John Woodrum of Seventy Six lived the American Dream

John G. Woodrum in front of his casino in Las Vegas

By David M. Cross

In 2013 Clinton County lost one of its most successful native sons, John Woodrum. However, if you were from Clinton County, you called John by a different name; here he was "J.G." And if you called, he would always answer.

J.G. Woodrum was a Fairlander, through and through. He was raised down at the end of what is now called Woodrum Road. His parents, Loren and Golsie Woodrum, were not people of great means but were certainly respected folks of good character. After quitting school and enlisting in the National Guard, J .G. made his way back to high school where he was one of Coach Lindle Castle's first Bulldogs. After the 1958 season, J.G. was too old to play, but he hung around as an unofficial motivator/confidante/ traveling companion of the only Bulldog team to ever reach the Sweet Sixteen. Along the way he did a little bit of everything for Coach Castle and the team, including driving the team bus on occasion.

That's the first amazing thing about J .G. Woodrum. While still attending high school, he drove a school bus. They say it's an arrangement that his mother Golsie made with the superintendent, after the regular driver suffered a heart attack, to help him to complete high school. It was a way for him to afford to go to school, as well as his mode of travel. He parked the bus at the Woodrum house each night and picked up the children of Seventy Six and Fairland along the route, taking them to school. And ever since those high school days, he was picking folks up all along his route in life, helping them out in some manner to try and help them on their journey. 

J.G. was a member of that storied CCHS Class of 1960 (and prided himself on personally sponsoring three of their class reunions), a class which arguably was closer than any other class in school history. J.G. and a high-school classmate headed out to California in 1963, got as far as Las Vegas, and ran out of money. Or maybe they ran out of money on the way back. Anyway, they did run out of money, and Vegas was as far as they got. It is said they sold the tires off the car, then sold the car.\

The classmate moved on after a few months, but J.G. stayed, becoming known as John Woodrum. He was a master storyteller. He would tell people in Vegas that he left Kentucky with the carnival at age 14 and ended up in Vegas. John would tell a lot of things out there; after all, Vegas is a town based on entertainment. His large frame, great personality and warm smile and handshake won him both friends and respect from those he met in Vegas, including Sam Boyd, who John worked for from 1963 until Boyd, one of Vegas's heaviest hitters, helped the Kentuckian go into business for himself.

John Woodrum was recognized throughout Las Vegas, not just as the owner of the former Klondike Casino, which he bought in 1976 for $1 million and sold in 2006 for many times that figure; not just, as one columnist wrote, as the man who knew more stories of old Las Vegas than anyone; but also as the entrepreneur who had sense enough to run power to re-light the now famous "Welcome to Las Vegas" sign in front of the Klondike at the end of the Strip. It was to become the most recognized landmark in Vegas. If not for him, it quite likely would have just faded away.

When Jerry Tarkanian coached basketball at UNLV, John Woodrum was one of his biggest supporters, so close that when the NCAA exiled "Tark the Shark" from the program, they did the same to John. Apparently, his old practice of picking people up was viewed as being in violation of NCAA rules.

J.G. loved to see the home folk come to Vegas. If you were from Clinton County, he certainly treated you special out there. But he had a way to make everyone feel special. J.G. used his rural raising in Kentucky as an advantage, not as an excuse. He learned how to deal with people, and to appreciate people, big and small, but with love for the little people. He learned to follow through and do what you said, a trait not always found in Vegas. He always kept his heart in Clinton County, even though his feet were elsewhere.

He was one of Seventy Six's finest expatriates, and there are several who could share that title. Others yet to be raised here will continue to rise and achieve success, in some place far larger than the many professionals, entrepreneurs, and business executives are now scattered around America but still call Clinton County their home.

Google Map

It is so unfortunate that so many rural children educate themselves "right out of Clinton County," for that is where the greater opportunities lie. That's just the way it is. However, the J. G. Woodrum success story, as well as the stories of those who have chosen to return home and succeed, should help motivate our young people to see what they too can achieve when they put their mind to it.

J.G. Woodrum came from a large, poor family that lived at the end of their road in rural Clinton County, which now bears the name Woodrum Road. But that road was not a dead end for him. It was the beginning of his long, colorful, interesting and successful journey down the road of life. He traveled a long, hard road, but in his journey, he learned something every step of the way and used it to help him achieve success, and to help others along the way. This is the story of The American Dream, fulfilled and achieved, by a country boy from Seventy Six who never forgot where he came from.