HomeMy WebLinkAboutClinton News-Record, 1984-08-08, Page 14• SOwitt$.0 RPONE
• • -
•Report on Sports
By Rod Kitts
A giant step forward
'The time has come for Sports Editor Rod
Hilts to -say goodbye to Clinton. This will be
my final sports report for the News -Record.
Next week, I will be taking a tremendous
climb up the journalistic ladder as I've been
appointed Editor of the Mitchell Advocate.
I've had an enjoyable stay in Clinton and
can only hope the residents of Mitchell will
be half as receptive as the many Clintonians
I've dealt withduring my term.
The sports contacts I've established in this
town have made my job most gratifying.
Everyone from sports enthusiast Doc
Miller, to Colts' skipper Sly Kennedy have
added a whole new dimension to the Clinton
sports scene.
The kindness and cooperation shown by
Clinton Mustang's Manager Wayne
"Wiggy" Wiggins and the Colts' John
Leppington made my job much easier.
Thank you gentlemen!
The cooperation from the coaches and
managers throughout the News -Record
coverage area also aided my cause. I can
only hope that you keep up your fantastic
torrespondance with the News -Record.
When I started my position as Sports
Editor in January of 1983, I came to Clinton
'• as a rookie from the ranks of Conestoga
College, Kitchener. Clinton offered me a
training ground second to none. The variety
of events I have covered since coming to this
town have opened up other avenues in my
journalism career.
I've covered all types of situations; some
good, some bad. I've paddled through the
Hullett Wildlife Area in search of a full-page
feature. I've literally crawled through the
mud -covered motocross track at Ilully
Gully searching for the best possible angle
with my camera.
•I've watched and written about Blyth's
struggle to expand and keep their landfill
site open. I've written human interest
stories about local individuals and their
struggle to compete in our struggling'
economy: The list goes on.
I'm proud to say the News -Record sports
section has grown in leaps and bounds over
the past year and a half. In fact, with the
• addition of Recreation Director Kevin
Duguay and the expanded, much -improved
recreation program in town, I expect the
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sports section will grow even larger in the
future.
Sports has always been my priority area,
however, that will change with my new
position as editor.
I enjoyed my time here, despite covering
many teams with losing records. I learned
that sometimes winning isn't everything.
For the most part, I found that Clinton
teams acted in a very sportsman-like
manner, whether they won or lost. The
Clinton Junior C Mustangs were perhaps the
best example of this.
Last season, the young Mustangs were
trampled into the ice in the opening half. of
their hockey season. When I travelled on the
team bus, I could sense that these guys had
pride in themselves. Each loss hurt most of
them like a knife in the back. I admit that at
times it was hard to find some positive
things to write about the team.
In the second half of the season, the boys
turned it on and brought some respectibility
into the dressing room. The work of Head
Coach Bob Zimmer and assistant Butch
Elliott had a lot to do with this.
Good luck to the Mustangs this season. My
'heart will be with you!
And finally I'd like to thank News -Record
Editor and leader Shelley McPhee for the
excellent direction and support she has
given me. She is the key person in our
newsroom and her leadership will always be
remembered and admired in my mind.
I'll never forget the first assignment
Editor McPhee gave me. After my first hour
on the job, Shelley instructed me to visit the
Clinton Public School and talk to the Grade 4
class about New Year's Resolutions. Photos
of the 'individual children were to
accompany the story. I got so enthused with
the assignment, I forgot to load film into my
"camera!
When I returned to the office, my face was.
red with embarrassment. I could have
crawled into a hole. Shelley casually asked
how my assignment went. I explained the
whole situation and she smiled. Thank
goodness for that smile! ,
I look back on my term here with a.smile.
Goodbye Clinton and to use an old cliche
"may the good news be yours" - Rodney
Noel Hilts.
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CLOSED MONDAYS
utch Elliott fulfills a lifewolong dream
By Rod Hilts
CLINTON - Famous celebrities, late night
parties and a successful brae racing career
are all things George "Butch" Elliott will
never forget. Life in the fast lane for him
was an experience to say the least, but
Butch says there's nothing like Clinton.
Butch has fulfilled a number of his career
goals in harness racing but one of the
biggest was to establish a training stables
operation in his home town. The Clinton
horseman has successfully raced and
trained top-ranked standard -bred horses
across Canada and the U.S. for 18 years but
says he knew that someday he would make
it back to his hometown.
A dream come true
Today, Butch is busy breaking and
training colts at his horse operation at the
north end of -the Clinton Community Park.
"This is a dream come true for me,"
Butch said as he dyed his huge red barn.
"You get tired of bouncing around from
town to town and living out of a suitcase. It's
a high pressure business. I'd do it again
though. I'd never have been happy if I
hadn't of done it," Butch said.
Trips to 'the Meadowlands Raceway in
New Jersey, one of the world's premier
horse racing circuits, remain as one of
Butch's most exciting memories of harness
racing.
"The lifestyle was great down there. It
was kinda' like a fantasy world meeting
great celebrities. We had ,good horses and
the money was so much greater there, We
just decided that we had to take a shot at it,"
he recalled.
Best seat in the house
Butch remembered times during the three
months there when he and a millionaire
friend from New York went to the races and
sat at better tables than actor Telly Savalis.
Butch Elliott says that establishing a training barn in Clanton is "a dream come true".
Butch has been racing and training top-ranked standard bred horses across North
America for the past -18 years. He is pictured with H.F. Alice, owned by BW Fleming of
Clinton and trained by himself. (Rod Hilts photo)
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The horses, which were owned by Jerry
DuFord and trained by Bach, were doing
well but the racing stint came to an end
when the hot* got sick.
"It was a worthwhile trip but I couldn't
measure it in dollars and cents," he said.
Started young
Butch's strategic elimb. up the ladder of
harness racing started at the age of eight,
when he was a Parade Marshal. He led the
horses to the post while driving a white
pony. His interest in the sport began to
flourish at this stage.
The 35 -year-old horseman attributes
much of his success in the sport to his father,
Dr. George Elliott. He undoubtedly had an
influence on his son's decision to make
harness racing a career. Dr. Elliott, a
retired veterinarian, has always had a love
for horses and was experienced in training
them. Today,, George still does most of
Butch's vet work.
"Dad helps me jog and train the horses
every day. It's a hobby to him. I probably
couldn't run the operation without him,"
Butch said.
When he was 12 -years -old, Butch got a
summer job working for Ken Galbraith at
Greenwood Raceway in Toronto. He worked
there for two summers grooming race
horses.
"It was a learning experience. I tried to
work somewhere new every summer to gain
more experience," Butch said.
For the next two summers he worked for
the late Ron Feagan of Goderich. After
graduating from Central Huron Secondary
School, he worked for horse owner George
Hawke in Winnipeg. In the summertime, he
raced and trained in Buffalo and in the
Winter he did the same in Windsor. For the
next two years he made the transition from
groomer to trainer.
First race
At the age of. 17, Butch got his first
-opportunity to drive. Mischief G was the
horse and he guided it to a fourth place
finish. He liked racing.
"I always wanted to be a driver. I felt I
could drive a horse and I always wanted to
say I could. But driving is a pressure job,"
Butch said.
After Hawke, Butch worked for the late
Bill Harvey where he had more in-depth
training as a driver. He raced at Western
Fair Raceway in London and in Buffalo. In
his second race, Butch drove 'the horse
Breckenridge to a second place finish.' The
next race he and the same horse finished
first. '
Broke a record
That summer of 1970, Butch and Mr.
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broke a track record that was 23 -years -old.
While aboard Noted Chief he finished with a
time of 27 and two-fifths, for the fastest 9-
16tb of a mile in the history of the track.
That summer, driving became a full-time
occupation for him.
Bill Harvey died that fall and Butch began
working for Jack Kopas In London. He got
the job, which would last five years, after
receiving a recommendation from Clint
Hodgins of Lucan. The late Mr. Hodgins was
regarded as one of the top horsemen in
North America.
"My career really started to blossom
when I worked for Kopas. He had real good
horses and it gave me an opportunity to race
better quality stock," Butch said.
That same winter, Butch trained colts and
raced the occassional horse at Western Fair
Raceway. He started to break colts in the
fall and turn them into racing material.
"I learned how to break colts through
Kopas," he said.
First big chance
His first big opportunity came in 1972
when Kopas sent him to Montreal with six
race horses.
"I had a real good meet there. My two
biggest thrills was winning the Preferred
Pace in 2.01 and two-fifths with the Hammer
and having the fastest ride at the track with
Key Ones Uno with a time off 59.3," Butch
noted.
In the fall of '72, Butch was back in London
training colts for Kopas and catch driving
(driving horses for other people). His next
big racing opportunity would come in the
spring of 1973.
He travelled to Buffalo with nine horses
and did well before coming back to Windsor
to race in the fall of 1974. He continued to be
on the move and in the spring of 1975, he
moved to Batavia, a racing town near
Rochester, New York.
"It was anothei racing circuit and I had
exceptionally good luck there," Butch said.
Time for change
In the winter of 1975-'76, he raced in
Windsor, where he didn't do quite as well.
He quit working for Kopas and worked for
Jerry DuFord, who lived near
Campbellville.
"I felt it was time fora change," he Said.
He worked for Jerry and his father in
Windsor and raced the -Jockey Club circuit
in the summer.
"There was a decline in my driving when I
worked for the DuFords. Jerry was the
driver and' I specialized in training and
warming up the horses," Butch explained.
His training career began to sky rocket in
the six years he worked for DuFord.
The big event
In 1977, Meadowlands was the site of the
biggest racing debut of Butch's career. The
Duforts took 12 horses to New Jersey and did
quite well.
"We had one of the top trotters which was
imprestiVe," Butch said. -
Trotter Reps Jewel was the big winner,
competing for purses ranging from $15,000
to $20,000 a night.
"For an overnight event in 1977 it was big
money," Butch said.
Even today, overnight purses at
Greenwood in Toronto don't exceed $14,000.
They lived in a motel in North Bergen,
New Jersey and, "had a lot of good times
with a lot of hard work."
"Play hard and work hard," Butch
concludes of the New Jersey race days.
Following three months of racing in New
Jersey, Butch returned to Mohawk where he
continued to train until the fall of 1981.
A big change,
He returned to Clinton that year and found
the transition to be difficult. He recalled, "It
was a big adjustment. The lifestyle. was
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