Jim Host

Wilford James Host (born November 23, 1937, in Kane, Pennsylvania) is an American businessman best known for founding Host Communications, a pioneering college sports-marketing and production services company that was acquired by IMG in 2007. Host is on the National Advisory Board of the College of Communication and Information at the University of Kentucky. Host also led the organizations responsible for the development of two college basketball arenas in Kentucky, Rupp Arena in Lexington and KFC Yum! Center in Louisville.

Early life Host was born in Kane, Pennsylvania to Wilford and Beatrice Host. His father worked in tanneries, and they traveled from Pennsylvania to New York, Virginia, and West Virginia looking for work. The family settled in Ashland, Kentucky when Jim was an eighth grader.

Host was one of the first two recipients of a baseball scholarship offered by the University of Kentucky. He earned a bachelor's degree in radio arts from the university in 1961.

Following his career as a Wildcat, Host was a pitcher in the Chicago White Sox farm system in 1959 until he suffered a career-ending arm injury.

Professional and business career

Politics In 1967, at age 29, he became the youngest member of Kentucky Gov. Louie B. Nunn's cabinet as commissioner of the department of public information. He later became commissioner of the department of parks and, as founding chairman, helped to start the Kentucky Horse Park.

In 1983, Host Communications introduced what became known as the NCAA's Corporate Partner Program, and in 1985 the first collegiate corporate marketing program was implemented. Joining forces with Collegiate Licensing Co., the two formed IMG College, which represented the multimedia rights for over 90 universities, conferences, collegiate associations and venues. Additionally, IMG College held licensing rights to more than 150 colleges and universities.

Louisville Arena Authority In 2005, Kentucky Governor Ernie Fletcher created the Louisville Arena Authority, Inc., and named Host as chairman. The group was tasked with overseeing the construction of a new arena for the city of Louisville, which resulted in the construction of the KFC Yum! Center. Host did not accept pay in his role as chairman, and stepped down from his position in 2011 at the age of 74. When the arena opened in October 2010, the 14,000 square foot lobby was dedicated to him and named Host Hall in his honor.

The arena, whose naming rights Yum! Brands acquired, is also supported by tax increment financing (TIF); the area covered by the TIF district was expanded to shore up the arena's finances, and its debt was refinanced in December 2017. It also negotiated higher fees from the University of Louisville, which had abandoned plans to build an on-campus arena to replace Freedom Hall, a state facility, as its home court, clearing the way for the downtown arena.

Personal life Host and his wife have two children and eight grandchildren. He also has two stepchildren.

In 2010, Host was inducted into the Kentucky Entrepreneur Hall of Fame. He also received the Kentucky Chamber of Commerce Commonwealth Legacy Award that year. Also in 2010, Host was included in the inaugural class of the Sports Business Journal's "Champions of Sports Business."

Host has received a Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame Chairman's Cup Award and is a Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame Life Trustee.