Colonel Sanders Biography and Video

Colonel Sanders (KFC) Video




Colonel Sanders otherwise known as Harland Sanders, was the founder of Kentucky Fried Chicken and it's famous seasoned chicken. Although he was always a cook, Harland, later known as the Colonel, didn't harness his talent for commercial use until he was over 40 years of age.

Harland Sanders was born on September 9, 1890 in Henryville, Indiana to a butcher, Wilbert Sanders, and a homemaker, Margaret Ann Dunleavy. At the age of six, Sanders lost his father and was forced to help his mother care for his younger siblings. Even at his young age, Sanders helped cook and quickly mastered regional recipes to the delight of his family.

A few years later, when Sanders was in the seventh grade, he dropped out of school to further care for his family. Although he worked at nearby farm for a while, his mother remarried in order to support the family and Sanders was forced to relocate to suburban Indianapolis. Sanders did not get along with his new stepfather and moved to Clark County, Indiana soon thereafter.

He worked as a farmer, then a streetcar driver, and eventually enlisted in the Army to spend a year in Cuba. He married Josephine King in 1908 with whom he had three children. Their marriage ended in 1947.

When he moved back to Indiana, Sanders worked as a steamboat driver and eventually helped on the railroad. During his time with the railroad, Sanders began taking a correspondence course with Southern University in order to earn his law degree. With the help of local officials, Sanders was able to complete his studies and practice law from 1915 into the 1920s in Little Rock, Arkansas. His law career ended when he physically fought a client in the courtroom so Sanders decided to move to Corbin, Kentucky and open a service station.

After interacting with hungry customers, Sanders decided to begin serving meals to travelers who stopped at his place for gas. Since there was no formal restaurant or eating area at the station, Sanders served food from a table at the station's living quarters. Serving families and travelers gave Sanders the idea of creating meals that people could take with them; entire Sunday dinners that were ready to eat and easy to carry.

As his popularity grew and people got word of his cooking, and especially his chicken, Sanders moved his operation to a nearby motel that could seat 142 people. Sanders worked as a chef in his own kitchen and began perfecting this fried chicken recipe. In 1935, after his cooking had become very well known around the state, Governor Ruby Laffoon granted him the title of Kentucky Colonel. As a result of this title, Sanders began dressing like a "southern gentleman" and calling himself the Colonel as a matter of self-promotion.

Over the next twenty years he perfected his fried chicken recipe of 11 herbs and spices and made use of pressure frying the chicken in order to speed service. By 1956, however, Sanders was broke. The government has built a new highway that bypassed his Corbin store, causing the sale price to plummet. Sanders, living off of Social Security, took his cooker and his spices and traveled to restaurants to convince them to pay him to use his recipe. Smaller restaurants were willing to pay him a small fee for every chicken sold and, by 1960, Sanders had over 400 "franchises".

Sanders sold his brand in 1964 but continued to work as the spokesman for Kentucky Fried Chicken. During his retirement he gave much of his profit away to charities and even adopted 78 foreign orphans. He passed away from leukemia on December 16, 1980 in Kentucky. A museum was erected in his name at the KFC headquarters in Louisville.

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