Alabama in the Fiesta Bowl. Schnellenberger is credited with starting the program's rise to national prominence. 
  • John Y. Brown Jr. and former Mrs. Eleanor Brown: The son of a U.S. congressman served as the 55th governor of Kentucky from 1979 to 1983. He also built Kentucky Fried Chicken into an international restaurant chain. 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.
  • Stephen Ellis Garrett Jr.: The Louisville native was a singer, songwriter, record producer and Grammy award winner. Known as Static Major, Garrett was a member of the R&B trio Playa. He posthumously shared the Best Rap Song award for Lil Wayne's "Lollipop" in 2009. Entertainment Weekly said he penned tons of now-classic R&B, hip-hop and pop tunes before his death in 2008.
  • Dr. Allan Lansing: The cardiothoracic surgeon came to Louisville in 1963. He led the first kidney transplant in Kentucky, the first spleen transplant in the world and the second artificial heart in Louisville. Lansing also performed thousands of open-heart surgeries. He was a Bell Award recipient and received the President's medal from five countries.
  • Mildred and Patty Hill - the Louisville natives were early childhood educators, songwriters and musicologists. Both are members of the Songwriters Hall of Fame. They are recognized as the composers of the melody for "Good Morning to All" which was later used as the melody for the "Happy Birthday Song." 

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

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