Paul Hornung hitched his Derby dream to Titletown Five

He will forever be the Golden Boy. The quintessential Notre Dame football hero of the ’50s. The celebrated even notorious Green Bay Packers star of the ’60s. The everywhere sportscaster of the ’70s. The dual Hall of Famer in the ’80s.

Football may have provided Paul Hornung his imprimatur. But living all his life in Louisville, a life that ended Friday at age 84, Hornung was never far from horse racing. He was often seen at Churchill Downs, even if he was not supposed to be.

“You can well imagine,” he told me seven years ago during a national teleconference. “I lied about my age when I was 13 to become an Andy Frain usher and make $40 on Saturday, which was a huge amount when I was 13.”

That was 1949, seven years before he won the Heisman Trophy, and more than a decade before he would be part of four NFL championships. It was also 64 years before he would be the part-owner of a Kentucky Derby hopeful, a logical result of a lifetime woven into a sport in which he was an unabashed player.

“I learned how to make a wager,” he said. “Believe me if my horse would win the Derby, I’m going to break Las Vegas.”

Seven years ago Hornung thought he had that Derby horse. He, his former teammate Willie Davis and four-time Derby-winning trainer D. Wayne Lukas were among the partners in Titletown Five, a Tiznow colt that they bought for $250,000 at a yearling sale. Of course, it was bred in Kentucky.

“All I want is to have a horse in the Kentucky Derby,” Hornung said. “This has been a special race for me. If I could be part of winning a Derby, for heaven’s sake, this would be the greatest thrill of my life.”

A renowned gambler, Hornung and Alex Karras were suspended for the entire 1963 football season after they were caught betting on NFL games. On the advice of Packers coach Vince Lombardi, Hornung did not go to the Derby that year.

“It’s the only Derby I’ve missed since I was a kid,” he said during that teleconference.

That did not stop him from continuing to bet the horses, especially his own. Hornung backed Titletown Five with a futures bet to win the 2013 Derby.

“I’ve got my interest already secured in Las Vegas in the winter book, you know,” Hornung said. “I got 220-1 on my horse, so I took a shot at it. I told Wayne if we win, we buy another horse.”

Named for the Packers’ championship legacy that Hornung and Davis helped build and for Hornung’s uniform No. 5, Titletown Five got only a whiff of the first Saturday in May, finishing fourth in the Derby Trial (G3) the week before Orb won the roses in 2013.

Hornung and Lukas tried again in the Preakness, but Titletown Nine finished ninth to stablemate Oxbow, the horse that gave Lukas his record 14th and most recent classic victory.

Titletown Five was retired in 2014 with just one victory to his name and $105,078 in earnings, one of the most famous maiden winners of his time. Few will remember Hornung’s other horses like J. L.’s Princess and Angelouie. Or Security Breach and Flaget Braves. Or Brodies Pick and Paulies Pick.

Hornung’s presence in racing was less as an owner and much more as a convivial if sometimes garrulous bettor. For summers on end he held court at Saratoga, a familiar face at a patio table not far from the red and white awning over the nearby escalator.

Once I approached him there to reintroduce myself, part of that parade of forgettable faces in the crowds of well-wishers whom he encountered everywhere from racetracks to football stadiums.

“Nice to see you again,” he said, politely skipping over the fact he did not know me from the next gambler. Then, with the Daily Racing Form at arm’s length, he asked, “Who do you like in this race?”

Even with all those visits to Saratoga and a professional career in Green Bay and even a house in Florida, Hornung was really all about Louisville. All about Kentucky. He never let anyone forget that. As he said during a 2011 speech in his hometown, “There’s one thing I will never do. I won’t even get in a boat and try to go to Indiana from the Kentucky shore.”

A private funeral mass will be observed for Hornung before he is buried in Louisville. A public memorial service will be scheduled later. The Hornung family asked that donations in his name be sent to the Norton Sports Health Athletics and Learning Complex via the Louisville Urban League, 1535 West Broadway, Louisville, Ky. 40203, or to the Sister Visitor Center through Catholic Charities of Louisville, 2911 South Fourth Street, Louisville, Ky. 40208.