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Documentary recounts life and tragic death of Lexington golfer Marion Miley
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he was called the “Flower of the Fairway,” the daughter of a golf pro who, from 1936 through 1941, was the best female golfer in America. A household name in her day, her popularity was enhanced in the absence of professional male golfers in those Depression years. Lexington’s Marion Miley was an international celebrity whose youthfulness, athleticism, good looks, and prowess on the links propelled her to numerous amateur regional championships in the years preceding the formation of the LPGA. But it all came to a tragic end in September 1941 when burglars killed Miley and mortally wounded her mother in a robbery at the Lexington Country Club on the eve of America’s involvement in World War II. The nation’s immediate preoccupation with the war caused memories of Miley to quickly fade. Forgotten Fame: The Marion Miley Story traces her 4
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childhood as a golf prodigy under the tutelage of her father, her move to Lexington, her success in golf — and her murder at the age of 27, which shocked both her hometown supporters and fans nationwide. “What this gave us the opportunity to do is to really celebrate Marion Miley’s life which, because of her untimely death, was never really acknowledged or recognized,” said Shae Hopkins, KET executive director. “Her achievements got lost in the sensational crime and in the wounded civic pride of a city that lost its hero.” Replete with archival photos and newspaper accounts, Forgotten Fame also contains interviews with Lexingtonians who knew Miley and remember not only her talent, but her kindness and intelligence firsthand. Perspective is also offered by the author of a forthcoming book on Miley as well as a PGA historian, a police historian, and a local history professor.