Culbertson's own, jockey Steve Brooks

It is ironic that one of the finest athletes ever to come out of Culbertson, a town known for outstanding athletes, never played a down of football, or shot a basket, or ran a footrace for the Culbertson Bears. Indeed, he never did even make it to high-school.

Yet, Steve Brooks, the winner of the 1949 Kentucky Derby, aboard the horse, Ponder, claimed Culbertson as his hometown until the day of his death.

Steve Brooks story is bittersweet. He was born in a covered wagon, south of Culbertson in 1921, the son of John and Lou Brooks. The whole family was a throwback to a previous century.

They loved horses, and Steve's father attempted to make his living as a horse trader/trainer, long after horses were no longer extensively used on farms. Steve spent his boyhood in and around Culbertson, and by the age of 10 was helping his father break and train horses. At 14, he began riding horses in county fair races and country matches.

In 1937, the Brooks family arrived back in Culbertson, still in their covered wagon, pulled by a team of horses. The family set up camp at the Hitchcock County Fairgrounds.

In those Depression days, poverty was widespread, yet the Brooks family set a new standard for need. The family did not have food to eat. The children did not have clothes to wear. At that time J.W. Litherland was superintendent of the Culbertson Schools. He was also an officer in the Culbertson Community Club. He found out about the needs of the Brooks family and persuaded the Community Club to give help, in the form of food and clothing, and he was able to find temporary work for Mr. Brooks.

At the same time, Mr. Litherland found out that the sons, Steve, by this time almost 16 years old, and Fred, a little younger, had never been to school, and could neither read nor write.

He went to one of his teachers, Mrs. June Kern, and asked her to accept the boys in her fourth grade classroom. Together, they decided to start the boys out with first grade materials, and then give them as much individual instruction as they could arrange, and hope for the best.

Mrs. Kern was pleasantly surprised. Though the boys were older than the other fourth graders, and bigger, they offered no discipline problems. While Fred was very retiring and not much interested in books, Steve was delighted to be in school.

He devoured his schoolbooks. Mrs. Kern says that from the beginning, it was very apparent that the boys were very much interested in horses. On every paper they handed in there were drawings of horses -- horses running, horses at rest, mares with their colts. Some of the drawings showed real artistic talent.

On the playground, Fred was a loner, usually looking on from the edge of the playground, while Steve was a natural ham.

He was thin and wiry, and not all that much bigger than some of the other boys in the fourth grade. He entertained the other pupils, singing and making birdcalls, and acting silly. He turned out to be very popular with the other students. And more, by the end of the term, he had caught up with the other fourth graders in math and reading. Sadly, that was to be the end of Steve's formal schooling.

Another great influence of Steve's life in Culbertson was Ed Orin. Mr. Orin had a liquor store in Culbertson, but he also had a ranch south of town where he bred and trained horses -- work-horses, riding horses and race horses.

Somehow Mr. Orin and Steve got together and with Mr. Orin's encouragement, Steve began working on the ranch with the Orin horses, doing the work that he loved. Mr. Orin recognized Steve's natural talent and trained him as a jockey.

At age 16 Brooks rode his first thoroughbred, Ormonette, owned by Ed Orin. After that, they traveled extensively to race tracks around the Midwest, Steve Brooks as the jockey aboard Ormonette.

At 17, Brooks left school behind forever and made his racing debut on the professional circuit on Coventry Cat. Now he traveled as far away as Shreveport, La., for racing meets. All told, Brooks rode Coventry Cat to 70 wins.

By 1946, Steve Brooks was ranked as the third leading rider in the nation. In 1949, he won the Kentucky Derby aboard Ponder. 1949 also saw Brooks as the nation's leading jockey, in races won, and purses earned.

In Steve Brook's storied career, from 1938-1975 he had 10 mounts in the Kentucky Derby, he rode 30,333 races, and he was among a select group of only four jockeys in racehorse history to win as many as 4,000 races. In 1962, he won the prestigious George Woolf Memorial Award, as the nation's outstanding jockey. The next year, he was elected to the Jockey Hall of Fame.

For many years, Brooks traveled out of Lexington, Ky., as a regular rider for Calumet Farms, the owner of the Kentucky Derby winner, Ponder.

It was the Calumet Silks that he chose to wear for his Jockey Hall of Fame picture. However, Brooks did not count Ponder as the greatest horse that he had ridden.

He considered Two Lea his best filly, and Citation his best horse overall. Brooks was on Citation when the horse became the first to win $1 million in purses. He also lowered the world record for the mile race aboard the horse, Coaltown.

A few years ago, Mrs. Everett Kern, Steve's fourth grade teacher, was on a vacation trip to Kentucky and made a special visit to the Jockey Hall of Fame. Said Mrs. Kern, "I just had to find out if that famous jockey was really OUR Steve Brooks. And I don't mind saying that it was with considerable pride that I viewed his picture in the Calumet Silks.

I thought of the long, difficult road that he had taken to become recognized as one of the all-time greats in his profession."

Unfortunately, Steve Brooks' story, which began with great hardship, also ended with tragedy. Though he tried to retire from racing several times, he always returned to the sport he loved, and rode long past his prime. By 1979, he was back at the track again, walking horses, a menial job. In September of that year, he died from injuries resulting from a fall from a horse. He was 57, a horseman to the last.

During his career, Steve Brooks made millions for the horse owners for whom he rode, and earned his share of those millions. He was known to be generous to his parents back in Culbertson, and spent a small fortune on lawyers' fees defending his brother, Fred, from legal difficulties in which he found himself.

Mrs. Kern had one last contact concerning Steve Brooks. A few years ago a relative of Steve's was contracted by the Kerns to do some work around their home. Of course Mrs. Kern asked about Steve.

The cousin shook his head sadly, and told Mrs. Kern, "Steve was a good jockey, and a very successful one, and he chose his horses well. But Steve was not good in choosing his financial investments, or his women."

-- Sources: McCook Gazette, National Museum of Racing Hall of Fame, and Special thanks to Mrs. June Kern.