it comes in pints?

They don't write 'em like that anymore

Still going through pictures and boxes, came across a newspaper clipping from 1937.

COLUMBIA DOWNS RACE TRACK, Vancouver, Wash., June 1. —Danny Summers, the little half pint jockey from Halfway, up there in Eastern Oregon where the Snake River starts its singing run to the Columbia and then down to the sea, is dead. . . . The little halt pint from Halfway learned about horses and horse racing from the mining men around the Cornucopia lode. ... As a little boy the kid from Halfway used to pick up nickels and dimes running errands, bringing cool water or packing their lunch boxes for the miners. . . . Danny, as he did years later as a race rider, always worked hard. . . .

(ellipses in original) They don't write 'em like that anymore. The writer, Joe Hernandez, knew Danny and his family well from the racing circuit.

Danny was my Dad's uncle, whom he idolized as a kid. Danny was thrown in a race at Bay Meadows in San Mateo, CA, when his horse collapsed from a back injury. His skull was fractured and he died the next day.

Posted by Ken S at August 21, 2005 09:32 PM | TrackBack (0) |