A former Kentucky State University Regent was recently memorialized at a historic park in western Kentucky. 

Lester Mimms, a Kentucky State University Regent from 1970 through 1974, was recognized recently when a trail at Kenlake State Park was named after him.

According to an article in the Madisonville Messenger, “The trail’s significance mirrors that of Mimm’s own career. Cherokee, now part of Kenlake State Park, was built in 1951 as the only segregated state park in the South, and one of only three such resorts in the entire country. Upon the desegregation of travel and lodging in the 1960s, Cherokee became part of Kenlake. Most of the cabins at Cherokee were relocated and many other structures were abandoned.” 

According to the Messenger article, “Mimms guided the students of J. W. Million High School into the era of desegregation by becoming Kentucky’s first Black principal of an integrated school, Earlington High School, in 1967.”

Mimms was also an exceptional basketball coach, among many other accolades. Click here to read the full Messenger story.