Having created a monster, here is Ian Ward's problem:
He has to feed it.
Ward is the unseen man behind the phenomenon that is the Kentucky CoolCats pinup hockey poster.
A 54-year-old transplanted Englishman, Ward volunteers as general manager of the CoolCats, a club hockey team populated by University of Kentucky students.
For years, the CoolCats -- who have no tie to the UK Athletics Association and who get minimal financial backing (some $500) from the university -- put out a run-of-the-mill poster/schedule.
"We were just doing graphic art stuff, and those posters were doing us absolutely no good at all, a total waste," Ward says.
Then one day in 1997 or '98, Ward was watching a UK basketball game on TV when the blinding light of inspiration struck.
Wouldn't it be great if former UK student and uber-Wildcats basketball fan Ashley Judd, then an emerging Hollywood star, would pose on a hockey schedule?
"I can't tell you why," Ward said last week, "but I just had a feeling she would do it."
Through the imploring of one of Judd's cousins, the actress was persuaded to pose for the poster.
Whether you regard pinups as harmless fun or needless objectification of women, you have to say this for the Judd poster:
It became an enduring pop-culture phenomenon.
Stories about the poster appeared in newspapers ranging from USA Today to the Washington Post.
National Hockey League teams and players went crazy for the poster.
Brett Favre's agent called to request a half dozen copies for the famous quarterback.
And, suddenly, UK hockey had the highest profile of any club sport at an American college.
"I really believe that if we hadn't come up with the poster," Ward said, "we wouldn't have been able to keep hockey alive at UK. We owe Ashley so much."
Since that first year, actresses Rebecca Gayheart and Leah Lail, the Costello twins, Julie and Shawnie, and model Kylie Bax -- all of whom have Kentucky ties -- have followed Judd as hockey pinups.
Poster potpourri
Fact No. 1. For years, people have commented on Ashley Judd's blue toenails in her famous poster.
The truth: The blue nails were put in after the photo was shot. Says Ward: "With her permission, we touched it up."
Fact No. 2. The hockey team gives its models the UK jerseys in which they pose and $500. (Judd turned down the money.) The models then hire their own photographer. With printing and other costs, Ward figures the team spends about $7,000 producing the posters.
(The posters are distributed to anyone who buys a $5 ticket to attend a CoolCats game.)
Fact No. 3. Initially, this year's poster was to feature former Miss America Heather French Henry, the wife of the Kentucky lieutenant governor. The photos already had been taken.
However, after the sex scandal that engulfed Kentucky Gov. Paul Patton last fall, Ward had second thoughts.
"We didn't want the poster to have any political (implications) at all," he says. "Plus, we weren't sure what was going to happen (with Patton). We didn't want to end up with Kentucky's first lady on the poster. It just didn't feel right."
Fact No. 4. Yes, Ward is aware that some people take dim views of using cheesecake posters to promote a college activity.
Yet, he has only had one complaint from the public in five years, he says, and there have been none from UK.
Fact No. 5. Females hankering for some beefcake affirmative action perhaps should take heart.
Ward thinks the team has a connection to Kentucky native George Clooney and it might make a pitch to get the actor on the poster.
In the meantime, Ward is considering asking Judd for permission to reprint the original poster so it can be distributed at a Feb. 16 CoolCats game against Duke that will be played in Rupp Arena.
As for next year's poster, local model/boxing ring announcer Amy Hayes is the early favorite.
"This has been a great promotional thing for us," Ward says. "And the kids on the team love it. So, yes, I do feel pressure to keep it going."
And you thought Tubby Smith had a daunting legacy to uphold.
Ian Ward, general manager of the UK CoolCats club hockey team