In today’s Kentucky Derby, Kendrick Carmouche will be the first Black rider since 2013. Once there were many; but have you ever heard of Tom Bass?
Think About It. Write On! It’s always brief fun watching the Kentucky Derby, Preakness and Belmont Stakes, the fillies and friends filling our thoughts with joy for the underdog (underhorse?). Last racing season my mind wandered back to Bill Downey’s inspiring book on the subject of success against the odds, Tom Bass: Black Horseman. A fighting Marine in World War II, Downey returned to his Iowa home establishing and operating a successful auto repair shop for over 20 years. Like other brave adventurers, after visiting Santa Barbara, resettling was the family’s next move in 1965. In his forties, at the urging of his wife, he began writing and writing and writing. Catching attention of the Pulitzer prize-winning Santa Barbara News-Press, he quickly moved from obituaries to feature-stories.
Bill was an affable partier, excellent teacher and engaging writer of varied interests. His Gone Fishin’ column and articles for national magazines like American Shotgunner established his credentials as a sportsman. Sale of movie rights to his touching story about a young boy dying of leukemia provided financing for his departure from the newspaper and focus on long-form writing with titles as diverse as Black Viking and Uncle Sam Must be Losing the War (with Alex Haley).
Long before it became fashionable for TV and movies to feature gentle but effective animal trainers, Bill found the original. Publicity about his book Tom Bass: Black Horseman, later titled Whisper on the Wind, prompted me to ask him more about it. 1 Bass, born a slave, murmured a mule into cantering, backward. Later Bass became the most respected of horse trainers and riders. With soft voice and gentleness, he provided Buffalo bill with his famous white steed, shared horsemanship and friendship with Teddy Roosevelt and four other presidents, meanwhile inventing a revolutionary, humane bit of a style still in use today.
It’s only fair that this late-starter would share his experience with other’s who would dare attempt the fight through mental block in hopes of writing the great American novel or at least string together coherent passages for public consumption. His papers in the University of California at Santa Barbara library 2 in 1994 comment that “Downey was well respected in the literary community for his work with the Santa Barbara Writers Conference and his writing classes. He was a member of Outdoor Writers of California, Pillsbury Foundation Writing Committee, Adult Education Instructor’s Association, and Santa Barbara Continuing Education Association. Downey was the author of the five novels …. “. The one I remember best, that has inspired and given hope to many including this fledgling octogenarian blogger was called Right Brain: Write On! Think About It.