Interview with Hubert Eugene Ball, March 28, 1985

Interview Summary

Hubert Eugene "Gene" Ball, a former UK extension agent, was born in 1928. His father was a schoolteacher in Kentucky during the Depression but moved north to Columbus, Ohio with the family to find work. The family moved back to Lawrence County, Kentucky to a 160-acre farm, where he remembers his father as a "progressive farmer." Ball graduated from Blaine High School in 1946, and recalls that the 4-H program influenced his decision to begin a career in agriculture. Ball served in the navy, and then enrolled in Morehead State Teacher's College in 1948. He came to the University of Kentucky in 1950, where he earned a B.S. degree in Agriculture in 1952 and his Master's degree in Agricultural Sciences in 1961. Ball joined the university extension program in 1953.

Ball worked as an assistant county agent in Pike County between 1953 and 1957 and as county and agricultural agent in Martin County from 1957 until 1965. He describes his responsibilities and the difficulties of his work in these economically depressed areas. He mentions programs that stimulated the economy of these eastern Kentucky counties such as the Kentucky Rural Development Extension Program and the Area Development Program, which eventually became the Community Action Program. In 1965, Ball became a county agent in Floyd County. In 1970, he took a position as an area extension specialist in community development through which, he acted as coordinator for the Northeast Kentucky Rural Community Development Services Agency. Ball served as area extension director for Northern Kentucky in 1979 and for the Wilderness Trail area in 1980. He explains that he moved back to Floyd County in 1981 to be the county agent.

Interview Keyword

Gene Ball Kentucky's Cooperative Extension Service

Interview LC Subject

Ball, Hubert Eugene, 1928- Ball, Hubert Eugene, 1928- --Interviews University of Kentucky University of Kentucky--History University of Kentucky. Cooperative Extension Service Agriculture

Interview Rights

All rights to the interviews, including but not restricted to legal title, copyrights and literary property rights, have been transferred to the University of Kentucky Libraries.

Interview Usage

Interviews may be reproduced with permission from Louie B. Nunn Center for Oral History, Special Collections, University of Kentucky Libraries.