125 Years Ago

Col. Sanders was born in Henryville, Indiana on this day in 1890.

He was 40 when Shell Oil gave him a gas station in exchange for a cut of the sales. He began serving food to his customers, then opened a restaurant. He was known for having a temper, which got him fired a lot earlier in his life. He was 45 when he got into a multi-person gunfight-- his competitor killed a Shell Oil rep during the fight, Sanders shot and wounded him and the competitor went down for murder.

Between the war and shitty business decisions (he was pretty lousy at business), Sanders was in his mid to late sixties before he got any traction selling franchises. He sold the company, or most of it, in 1965. Ten years later, he was sued by the company for describing their gravy as wallpaper paste with sludge added to it. Litigation between the company and Sanders over one thing or another was almost a way of life.

He was commissioned as a Kentucky colonel and, around 1960, he dressed the part, wearing white suits for the rest of his life. It became, as you well know, his trademark.

Sanders died at age 90 from pneumonia, a complication from developing leukemia.

(Norm MacDonald is playing the current iteration of Sanders.)