Jim Host

[2] Host sits on the National Advisory Board of the College of Communication and Information at the University of Kentucky.

[3] During his time at UK, Host started recording a lot of play-by-play radio broadcasts for college and high school sports.

[5] Following his career as a Wildcat, Host was a pitcher in the Chicago White Sox farm system until he suffered a career-ending arm injury.

Within a week of starting his company, he was contacted by Fayette County officials to do promotional work for the Lexington Tourist and Convention Bureau.

His company continued its rise to prominence when it bought the radio broadcast rights to University of Kentucky football and basketball games in 1974.

When Jerry Claiborne became the Kentucky football head coach he signed a deal with Pepsi that included sideline rights in the stadium.

Host attended a game that season with the largest Coca-Cola distributor in the state of Kentucky who noticed the Pepsi cups on the team's bench and grew confused.

Host acknowledged this inconsistency and proposed a new agreement to the university that packaged all of the team's media and marketing rights together.

[6] In 2005, Kentucky Governor Ernie Fletcher created the Louisville Arena Authority, Inc., and named Host as chairman.

When the arena opened in October 2010, the 14,000 square foot lobby was dedicated to him and named Host Hall in his honor.

In 1995, he was inducted into the Travel Industry of America's Hall of Leaders alongside big-time names like the Hyatt Hotels Corporation and the Walt Disney Company.