Artist: Jack K. Hodgkin (born 1936)
Henry Carlisle Besuden
BESUDEN, HENRY CARLISLE (1904–1985), inducted 1971
Henry Besuden’s life took an unexpected turn when he was majoring in agriculture and playing basketball at the University of Kentucky: the Clark County farm he had inherited was served with a lien and the threat of sale, unless he could make it profitable quickly. In desperation, he bought seventy Southdown sheep to eat down the weeds and fortify the soil, and eventually, he became a renowned breeder of purebred sheep. Between 1950 and 1971, Besuden won a record-breaking twelve grand championships in eighteen tries at the International Live Stock Exposition. He was president of the American Southdown Association, vice president of the International, trustee of the University of Kentucky, and member of the Kentucky Governor’s Commission on Agriculture. Henry Besuden received the Green Pasture Award for conservation practices and the Golden Sheaf Award for agricultural achievement and was named to the Saddle & Sirloin Club in 1971.
Source: Saddle & Sirloin Guidebook 2026, p. 49