Irvin S. Cobb was a noted reporter, author, and humorist. Native to Paducah, Cobb started his journalistic career on the Paducah Daily News at age 17; he became the nation's youngest managing editor at 19. Cobb later worked for the Cincinnati Post and the Louisville Evening Post. He was the first reporter to reach the side of Governor William Goebel after his assassination in Frankfort in 1900. He called his story on the shooting of Goebel his “finest piece of reporting.” At age 28, he went to New York, working for several newspapers there; he began writing a humorous column. Cobb later turned to magazine writing, covering World War I for the Saturday Evening Post. He was a gifted after-dinner speaker and teller of tales; a close friend of Will Rogers and even co-stared in movies with him. He estimated that he wrote 60 books and even tried his hand unsuccessfully at writing drama and musical reviews. Cobb received the Legion of Honor from France, honorary degrees from two universities, and had parks, drinks, public works, a bridge, hotels and an apartment building named after him. Irvin S. Cobb died on March 10, 1944.