Colonel Sanders

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Harland "Colonel" Sanders
File:Harland Sanders.jpg
Born(1890-09-09)September 9, 1890
Henryville, Indiana, U.S.
DiedDecember 16, 1980(1980-12-16) (aged 90)
Louisville, Kentucky, U.S.
NationalityAmerican
OccupationEntrepreneur
Spouse(s)Josephine King (divorced)
Claudia Price
ChildrenMargaret Sanders
Brandon Sanders
Grant Sanders
Mildred Sanders
Parent(s)Wilbur David Sanders
Margaret Ann Sanders (née Dunlevy)[1]
Signature

Harland David Sanders, better known as Colonel Sanders (September 9, 1890 – December 16, 1980) was an American entrepreneur who founded Kentucky Fried Chicken. His image is omnipresent in the chain's advertising and packaging, and his name is sometimes used as a synonym for the Kentucky Fried Chicken product or restaurant itself.

Early life and career

File:Sanders 20.png
Harland Sanders at age 20

Sanders was born to a Presbyterian family in Henryville, Indiana. His father, Wilbur David Sanders, died when Harland was five years old, and, since his mother worked, he was required to cook for his family. He dropped out of school in seventh grade. When his mother remarried, he ran away from home because his stepfather beat him.[citation needed] Sanders enlisted in the United States Army at the age of sixteen (by falsifying his date of birth on his enlistment application), and completed his entire service commitment in Cuba.[citation needed] During his early years, Sanders held many jobs, including: steamboat pilot, insurance salesman, railroad fireman and farmer.[2] He had a son, Harland, Jr., who died at an early age, and two daughters, Margaret Sanders and Mildred Ruggles.[3]

At the age of 40, Sanders cooked chicken dishes and other meals for people who stopped at his service station in Corbin, Kentucky. Since he did not have a restaurant, he served customers in his living quarters located at the service station. His local popularity grew, and Sanders moved to a motel and restaurant (seated 142 people) where he worked as the chef. Over the next nine years, he developed his "secret recipe" for frying chicken. He made use of a pressure fryer that allowed the chicken to be cooked much faster than by pan frying.

He was given the honorary title "Kentucky Colonel" in 1935 by Governor Ruby Laffoon. He was re-commissioned in 1950 by Governor Lawrence Wetherby. Although he had been a Kentucky Colonel for nearly two decades, it wasn't until 1950 that Sanders began to look the part, growing his trademark mustache and goatee and donning a white suit and string tie.[4] He never wore anything else in public during the last 20 years of his life, using a heavy wool suit in the winter and a light cotton suit in the summer.[2]

At age 65, Sanders' store having failed[2] due to the new Interstate 75 reducing his restaurant's customer traffic, he took $105 from his first Social Security check and began visiting potential franchisees.[5]

Dave Thomas, founder of Wendy's Old Fashioned Burgers, was offered a chance to turn around a failing Kentucky Fried Chicken restaurant. He helped save the restaurant, and revolutionized the fast food industry by simplifying the menu. At the time, there was an excessive number of items on the menu (possibly more than one hundred). Working with Sanders, Thomas stripped the menu down to just the basic fried chicken and salads.[6]

The restaurant in Corbin, Kentucky where Colonel Sanders developed Kentucky Fried Chicken

Sanders sold the Kentucky Fried Chicken corporation in 1964 for $2 million to a partnership of Kentucky businessmen headed by John Y. Brown, Jr. The deal did not include the Canadian operations. In 1965 Sanders moved to Mississauga, Ontario to oversee his Canadian franchises and continued to collect franchise fees. Sanders continued on with Kentucky Fried Chicken as its spokesperson and collected appearance fees for his visits to franchises in the United States and Canada. In 1973, he sued Heublein Inc. — the parent company of Kentucky Fried Chicken at the time — over alleged misuse of his image in promoting products he had not helped develop. In 1975, Heublein Inc. unsuccessfully sued Sanders for libel after he publicly referred to their gravy as "sludge" with a "wallpaper taste".[7]

Death and legacy

Gravesite of Harland Sanders

Sanders later used his shares to create the Colonel Harland Sanders Trust and Colonel Harland Sanders Charitable Organization, which used the proceeds to aid charities and fund scholarships. His trusts continue to donate money to groups like the Trillium Health Care Centre; a wing of their building specializes in women's and children's care and has been named after him.[8] The foundation granted over $1,000,000 in 2007, according to its 2007 tax return. The foundation is based in Sidney, British Columbia.[9]

Sanders died in Louisville, Kentucky, of pneumonia on December 16, 1980.[10][11] He had been diagnosed with acute leukemia the previous June.[3] His body lay in state in the rotunda of the Kentucky State Capitol; after a funeral service at the Southern Baptist Seminary Chapel attended by more than 1,000 people, he was buried in his characteristic white suit and black western string tie in Cave Hill Cemetery in Louisville.

Since his death, Sanders has been portrayed by voice actors in Kentucky Fried Chicken commercials on the radio, and an animated version of him has been used for television commercials (voiced by actor Randy Quaid). Sanders also appeared, portrayed by drummer Brooks Wackerman, as part of Tenacious D's backing band for their last world tour.

Sanders was inducted into the Junior Achievement U.S. Business Hall of Fame in 2000.

Colonel Sanders is the official face of Kentucky Fried Chicken, and appears on the logo, as well as in numerous advertisements and promotions
File:Colonel Sanders4.JPG
Colonel Sanders statue in front of a Kentucky Fried Chicken restaurant in Japan


References

Notes
  1. ^ "Harlan Sander's Family Tree". www.genealogy.com. Retrieved 2009-03-09.
  2. ^ a b c Ozersky, Josh (2010-09-15). "KFC's Colonel Sanders: He Was Real, Not Just an Icon". Time. Retrieved 2010-09-18.
  3. ^ a b Edith Evans Asbury (1980-12-17). "Col. Harland Sanders, Founder of Kentucky Fried Chicken, Dies: [Obituary]". The New York Times. p. A33. {{cite news}}: |access-date= requires |url= (help); Unknown parameter |documentid= ignored (help)
  4. ^ "KFC - Colonel Sanders Cafe & Museum - America's First Kentucky Fried Chicken". Corbinkentucky.us. 1964-02-18. Retrieved 2010-07-30.
  5. ^ I've Got A Secret interview, originally broadcast April 6, 1964 (rebroadcast by GSN March 30, 2008).
  6. ^ "Dave Thomas Biography". Biography.com. Retrieved 2010-07-30.
  7. ^ Kleber, John E. (1992). The Kentucky Encyclopedia. University Press of Kentucky. p. 796. ISBN 0-81311-772-0. {{cite book}}: Unknown parameter |coauthors= ignored (|author= suggested) (help); Unknown parameter |month= ignored (help)
  8. ^ "About Us: Tillium Health Center". Trilliumhealthcentre.org. Retrieved 2010-07-30.
  9. ^ Harland Sanders Foundation on the CRA web site
  10. ^ "Milestones". Time. 1980-12-29. Retrieved 2008-05-19.
  11. ^ "Col. Sanders, 90, Dies of Pneumonia". The Washington Post. 1980-12-17. {{cite news}}: |access-date= requires |url= (help)
Further reading
  • Pearce, John, The Colonel (1982) ISBN 0-385-18122-1
  • Kleber, John J.; et al. (1992). The Kentucky Encyclopedia. Lexington, Kentucky: University of Kentucky Press. ISBN 0-8131-1772-0. {{cite book}}: Explicit use of et al. in: |author= (help)
  • Encyclopedia of Kentucky. New York, New York: Somerset Publishers. 1987. pp. 185–186. ISBN 0403099811.

External links

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