Librettos for Champions: Secretariat and California Chrome
The village of Proctorville, North Carolina sits in the county of Robeson, the one that news watchers became aware of during the heaving path of Hurricane Matthew. Severely flooded, the rural townships struggled with the darkness, the putrid water, and the unremitting heat. People pulled together in the way that small communities do, sharing food, looking for displaced animals and caring for their elderly. Proctorville has always been a vision of small town America, somewhat like a toy Lionel train set village with a pillared church, gas stations, a community cemetery and a library.
Yes … a library that is considered a national treasure as it was honored eight years ago by the National Registry of Historic Places. The W.R. Surles Memorial Library came to life originally as a hot dog stand in 1938, a project that Mr. Willis Surles, a country store proprietor, violin teacher and 132 degrees Mason, gave to his grandson, Harry Lewis Jr.. No entrepreneur, Harry wanted to play baseball with his high school friends, so the stand was converted into a book-lending center, which “Mr. Will” formally funded after his passing. Books are still treasures in a small town like Proctorville. Words are the conjurers, escape valves and inspiration, and there, they were, and, remain, freely given for those eager to read.
There is a bookshelf that holds a special place of honor within this library. Several years ago, I donated a book, Secretariat’s Meadow, signed by the authors, Virginia historical scholar, Leeann Ladin and Kate Tweedy, the daughter of Penny Chenery, owner of Secretariat. I had told Kate, a very distant relative on my Dad’s side, about the library. Secretariat’s Meadow not only tells the thrilling saga of “Big Red,” but it also chronicles the history of the King Carter family, descendant Christopher Chenery’s small band of broodmares and the very beginnings of the great Virginia tobacco farm industry. The book shared much in common with Robeson County, a Piedmont sweep of land speckled by former tobacco farms. It was also an inspirational tale about a talented racehorse and human tenacity, values that kids visiting the library, discovered, as many had checked out the library copy of Disney DVD, “Secretariat”, donated by Ellen and Atlas Warwick. More than 700 miles from Churchill Downs, a tiny library in Proctorville created more than a few racing hearts.
Recently, an additional book was added to this bookshelf that describes the rise of another national treasure named California Chrome. It is a different companion to the other champion’s story as it represents a collection of sixty-three personal essays, fan songs, for the horse, fans called “Chromies”. Chrome was not the usual pedigree ‘nick’ as breeders call an intentioned breeding, as he was the progeny of a $2500 mare and the lowly son of legendary stakes winning stallion named Pulpit. Owned by two couples who called themselves “Dumb Ass Partners”, even the casual fan identified with an upstart assault on the rare air of blue-blooded horse racing. How California Chrome Changed My Life is also as extraordinary as the horse as it is deeply personal. The essays collected in Amy Trempler’s Chromie’s Paddock fan site and edited by Pamela Lumley, range from first-person re-telling of Chrome’s race days at various tracks to one’s life struggle and the derived inspirations. It is special, and it is moving.
The book is also signed by all of the Taylors, owners of Taylor Made Farm in Nicholasville, Kentucky and part owners of Chrome, each of whom added small notes of thanks for those that are“being Chromies.” California Chrome, one of the richest horses in the world, is in residence at Taylor Made Farm, having beaten the best in the world and now enjoying the life of a pampered stud. Nicholasville’s population owes its gross product stats to farming of another kind, that of world class equine athletes. It is not as bucolic as Proctorville, yet the folks are cut from the same bolts of cloth. The Taylors are as Southern and gracious as my cousins in Proctorville, and that is the respectful tie that binds us all. Their stallion sales manager, Wendy Upton, told them about the little library in Proctorville and the signed copy was the result.
There is a bookshelf on a wall in a tiny library in North Carolina, a pulpit for inspiration, that holds librettos for two champions, California Chrome and Secretariat. Those words continue to inspire their readers to persevere and make hearts race.
Artwork by A.E. Sabo at www.offthepace.net
Pictured are: Ellen Warwick, Virginia Ivey (Librarian), Rose Oliver and Patricia Ivey of the R.C. Lawrence Book Club. All are cousins. Willis R. Surles was my great-grandfather. Featured in How California Chrome Changed My Life are HRN writers M.D. Reynolds and Kate Richards plus project contributor, Wendy Upton.