| Some people might call Harland Sanders a late | | | | business, and his sole income became his $105 |
| bloomer, but by the time he put Kentucky | | | | per month Social Security checks. Undaunted, |
| Fried Chicken on America's tables he had | | | | two years later, at age sixty-two, Sanders |
| already had at least a dozen careers. | | | | hit the road with a plan to franchise his |
| | | | fried chicken, for a nickel for each chicken |
| Born in 1890, Sanders learned to cook at age | | | | sold, to restaurants across the United |
| seven after his father died and his mother | | | | States. Amazingly, the plan worked, and by |
| was forced to go to work. At age ten, young | | | | 1964 the Colonel's chicken was being sold in |
| Harland got his first real job, on a nearby | | | | more than six hundred restaurants. At age |
| farm, and by fifteen he was working as a | | | | seventy-four, Sanders sold his business for |
| streetcar conductor. At sixteen, he joined | | | | $2 million and became the official spokesman |
| the Army and ended up serving in Cuba. | | | | for Kentucky Fried Chicken. By 1974, he was |
| | | | ranked as the second-most recognized |
| In the following decades, Sanders worked as a | | | | celebrity in the world. Colonel Sanders died |
| railroad fireman, became a lawyer and | | | | in 1980 at the age of ninety from leukemia, |
| practiced law, operated a steamboat on the | | | | but his smiling image still graces KFC's |
| Ohio River, sold insurance, and, in 1930, | | | | packaging. |
| finally settled down to run a service station | | | | |
| in Corbin, Kentucky. Just running a service | | | | The decision to change the name of the |
| station was, of course, not enough for the | | | | restaurant chain from Kentucky Fried Chicken |
| energetic Sanders, and soon he was putting | | | | to KFC in 1991 spawned a range of bizarre |
| his cooking skills to use again, providing | | | | rumors and urban legends, including |
| meals for travelers, first in his own dining | | | | speculation that KFC was raising vast herds |
| room and eventually in a restaurant across | | | | of mutant Frankenchickens in secret and that |
| the road. Over the next few years he | | | | the USDA had forbidden KFC to use the word |
| concentrated on perfecting his special recipe | | | | chicken in reference to the creatures. The |
| for fried chicken, devising the "eleven herbs | | | | truth was simply that the corporation was |
| and spices" of the "secret recipe" still | | | | planning to begin offering non-chicken menu |
| zealously guarded by KFC. Sanders's chicken | | | | items, and also thought it wise to downplay |
| became so popular that in 1935 he was made a | | | | the word fried in an increasingly |
| Kentucky Colonel in recognition of his | | | | health-conscious marketplace. |
| contribution to the state's cuisine. | | | | |
| | | | Still today, the "finger lickin' good" |
| In 1950, however, a new highway bypassing the | | | | moniker for KFC stands as one of the most |
| town of Corbin effectively put Sanders out of | | | | well known phrases. |