I probably knew Louis Coleman, I mean, really knew Louis Coleman as well as any other local reporter. We'd been dealing with each other since the 1980s though I've been racking my feeble brain the past 24 hours trying to remember where and when I first ran into Louis. I think it was the early 1980s, perhaps 1982, when some state officials were studying the possibility of making Kentucky State University a community college or attaching it to U.K. Needless to say, there was an outcry from the black community, including, I recall, Louis Coleman.

But Coleman really found the legs for his civil rights work later in the 1980s, as he began to challenge the hiring practices of state government. Corrections and State Police were his favorite targets. Coleman constantly protested and complained about the lack of black troopers on the state police force. And every KSP commissioner, dating back to the Wilkinson administration would answer that black officers were tough to recruit because they didn't want to work at KSP posts in Hazard, Mayfield and other rural outposts.

I remember one time Coleman called me to tell me he was protesting the lack of African Americans in the command staff of Kentucky's prison system. I think John Wigginton, an african american, was corrections commissioner at the time. Coleman gave me the number of wardens, captains and other corrections higher-ups who were black and said he'd be out in front of the Lagrange Reformatory protesting the tiny number. Problem was, I checked Coleman's numbers and they were wrong. When I called him back to tell him he might want to rethink his protest, Coleman responded something like "the bottom line is that there aren't enough black officers and commanders overseeing their brothers who make up a disproportionate amount of our prison population." On that score, he was probably right.

Coleman and I had an interesting relationship. I was never afraid to challenge him and I think he respected that. I was the first reporter to grill Coleman and do a story about some protests that appeared to be self serving. After Coleman protested the lack of minority firms working on the new UPS hub that was being built at the Louisville airport, Coleman's organization got a contract from UPS to help recruit minority contractors. It looked like Coleman was getting paid by UPS to keep his mouth shut. I told him so and did a hard hitting story on his UPS contract and others. Coleman said he would never compromise his principles for cash. He also never quit calling or talking to me because of that story.

And nearly every time Coleman met me for an interview, he was driving his old Ford van that was the messiest vehicle on the road. I'm not sure how Coleman could see out the windshield because he had so much crap piled up on the dashboard. The back of the van was full of papers, signs, and when he was assisting the coaches at K.S.U., football equipment.

But Coleman's favorite story involving the two of us happened just a couple of years ago. I was investigating talk that Kentucky Chief Justice Joseph Lambert and/or his wife may have taken questionable campaign contributions. Lambert wouldn't return my calls. So when I found out he was meeting with Coleman at Coleman's church in Louisville, I showed up outside to wait for Lambert and even gave him the heads up that I was there. Instead of stopping to talk to me, the chief justice blew past me, refusing to answer any questions and made a beeline for the bathroom in Coleman's church. The camera was rolling the entire time as we caught Lambert walking in the bathroom and eventually walking out, still refusing to answer any questions. Coleman, who appeared to genuinely like the chief justice, just kept smiling and shaking his head.

And just about every time he got the chance, he'd tell that story when I was around. I think it was his way of saying that he appreciated my unwillingness to back down to a powerful person. We should all be glad that Louis Coleman was the same way.