Book Tells Story of Forgotten African-American Sports Hero
PHILLIPS: Well, he's probably one of the best athletes you've never heard of. He was a fierce competitor and a giant of a man who stood barely five feet tall. His name is Jimmy Winkfield, but he went by Wink. His story is now being told in the book "Wink: The Incredible Life and Epic Journey of Jimmy Winkfield." Author Ed Hotaling joins me live from Washington to talk about it. Very appropriate as we get ready for the Kentucky Derby. Ed, great to see you.</s>ED HOTALING, AUTHOR, "WINK": Hi.</s>PHILLIPS: Well, I think probably one of the most fascinating things about Wink is this is somebody that dominated horse racing up to the Civil War, and we've never even talked about this man.</s>HOTALING: Yes, very few people know that horse racing was our oldest professional sport, 200 years older, starting in the mid- 1600's. And the great black jockeys of the old days were our first professional athletes.</s>PHILLIPS: And he grew up in Kentucky.</s>HOTALING: Yes.</s>PHILLIPS: And, of course, we've talked so much about discrimination and the racism that took place, but at that time, they were protected by their talents, right?</s>HOTALING: Exactly. The Ku Klux Klan was not about to attack the trainers and jockeys of the huge, very expensive Kentucky horse farm, so that protected these very talented people. But they also had their own role models. We're talking about the 1880s and 1890s, when racism was rampant all over the country. But these young men had their own role models in the great jockeys of the past, going way back to colonial days down to the Civil War and then afterwards up to the Kentucky Derby.</s>PHILLIPS: So let's talk about what happened in Kentucky and what led him to Russia?</s>HOTALING: Well, in Kentucky he became one of the top jockeys. The black jockeys dominated the early Kentucky Derby. They won 15 of the first 28. And he won two back to back. Even today he's one of only four jockeys to have won it back -- to have won the Derby back to back. But racism was forcing the black jockeys out of the sport, and so were hard times, rough economic times. So the black jockeys were getting kicked out, ending up in the ghetto, having to lose their livelihoods, never to return to the sport. He wasn't going to take it. Here's this young 21-year-old kid sailing to Russia by himself because the sport had moved to Europe. Everybody in Europe loved racing. So, unable to become the top jockey in this country, in the country's leading sport, he became the leading country under the czars of Russia.</s>PHILLIPS: Incredible.</s>HOTALING: He won the Moscow Derby four times. He made side trips into Germany and Austria and became a great champion there. His neighbors when he was living in Austria were Adolf Hitler, who had to read about this lone black American winning these races and hated it, and Sigmund Freud, the psychiatrist, who probably had to treat people who were foolish enough not to bet on him. And the Bolsheviks finally chased him out of Russia, though, at gunpoint. He went to Odessa, the last of the holdouts of the czars, and then he led 200 czars, men, women, and children, and 200 thoroughbreds on an 1,100-mile odyssey across Eastern Europe, believe it or not, and they survived. Some of the horses died and they ate some of the horses that died. But it was an incredible courageous march away from, escaping from Russia. And then one day in Poland he got a call from one of the Russians who had escaped to France and said, "Come on and ride my horses in Paris."</s>PHILLIPS: OK. So there -- all right. Hold on, I'll be -- just stay with us a minute, Ed. Just quickly, a live picture, the president of the United States actually left Washington early this morning. He's now arriving in Latvia with, of course, his wife, the first lady. It's the first stop here in Latvia on a four-nation trip to commemorate the 60th anniversary of the end of World War II in Europe. The president's also going to visit the Netherlands, Russia and Georgia. But right now, you're seeing him side by side with the president of Latvia, Vaira Vike-Freiberga, and he's going to spend time with her. And then, of course, continue his trip, ending up, actually, with a pretty emotional memorial service, we're told, at an American cemetery in the Netherlands by the end of the weekend. So we're going to continue to follow the president's trip, now in Latvia, begins his four-nation tour, once again, commemorating the 60th anniversary of the end of World War II in Europe. All right. Back now to the incredible life and epic journey of Jimmy Winkfield. Ed, we'll continue our conversation. He arrived in Paris and now he becomes friends with Ernest Hemingway and all these...</s>HOTALING: That's right.</s>PHILLIPS: ... fascinating folks in Paris. But once again haunted by the Nazis. They arrive in Paris. He's got to get up and move again.</s>HOTALING: That's right. He -- the Nazis arrive in 1940, take over his stable, ship the horses back to Germany, because horse racing, believe it or not continued all during World War II in Germany. And not only did the Nazis steal great art from France but they also stole thoroughbred horses all over Europe. And he went after him one day with -- they moved into his house and into his stables. And he went after a group of Nazis one day with a pitchfork who were mistreating his horses. But he wasn't going to defeat Nazi Germany, obviously, with a pitchfork. The Nazis seized his property. He escaped, arrived in New York City a short time afterwards with $9 to his name. And got a job...</s>PHILLIPS: So here -- yes. I was going to say, so here he was with $9, his Russian wife, and but he got himself a job, ended up buying a horse, right?</s>HOTALING: Right. And the horse, Little Rocket, a sort of a Seabiscuit of his day, rocketed him all the way back to France, where he took over his stable again, became a top trainer again and one went back to Kentucky to visit. It's an incredible story. When he went back to Kentucky...</s>PHILLIPS: This was in the '60s, right?</s>HOTALING: It was 1961.</s>PHILLIPS: OK.</s>HOTALING: And a lot of people in Kentucky, apparently, for some reason, were surprised that after 60 years, he was still black. And they wouldn't let him in the front door...</s>PHILLIPS: Unbelievable.</s>HOTALING: ... of the Brown Hotel in Louisville, where he was going to be one of the guest of -- one of the guests of honor at a banquet there. But he eventually got in. His daughter, who was with him, was absolutely furious. She was a child of the civil rights movement. He -- he didn't let it get to him. He went to the Derby next day and had a great time, went back to France and died a well-to-do, wealthy man, very happy. What carried him through all of his battles with the Bolsheviks and the Nazis and early racists was his self-esteem. Nobody could get to him. He knew who he was. He knew he was an incredible man. Nobody, not the Ku Klux Klan in the early days, not the Bolsheviks, not the Nazis, nobody was going to get to him. He knew what he was worth.</s>PHILLIPS: Ed Hotaling, it's a fascinating book. It's interesting. Tomorrow, Kentucky Derby, 10 of the 20 jockeys Hispanics, still no black jockeys.</s>HOTALING: Yes.</s>PHILLIPS: I know that you're working on another book. My guess is that's part two. But this book, incredible. Just the life and journey of Jimmy Winkfield. It's fantastic that you're remembering him and that more people now recognizing him. Now he's in the hall of fame and even a race created in his name. Ed, thank you so much.</s>HOTALING: Thank you, Kyra.</s>PHILLIPS: All right.</s>O'BRIEN: That's all the time we have for LIVE FROM for this whole week. Time to take a couple days off. What do you say?</s>PHILLIPS: Sounds good to me.</s>O'BRIEN: All right. Let's do it. Thanks for being with us.</s>PHILLIPS: Judy Woodruff now with "INSIDE POLITICS." Hi, Judy. Happy Friday.</s>JUDY WOODRUFF, HOST, "INSIDE POLITICS": Thanks to you. Happy Friday to both of you. See you Monday. Well, should evolution be taught to students in Kansas? That is one of our topics today. And is Justice Scalia lobbying to be Chief Justice Scalia? And if it's Friday, it's "Play of the Week" day. You probably won't believe who wins it this week. "INSIDE POLITICS" just minutes away.