Hometown: La Grange, KY
Position: G Playing Height: 5-4
Date of Birth: January 13, 1894
Date of Death: February 27, 1981
Additional Photos: (1) (2) (3) (4) (5) (6) (7)
Game by Game Statistics
Kentucky Career Notes:
Multi-Sport Player [Football]
Post-UK Career Notes:
Served in the Military
Season | Games Played | FG | FT | Total Points |
---|---|---|---|---|
1915-16 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
1916-17 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 2 |
Total | 3 | 1 | 1 | 3 |
Obituary - Former Fayette Judge Bart N. Peak Dies at 87, Lexington Herald-Leader (February 28, 1981)
Peak, known as the legislative father of Lexington's Urban County government, served three terms in the state Legislature, two terms as county judge and one term on the first Urban County Council.
He also was known as "Mr. Rotary" for his service to Rotary International.
Peak, a native of Bedford in Trimble County, entered public life at 14 as a legislative page. His father was George W. Peak, former Trimble County attorney and Oldham County judge.
Peak graduated from Kentucky State College (now the University of Kentucky) in 1917 and enlisted in the U.S. Army. During service in World War I, he rose to the rank of second lieutenant.
After he was discharged, Peak attended the YMCA graduate school at Vanderbilt University and became a YMCA secretary. Later he was named general secretary of UK's YMCA, a position he held for 37 years.
In 1930, he received a law degree from UK, but he never entered private practice.
As Fayette County judge from 1958 to 1966, Peak helped establish a home for delinquent children and transformed a former tuberculosis hospital into the Julius Marks Home for the elderly.
He also helped remodel the courthouse, reorganize the county's children's bureau and build a fire station in the Meadowthorpe area.
As a judge, Peak was remembered as a man who frequently sent juvenile first-offenders home after a lecture and after giving them a "Golden Rule marble" - a large plastic marble with a thin metal band around the middle. The Golden Rule was inscribed on the band.
Peak was elected to the Legislature in 1952, 1970 and 1972.
His interest in merged governments apparently began about 1958 when he served on a legislative study committee that examined merged governments in other cities.
Twelve years later he co-sponsored a bill to permit merged governments in Kentucky. The bill became law and Fayette County residents voted in 1972 to establish the only merged government in the state.
Peak served as secretary of the Lexington Rotary Club for 32 yeas and was elected president of the club in 1947.
His greatest contribution to Rotary, however, may have been the four terms he served as president of Rotary District 674 - a record for the international organization.
He also served as president of the Kentucky Society for Crippled Children, the Southern Student YMCA Secretaries Association, the Kentucky County Judge Association and the Community Chest (now the United Way).
Peak was a member of the Alpha Tau Omega fraternity, the board of directors of Big Brothers and Cerebral Palsy of the Bluegrass. He was named Sertoma Citizen of the Year in 1962.
He was a member of Lexington's First United Methodist Church, where he taught Sunday school for 50 years, and served as a member and president of the church's administrative board.
In addition, he was a basketball and football official for 24 years.
Peak retired from public life in 1976.
His wife, Lavania, died in 1956.
Survivors include a son, Bart N. Peak Jr., vice president of the Aluminum Company of America in Pittsburgh, Pa.; a daughter, Mrs. Ruth Holbrook of Orlando, Fla.; a brother Dr. Rowland Peak of Baton Rouge, La.; two sisters, Miss Margaret Peak and Mrs. James Hudson, both of Alexandria, Va.; seven grandchildren and 10 great-grandchildren.
Services will be at 10 a.m. Monday at W.R. Milward Mortuary - Broadway. Dr. William R. Jennings, pastor of the First United Methodist Church will officiate.
Visitation will be from 2 to 5 p.m. and 7 to 9 p.m. Sunday.
Burial will be in Lexington Cemetery.