Published: November 17, 2009 11:38 am      

Hurley humbled by honor of having street named for him

History was made at Weaver’s Hot Dogs Friday with a road name changed to honor one of Laurel County’s most celebrated natives.

Judge-Executive Lawrence Kuhl issued an order declaring Ponderosa Lane to be called Carl Hurley Lane. Hurley, known around the country as the “America’s funniest professor,” was raised north of East Bernstadt on that lane.

Hurley started his acceptance speech with, of course, a joke.

“I though I had the swine flu,” he quipped. “I started having a craving for corn on the cob, I’ve been rooting around the refrigerator and I’ve been wanting to mud wrestle somebody.”

Hurley then joked about how small his road was compared to other notable people.

“I got to thinking in the last day or two about what an honor this is and about Hal (Rogers) and how he has the mountain parkway and Martha Layne (Collins), who’s got the Bluegrass Parkway,” he pondered. “My road is not as long, not as wide, but the honor is just as great.”

In his engagements around the country Hurley has promoted London, Laurel County and East Bernstadt in every state except Wyoming, he said.

“I don’t think there’s anybody out there,” he quipped. “I called out there and nobody answered, but I did hear something go ‘moo.’”

In front of a large crowd of Chamber members, well-wishers, relatives and dignitaries, Kuhl thanked the people who live on Ponderosa Lane for allowing the name change.

“We are here today to honor Carl for all the publicity he has brought to our county and our city with his classification as ‘America’s funniest professor,’” he said. “We’re all very proud of Carl for this.”

Mayor Troy Rudder, a former student of Hurley’s, said he was both funny and serious.

“They call him America’s funniest professor, but I can tell you that he is not that funny all the time. I know, because I was one of his students,” he laughed. “He would be all serious, teaching something, and then suddenly his eyes would glass over, and for 15 minutes, he would be funny. Then, he would get back to being serious and continue explaining whatever concept he needed to make clear.”

Hurley, 68, grew up in the Hazel Green community near the Rockcastle County line. He grew up in a two-room log cabin, attended Mount Zion School until the fifth grade. He graduated from Hazel Green High School.

In 1971, he earned a doctorate degree in education from the University of Missouri at Columbia. For eight years, he was a professor at Eastern Kentucky University.

Faced with an increasing number of invitations to speak, Hurley left his professorship to become a full-time speaker and entertainer, doing stand-up comedy. He has appeared on the Grand Ole Opry and at Renfro Valley Entertainment Center, has produced 15 comedy CDs and has written a book about growing up in the hills of Kentucky called, ‘We Weren’t Poor — We Just Didn’t Have Any Money.’”

Staff writer Carol Mills can be reached at cmills@sentinel-echo.com.