Ferdinand Emery Kuhn (September 3, 1861 – March 17, 1930)[1] was a shoe merchant known as the "Father of the Knights of Columbus in the South."

[2][3] Kuhn attended the local parochial and public high schools, graduating from Hume High School, then went to the University of Notre Dame, where he was a member of the University Baseball Association and the "Lemonnier Boat Club", a boat and rowing club on Saint Joseph's Lake.

[7][8][a] Kuhn received his Masters in 1885, and while pursuing that degree would present the gold medal given to the best science undergraduate at Notre Dame.

[10] The marriage was performed by Joseph A. Hogarty, whose father assisted with the Henry Clay monument in Lexington.

[24] Kuhn was initiated into the Knights of Columbus, a Catholic fraternal service organization, in Louisville, Kentucky, on July 1, 1899.

Kuhn, who became Tennessee's first State Deputy, succeeded Daniel J. Callahan as the master ceremonialist, presiding at the institution ceremonies of councils in Florida (1900), Alabama (1902), Louisiana (1902), and Georgia (1902).

[27]He was appointed by Supreme Knight Edward L. Hearn as the first Territorial Deputy of Tennessee,[28] and in that capacity organized councils in Memphis, Knoxville, and Chattanooga in Tennessee; Atlanta and Augusta in Georgia; Birmingham, Mobile, and Huntsville in Alabama; Meridian, Mississippi; New Orleans, Louisiana; Little Rock[29] and Fort Smith in Arkansas.

[44] In 1921 he was awarded a trophy for his work in gaining members as chairman in Tennessee for the Retail Credit Men's Association.

[45] Kuhn was the president of the Nashville Vols baseball club from 1908 to 1910,[46] including the 1908 Southern Association championship team.

Bowling (contractor); Robert L. Bolling (lawyer); Rufus E. Fort (physician); and William G. Hirsig (automobile and tire dealer).

The group envisioned an ambitious project of stadium renovations at Sulphur Dell, and managed to cull $50,000.

[40] Nashville entered the final day of that season on September 19 with an opportunity to win the league pennant.

A crowd of 11,000 spectators, including Kuhn, who sat next to Mayor James Stephens Brown, saw Carl Sitton hurl a three-hit, 1–0 shutout, giving Nashville their third Southern Association pennant by 0.1 percentage points (57.25% to 57.14%).

One account reads: "By one run, by one point, Nashville has won the Southern League pennant, nosing New Orleans out literally by an eyelash.

[51] Hub Perdue, former pitcher for the 1908 Nashville Volunteers, worked briefly at Kuhn's shoe store in 1921.