7 Johnny Crockett

Johnny Crockett was born John Richard Crockett on February 3, 1928, in Maysville, Kentucky to Lide Chenault and Waller Allen Crockett.

Crockett graduated from the University of Kentucky with distinction in 1949 with a degree in Political Science. While at the University of Kentucky, he was president of the Sigma Alpha Epsilon fraternity, president of the Student Government Association, a member of Keys, Lances, and Omicron Delta Kappa, and member of the University of Kentucky basketball team as a freshman in 1945-46.  From 1974-1978, he served on the UK Board of Trustees. Crockett, along with others, formed the original Louisville-Jefferson County UK Alumni Club, where he served as president. He was national president of the UK Alumni Association in 1972, and received its Alumni Distinguished Service Award in 1974. In 1986, he received the Louisville-Jefferson County UK Alumni Club’s All-American Award for contributions to his community and university.

Following graduation in 1949, Crockett joined First National Bank in Louisville as one of the bank’s first management trainees. He served three years in the United States Army during the Korean War, and was honorably discharged in 1953 to continue a forty year banking career in Louisville, where he was active in many community and civic organizations. Among other roles, he was president of the Better Business Bureau of Louisville, active in the Junior Achievement Project Business program and the JA board of directors, and the Family & Children’s Agency. Throughout his career, Crockett regularly taught American Institute of Banking classes to hundreds of future Kentucky bankers. Upon his retirement from First National Bank of Louisville, he continued his passion for teaching by educating new employees of the FDIC in Washington, D.C. Crockett was 60-year member of the Highland Presbyterian Church in Louisville where he served as an elder, and a longtime board member at the Highland Presbyterian Weekday School.

Crockett passed away on December 3, 2013.