Mark Pope, Oscar Tshiebwe, and Vince Marrow watched Joe and Kelly Craft pay $10.5 million for a ham

Some of the most important figures in UK sports are at the Kentucky State Fair this morning for a very big event — and no, we’re not talking about the radio show.

Kentucky Basketball head coach Mark Pope, Kentucky Football associate head coach Vince Marrow, and former Kentucky Basketball great Oscar Tshiebwe attended the 60th annual Kentucky Farm Bureau Country Ham Breakfast and Charity Auction, where Joe and Kelly Craft once again took home the big prize, an 18.2 lbs. country ham. The Crafts purchased the ham for $10.5 million, shattering last year’s record of $10 million. Yes, that’s an insane amount of money for a piece of meat, but it all goes to a good cause, the winner’s choice of charity.

According to our own Ryan Lemond, the Crafts were in a bidding war with Luther Deaton, the Chairman/President and CEO of Central Bank, but eventually came on top, winning the ham for the fourth year in a row. If you combine all their bids from the past four years, that’s over $30 million to charity for some delicious country ham.

Based on these pictures from Matt Stone of the Courier-Journal, the breakfast looked like a grand old time. Two of Kentucky Football’s top transfers, Chip Trayanum (Ohio State) and Gerald Mincey (Tennessee) were also with the group. Both are currently injured, so missing practice to have some country ham with the Crafts isn’t a huge deal.

Joe and Kelly Craft won the Ham Breakfast auction for $10.5 million

Vince Marrow, Mark Pope and Oscar Tshweibe joined them pic.twitter.com/8VJNFetA4x

— Matt Jones (@KySportsRadio) August 22, 2024

Oscar got his own picture with the ham before leaving to take part in the Reed Sheppard Fantasy Experience at Rupp Arena, where he will be a guest speaker along with Reed, Tubby Smith, Goose Givens, and Seth Greenberg.

Oscar Tshiebwe got to hold the ham pic.twitter.com/rMzQmFRnXJ

— Austin Horn (@_AustinHorn) August 22, 2024

Jack Pilgrim is at the Reed Sheppard Fantasy Experience and will pass along updates on KSBoard, yet another reason to get in on our HOMEGROWN sale.

Take advantage of our KSR+ HOMEGROWN Special to get bonus coverage of the Cats, including game threads, in-depth scouting reports, and the latest recruiting and roster intel. Use promo code HOMEGROWN for 50% off the annual price.