Colonel Harland Sanders – A Life of Perseverance, Innovation, and Philanthropy
The Rational Take:
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By A Finger Licking Good Scribe
Published 15th July 2025 10:00 hrs BST
Early Life and Hardships
Harland David Sanders, born on September 9, 1890, in a modest farmhouse near Henryville, Indiana, exemplified the American rags-to-riches story through grit and late-life success, founding Kentucky Fried Chicken (KFC) despite numerous setbacks. His father, Wilbur David Sanders, passed away when Harland was just six years old, leaving his mother, Margaret Ann, to support three children by taking on odd jobs like canning vegetables and peeling tomatoes. This early hardship forced young Harland to contribute to the family income, dropping out of school in the seventh grade around 1903 due to difficulties with subjects like algebra and the pressing need to work. Starting at age 12, he took on manual labor roles, such as a farmhand earning $15 a month plus board, which instilled in him a strong work ethic but also exposed him to a nomadic lifestyle filled with instability.
Sanders' early adulthood was a series of trials and reinventions. At 16, he falsified his age to enlist in the U.S. Army, serving a brief stint in Cuba as a teamster before receiving an honorable discharge. Over the next decades, he held over 40 different jobs, ranging from streetcar conductor in New Albany, Indiana, to railroad fireman, insurance salesman, and even a ferryboat operator on the Ohio River.
His fiery temper often led to conflicts; he was fired from multiple positions for fighting with coworkers or superiors. In his 20s, Sanders pursued law through correspondence courses from La Salle Extension University, briefly practicing as a justice of the peace in Little Rock, Arkansas. However, a courtroom brawl with his own client over unpaid fees ended that venture abruptly, highlighting his impulsive nature.
Family Life and Personal Challenges
Marriage and family added layers to his story. In 1909, at age 19, Sanders wed Josephine King, with whom he had three children: Margaret (born 1910), Harland Jr. (1912–1932, who died tragically young from complications of tonsillitis), and Mildred (1919). The marriage endured nearly 40 years but was strained by Sanders' infidelity; he began an affair with Claudia Price, a waitress at his restaurant, which contributed to their divorce in 1947. Sanders married Claudia in 1949, and she became a key partner in his enterprises, often referred to as "The Colonel's Lady."
The Gas Station Era and the Shootout
The turning point came in 1930, when Sanders, then 40, took over a Shell gas station in North Corbin, Kentucky, on U.S. Route 25. To supplement income amid the Great Depression, he began serving home-cooked meals from his living quarters, starting with ham and biscuits before honing his fried chicken recipe. This side business grew popular among truckers and travelers, leading to the expansion into Sanders Court & Café.
A dramatic incident on May 7, 1931, underscored the rough-and-tumble nature of his world: Sanders, accompanied by two Shell district managers including Robert Gibson, confronted competitor Matt Stewart, who was painting over Sanders' advertising signs on public property. Stewart opened fire, killing Gibson; Sanders retrieved a gun from the car and wounded Stewart in the shoulder in self-defense.
Stewart was arrested by Laurel County Sheriff's deputies, tried in Laurel County Circuit Court in London, KY, and convicted of murder in October 1932, receiving an 18-year sentence. Sanders faced no charges, as authorities deemed his actions justified. Ironically, the notoriety boosted his restaurant's fame, drawing curious patrons.
Innovation and the Birth of KFC
By the late 1930s, Sanders had perfected his signature "Original Recipe" fried chicken, blending 11 herbs and spices (a mix including salt, thyme, basil, oregano, celery salt, black pepper, dried mustard, paprika, garlic salt, and white pepper, though exact proportions remain proprietary).
Frustrated with traditional pan-frying's 30-minute cook time, he innovated by adapting a pressure cooker in 1939, reducing it to about 9 minutes while preserving juiciness and crispiness—a breakthrough that laid the groundwork for fast food scalability. His café earned acclaim, even being mentioned in Duncan Hines' 1935 guidebook "Adventures in Good Eating," and in 1935, Kentucky Governor Ruby Laffoon commissioned him as a "Kentucky Colonel" for his culinary contributions.
Franchising marked his late-life triumph. In 1952, at age 62, Sanders signed his first agreement with Pete Harman in Salt Lake City, Utah, coining the "Kentucky Fried Chicken" brand and charging a nickel per chicken sold instead of upfront fees—a handshake model that built rapid expansion. After a new interstate bypassed his Corbin location in 1956, devastating business, Sanders sold the property and hit the road full-time, living off Social Security while pitching his recipe. Facing over 1,000 rejections, he persisted, often sleeping in his car. By 1964, at age 74, KFC had over 600 franchises, and Sanders sold the company to investors John Y. Brown Jr. and Jack Massey for $2 million (about $20 million in today's dollars), retaining a $105,000 annual salary, royalties, and brand ambassadorship.
Business Disputes and Later Years
Post-sale relations soured. Sanders publicly criticized changes to the recipe under new ownership (later Heublein Inc. and PepsiCo), calling the gravy "wallpaper paste" or "sludge" and the chicken a "damn fried doughball." This led to a 1975 libel suit from KFC, dismissed as opinion, and a 1968 countersuit when Sanders and Claudia opened "Claudia Sanders, The Colonel's Lady Dinner House" serving similar chicken. KFC sued to block franchising, alleging trademark infringement; Sanders countersued for $122 million over misuse of his likeness. They settled in 1973: Sanders received $1 million, agreed to teach executives his methods, and kept the restaurant open (it still operates today in Shelbyville, KY).
Philanthropy and Fraternal Affiliations
Philanthropy and fraternal ties defined his legacy. Initiated into Freemasonry on April 6, 1917, at Lodge No. 651 in Henryville, Indiana, Sanders demitted in 1920 but re-affiliated in 1953 with Hugh Harris Lodge No. 938 in Corbin, achieving the honorary 33rd degree in the Scottish Rite.
As a Noble of Oleika Shrine Temple in Lexington, he was deeply involved, performing amateur magic tricks like card illusions at events and hospitals to entertain children. He donated thousands annually to Shriners Hospitals for Children, funding expansions at the Lexington facility (established in 1926 as a polio ward, evolving into a top-ranked pediatric orthopedics center).
His Colonel Harland Sanders Charitable Organization extended this, contributing $1.2 million to the Harland Sanders Ambulatory Surgery Center at Hospital Infantil de las Californias in Tijuana, Mexico, providing care for underserved kids with orthopedic issues. Sanders frequently visited patients, embodying Masonic values of brotherhood, relief, and charity.
Death, Legacy, and Cultural Impact
Sanders passed away on December 16, 1980, at age 90 in Louisville, Kentucky, from pneumonia complicating leukemia. Buried in Cave Hill Cemetery, his gravestone bears Masonic symbols: the square and compasses for his Blue Lodge membership and a triangle with "33" for his Scottish Rite degree.
KFC, now under Yum! Brands, boasts over 25,000 locations worldwide, generating billions annually. His story inspires as a "late bloomer," proving resilience can triumph over failure, though conspiracy theories—like claims he stole the recipe from a Black housekeeper named Miss Childress or Illuminati ties via Masonry—lack substantiation and arise from pop culture exaggerations in films or online forums.
Sanders' cultural footprint endures beyond business. His white-suited, goateed image has been reimagined in quirky modern KFC ads, with actors like Reba McEntire as a female Colonel or Jason Sudeikis in humorous campaigns, keeping the brand fresh for new generations. Internationally, the "Colonel's Curse" in Japan—stemming from a 1985 incident where a KFC statue was thrown into Osaka's Dotonbori River after the Hanshin Tigers' baseball victory, allegedly dooming the team to decades of losses until its recovery in 2009—has become folklore, blending superstition with marketing lore. These elements underscore Sanders' lasting influence, transforming a personal journey into a global icon of innovation and endurance.
The Rational Take: Colonel Harland Sanders – A Life of Perseverance, Innovation, and Philanthropy
Copyright: © Steven & Chasing Tartaria 2025. All rights reserved. This article is part of the Two Sides to Every Coin series on Substack. Images and historical data are sourced from public domain archives (e.g., Wikimedia Commons, British Newspaper Archive) or credited where applicable. Reproduction or distribution without permission is prohibited. © The Loosh Arcs and associated concepts are the intellectual property of the author.