1. In 1903, the famous jockey and Kentucky Derby winner Eddie Arcaro was born in Cincinnati, Ohio. Arcaro would go on to win the Kentucky Derby a record five times and become one of the most celebrated jockeys in horse racing history.

2. On March 31, 1968, civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr. made his final public speech in Frankfort, Kentucky. Just days later, King was assassinated in Memphis, Tennessee.

3. In 1985, the Kentucky Wildcats men's basketball team won their second NCAA championship by defeating the Georgetown Hoyas 53-40 in a low-scoring, defensive battle. The Wildcats were led by star player Ed Davender, who scored 11 points in the championship game.

4. On March 31, 1849, the Louisville and Nashville Railroad Company was chartered by the Kentucky General Assembly. The railway would go on to become one of the largest and most successful railroads in the South.

5. In 1958, country music legend Loretta Lynn made her debut on the Grand Ole Opry radio show in Nashville, Tennessee. Lynn, who was born in Kentucky and raised in poverty, would go on to become one of the most prolific and celebrated singers in country music history.