Bucky Sallee

By Michele Lander Posted: April 1st, 2012



As Keeneland’s horn blower for 50 years, everyone is familiar with Bucky Sallee. His tenure at Keeneland is well documented from when he started in 1962 until last year when the race course celebrated its 75th An- niversary. Keeneland’s President, Nick Nicholson says, “Bucky has become much more than the track buglerhe’s become part of the show. Through his unique position, he has become an iconic figure. His dedication and amiable personality are unmatched and make him an ideal representative of the Keeneland family.”

Although he’s been at Keeneland a long time, Bucky’s first passion has always been music. A music major at the University of Kentucky, he studied the trumpet, played in local bands and travelled as far as Atlanta and Miami to play. When Johnny Trimble put the four piece Fabulous Table Toppers band together, he was their trumpet player. Within two weeks of their debut at the Frankfort VFW they were booking dates all over. He says,“It couldn’t have been any sweeter if someone had waved a magic wand. We had a bus, we travelled, we were big time.”

They opened for a lot of famous acts including Jerry Lee Lewis, Little Enis, and Bucky played, “Elbow to Elbow” with Boots Randolph. He said the band played Rock, Country, Jazz, whatever people wanted to hear. One day the band leader came to Bucky and said they didn’t need a horn player any- more, what they really needed was a saxophone player. He didn’t want to be out of the band so he bought a tenor saxophone (a Butcher 400) and holed up in his house and learned to play over the weekend. He showed up the next Monday ready to play his sax. Bucky stops for a minute, and with a little grit in his voice says, “Then the Beatles hit it big and screwed up everything.” Music changed and the demand for the band lessened. It wasn’t too long after thatthatBuckywasapproachedby Frank Adkins (a Golf Pro) who asked him if he’d like to play at Keeneland.

Bucky is proud of his service to Keeneland and the other tracks he opens. He has two stately coats, made
locally at Le Cheval Limited, green for Keeneland race days and red for other tracks, charity events, funerals and wed- dings. His boots are custom made at Bob Mickler’s and he has played the same horn for more than 35 years. One of his favorite things to do is collect horse- shoes; he cleans them up, autographs them, and hands them out to race goers.

Over time, Bucky has met a lot of Keeneland’s visitors—royalty, celebrities, politicians, outlaws, rich people and poor people. “I treat them all the same,” he says. So the next time you are at Keeneland and you see Bucky, make sure you say hello; and if you’re lucky, maybe he’ll give you one of those autographed horse shoes.
 


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