Ferdinand E. Kuhn

Ferdinand E. Kuhn
Kuhn c. 1915
Born	Ferdinand Emory Kuhn (1861-09-03)September 3, 1861 Nashville, Tennessee
Died	Nashville, Tennessee
Cause of death	Fournier gangrene
Residence	2004 Terrace Place, 'Frassati House'
Ethnicity	German
Alma mater	University of Notre Dame
Occupation	Shoe merchant
Employer	Kuhn, Cooper, & Geary
Known for	"Father of the Knights of Columbus in the South." President of 1908 Nashville Vols
Spouse(s)	Kate Wall
Children	Catherine Agnes Kuhn Francis Vincent Kuhn Barbara Miller Kuhn Casper Bernard Kuhn Marie Clarke Kuhn Ferdinand Emery Kuhn, Jr. Oliver Wall Kuhn Richard Dudley Kuhn Paul Hubert Kuhn
Signature

Ferdinand Emory Kuhn (September 3, 1861 – March 17, 1930) was a shoe merchant known as the "Father of the Knights of Columbus in the South." He was also president of the 1908 Southern Association champion Nashville Vols baseball team.

Early years

Ferdinand Emory Kuhn was born to German immigrants from the Kingdom of Württemberg, Ferdinand and Barbara (Müller) Kuhn on September 3, 1861 in Nashville, Tennessee. He was the youngest of eight children. His father was a brewer.

Studies

Kuhn attended the local parochial and public high schools, then went to the University of Notre Dame, where he was a member of the rowing team. Kuhn was once part of a committee of the Boat Club appointed to make arrangements for a new boathouse. He graduated in 1883.

Personal

Kuhn was married to Katherine "Kate" Wall on April 15, 1884 in Springfield, Kentucky, the home of the bride. She was of Irish descent. Her father Frank Wall was a steamboat engineer on the Mississippi River born in County Londonderry in modern-day Northern Ireland and the namesake of Wall, Pennsylvania. Frank's wife was from Columbus, Georgia; she was born in County Tyrone.

They would have nine children together, six boys and three girls. Kuhn was the father of prominent Vanderbilt quarterback Doc Kuhn and, through another son, the grandfather of radio and television announcer Dick Dudley.

Kuhn's house from 1898 until his death is now called Frassati House, the building on Vanderbilt's campus for the 'University Catholic'.

Board of Public Works

Kuhn was a secretary and city recorder for the Board of Public Works & Affairs from 1884 until 1903.

Knights of Columbus

Initiation

Kuhn was initiated into the Knights of Columbus, a Catholic fraternal service organization, in Louisville, Kentucky on July 1, 1899. He was one of the first five from south of Louisville to be initiated on that day. The other four were Messrs. H. J. Grimes, Will J. Varley, William Smith, and Michael M. McCormack.

Kuhn was known as the "Father of the Knights of Columbus in the South."

Southern expansion

He was appointed Supreme Knight Hearn as the first Territorial Deputy of Tennessee, and in that capacity organized councils in Memphis, Knoxville, and Chattanooga in Tennessee; Atlanta and Augusta in Georgia; Birmingham, Mobile, and Huntsville in Alabama, Meridian, Mississippi, New Orleans, Louisiana; and Little Rock and Fort Smith in Arkansas. He was once Master of the Fourth Degree for Georgia, Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana, and Arkansas, Later he remained Master of the Fourth Degree for Tennessee. In 1920 he was Grand Knight of Nashville Council 544.

"Ferdinand Kuhn was one of the Nashville Catholics who had advocated expansion into Tennessee. The 1900 compromise allowed for the formation of Nashville Council No. 544. Kuhn, who became Tennessee's first State Deputy, succeeded Daniel J. Callahan as the master ceremonialist, presiding at the institution ceremonies of councils in Florida (1900), Alabama (1902), Louisiana (1902), and Georgia (1902). His degree work at the opening of New Orleans Council No. 714 in November 1902 was long remembered as "something out of this world."'

Shoe merchant

Kuhn was president and treasurer of the shoe store of Kuhn, Cooper, & Geary. Kuhn and two other men, Ed P. Cooper and P. J. Geary, founded the store in 1903. The store was located on North Summer Street (Fifth Avenue North).

Fifth Ave North, Nashville

It was once the largest retail shoe store in the South, which earned a reputation as the premiere footwear store in downtown Nashville. The latest in electric lighting and holophone reflectors lit the establishment. The storefront window displayed shoes on revolving pedestals, and on the inside marble lined the walls and inlaid mirrors trimmed the back wall. Hub Perdue worked briefly at the store in 1921.

Kuhn was once president of the Retail Shoe Dealers' Association. He was also once president of the Retail Credit Men's Association.

Nashville Vols

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The 1908 Nashville Vols. Kuhn is top left.

Kuhn was the president of the Nashville Vols baseball club from 1907 to 1910, including the 1908 Southern Association championship team. He was preceded in that capacity by Bradley Walker. Kuhn was head of a group of men who purchased the team after a last place finish in 1907. Along with Kuhn the group consisted of James B. Carr (president of B. H. Stief Jewelry Co.), Thomas James Tyne (lawyer and state legislator), J. T. Connor (real estate), James A. Bowling (contractor), Robert L. Bolling (lawyer), Rufus E. Fort (physician), William G. Hirsig (automobile and tire dealer). Well known attorney S. A. Champion supplied legal services. The group envisioned an ambitious project of stadium renovations at Sulphur Dell, and managed to cull $50,000. Kuhn was selected to head the Board of Directors. He went on a trip to Ponce de Leon Park in order to observe the modern park and plan renovations.

1908

Kuhn hired Bill Bernhard as manager. In 1908 the team won the Southern pennant by beating the New Orleans Pelicans in the last game, described by Grantland Rice as the "greatest game ever played in Dixie." The championship banner was presented to Kuhn by league president William Marmaduke Kavanaugh, and it hung over the window of Kuhn's shoe store until the banner raising ceremony on Opening Day, 1909.

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The game

"The greatest game ever played in Dixie"

Nashville entered the final day of that season on September 19 with an opportunity to win the league pennant. The championship was to be decided by the last game of the season between the Vols and the New Orleans Pelicans at Sulphur Dell. Both teams had the same number of losses (56), but the Pelicans were in first place with 76 wins to the Vols' second-place 74. A crowd of 11,000 spectators, including Kuhn sat next to mayor James Stephens Brown, witnessed Carl Sitton hurl a three-hit, 1–0 shutout, giving Nashville their third Southern Association pennant by .002 percentage points. Ted Breitenstein was New Orleans's pitcher.

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Kuhn (middle) with Southern Association president William Marmaduke Kavanaugh (left)

One account reads "By one run, by one point, Nashville has won the Southern League pennant, nosing New Orleans out literally by an eyelash. Saturday's game, which was the deciding one, between Nashville and New Orleans was the greatest exhibition of the national game ever seen in the south and the finish in the league race probably sets a record in baseball history."

Resignation

Following the 1910 season, Kuhn resigned as baseball president due to the heavy work of both the baseball team and his shoe store. He was succeeded by Hirsig.

Anti-tuberculosis campaign

He was once president of Tennessee's state Anti-Tuberculosis League.