News

Former UK A.D. awarded first Papa John's franchise in Russia

May 21, 2003

Summarize withChatGPTGrokPerplexityClaude

LEXINGTON, Ky. -- Former University of Kentucky athletics director Larry Ivy will be Louisville, Ky.-based Papa John's first franchisee in Russia, according to the Lexington Herald-Leader.

Citing regulatory concerns, neither Ivy nor Papa John's provided details of plans.

In addition to its U.S. operations, Papa John's operates stores in 11 foreign countries and has agreements to develop units in the Cayman Islands, the Shanghai/east-coast region of China, Beijing and South Korea.

According to the Herald-Leader report, Ivy's relationship with the pizza chain began several years ago. While serving as UK's associate athletics director, he accepted a $1 million donation from Papa John's to the school's athletics program.

In 2001, however, Ivy came under fire when the school accused him of diverting half the donation to the UK Basketball Museum. Ivy, who was then the school's athletics director, denied the charges and claimed UK records showed Papa John's intended for $500,000 to go to the basketball museum and $500,000 to a soccer-softball complex. He ultimately was forced to retire from the school, where he served 33 years.