17 Ernie Jefferson

Obituary – Ernest Jefferson, Former Midway, UK athlete dies, Woodford Sun (September 28, 1972)

Ernest Orden Jefferson, 55, husband of Rose Johns Jefferson and the son of the late Emery Orden and Ella Pittman Jefferson, died Saturday at 1:02 p.m. at the Woodford Memorial Hospital after a long illness.

Born in Midway on April 19, 1917, he graduated from Midway High School and was a starter with the 1937 Midway State Basketball championship team, and was a member of the University of Kentucky 1937-38 freshman basketball team and the 1938-39 varsity basketball team.

He pitched baseball with the local Versailles team from high school days and the University of Kentucky baseball team through his freshman and sophomore years, later joining the St. Louis Cardinals professional team where he set records as a pitcher and batter.

A veteran of World War II, he say action in the European Theatre, where he was wounded on several occasions, resulting in his inability to finish his career as a major league baseball player.

He was a railroad engineer for the Seaboard Coastline Railroad, Waycross, Georgia, for the past 30 years, where he also made his residence.

He is survived by his wife; one sister, Mrs. Edna Wofford, Lexington; four brothers, William E., Louisville; Charles N., Parma, Ohio; Harry R. and Karl B., both of Versailles.

Services were conducted at 10:30 a.m. Tuesday at the Duell – Clark Funeral Chapel, Versailles, by the Rev. J. Hunter Jones, and the Rev. Clifton W. Hatfield. Burial was in the Midway Cemetery. Casket bearers were the members of the 1937 Midway basketball team and James Penn, representing his deceased brother, Jack. Honorary bearers were Dr. and Mrs. O.B. Dabney, Mr. and Mrs. G.L. Burns, Mr. and Mrs. E.L. Yount, Harold Morawitz, R.W. Lacefield, Dr. Ben F. Roach, and the members of the Brotherhood of B.L.F. of E. of Waycross, Georgia.