LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) — Fred Holden is a farmer.
Not just any farmer. Holden is primarily a garlic farmer.
“I love garlic,” Holden said. “It’s about as good a product as you can consume. It has between 15 to 20 to 25 medicinal benefits to it.”
On 31 spectacular, tree-canopied acres that roll along a creek in Eastern Jefferson County, Holden grows garlic — 17 strands, as many as 14,000 head a year.
Every October, Holden plants it.
Then in February, he harvests it.
Cuts it.
Dries it.
Packages it.
And, finally, he sells it from his familiar spot in the northeast corner at the Douglas Loop Farmers’ Market in the Highlands.
“You kind of form a little network,” Holden said. “One thing leads to another. Someone says, ‘Yeah, bring stuff in, man. We’ll buy it.’
“You don’t really believe it but they do.”
Yes, they do. Customers line up to buy it every Saturday, including chefs from Harvest, Seviche and other top Louisville restaurants.
“People know me for my garlic,” Holden said. “They come looking for it. They value it. They enjoy it.”
Soft neck, hard neck. Holden coaches people on the best flavors to use with their favorite hummus, salsa or burger.
Occasionally some of Holden’s best customers learn something else about him.
The Garlic Guy is also a Basketball Guy.
“I’ll be talking to somebody and someone that we’re talking with or next to him will say, ‘Aren’t you the basketball player?’
“Then the person I’m talking with will say, ‘I didn’t know that.’ “
They need to know that. From 1965-through-1968, Holden scored nearly 1,000 points for University of Louisville teams that won 60 of 82 games and two Missouri Valley Conference titles. At 6 feet 3, Holden could handle either guard position. He was an 80 percent free throw shooter, always eager to rebound or defend.
When U of L basketball stamped itself a national brand, Holden was in the middle of it, teaming with all-time Cardinal greats Wes Unseld and Butch Beard as well as Jerry King, Dave Gilbert and others.
At nearly 14 points per game, he was second in scoring to Unseld as a sophomore in 1966 and then Holden averaged double figures the next two seasons as the Cards made back-to-back NCAA Tournaments.
If not for an injury that sidelined him for six games his senior year, Holden would have finished with more than 962 points while playing in an era before the three-point shot.
In 1968 Holden was drafted by the Chicago Bulls. Coach Dick Motta invited him to training camp but he declined the opportunity when the team did not offer a guaranteed contract. His legacy as a Cardinal was secure.
“You were part of that Freedom Hall idea and helped put Louisville on the map, basically,” he said.
“Fred was a real good player,” Beard said. “And a good teammate.”
Holden has lived a fascinating life. He came to Louisville from Youngstown Ohio to play basketball. He was recruited from northeast Ohio by John Dromo. Holden’s high school coach was Ron Stoops, the father of Kentucky football coach Mark Stoops.
Other than a year in Viet Nam and another in Colorado where he studied with a post-graduated fellowship, Holden has remained a Louisvillian, a contributor in the educational and farming communities.
He transitioned from basketball player to basketball coach to English teacher for gifted students at Manual High School as well at an alternative school. Farming, as well as swimming and yoga, keeps Holden in playing shape today, but he no longer picks up a basketball.
He transitioned to growing garlic, vegetables and Kentucky wildflowers three decades ago — and never stopped, building a spectacular cabin on his farm, room by room and board by board.
He made a final transition to concentrating on farming, growing garlic, vegetables and Kentucky wildflowers.
“The first thing I did was buy a tractor,” he said. “Then a bush hog.”
That was 1987. He was still teaching. Not for long.
“I developed an internal conflict,” Holden said. “Do I want to be in the gym or do I want to be on the farm? It was a real conflict …
“… eventually the farm won out … which I’m happy to say I have no regrets whatsoever.”
There is no reason for regrets. Ask the chefs who love his crops. Or the people who line up at Farmers Market every Saturday from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. The Basketball Guy is definitely their Garlic Guy.
“You move on,” he said. “You start a career as a teacher, a coach.
“You meet some people that way. You interact with family, friends and stuff and then you become a farmer.
“I’ve been doing that 15 years or so. You meet a lot of people in that community who are really nice solid people.
“Your circumstances change. Your desires change. We’re all kind of evolving all the time any ways …
“I’ve still got something left in me so I can still compete.”
Fred Holden can definitely still compete — and win.
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