Bill Corum - Off and Running (Book Review)

This is a book that I purchased from the Winfield high school library in April of 1964.  It is one of the oldest books in my library.  Bill Corum was a famous sportswriter in the 40's and 50's.  President of Churchill Downs for 9 years.  Credited for the term "run for the roses."  His autobiography is sprightly and witty.  This book must have been completed shortly before his death.

Growing up in Boonville, Missouri in the early years of the 20th Century.  Journalism major at the U of Missouri and then Columbia.    Considered himself lucky no matter what happened afterwards after he returned from World War I.

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Martene Windsor "Bill" Corum" (July 20, 1895 – December 16, 1958) was a sports columnist for the New York Evening Journal and the New York Journal-American, a radio and television sportscaster, and racetrack executive. He served as president of Churchill Downs for nine years, and is widely credited for coining the term "Run for the Roses" to describe the Kentucky Derby

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He grew up in Missouri and writes briefly about his upbringing in the ShowMe state.  Speaking of family Sunday get togethers he says:

"I was too you to think of how or why such family gatherings ended, as families moved and people died.  Looking back, I can see how the sun setting over Mimmy's side yard on my last visit.  The peaceful country sounds of evening are beginning and a caressing coolness settles over the hot land.  It is the last time I'll be at Mimmy's for those unforgettable dinners.  Those care-free, boyhood days are behind me.  P. 21

Did a year of military school growing up in Missouri before entering the Univ. of Missouri.   Glad he did.  P. 24

His experience in Europe with WWI was transformative.  Too bad all of us could not have had such formative experiences at an early age.  P. 51

Coming out of the war, Corum received a 10% disability due to nerve gas damage, but he says that after a government interview he told them to forget about it.

Corum was very much a horseman, horses and horse racing.  He tells how got into the horse racing business with one of his first newspaper assignments after return from the war and picking up a journalism degree from Columbia.  P. 80

Horse bettors: A strange breed.  P. 81

Corum is at this best describing how received $1,000 in traveling money to cover a Jack Dempsey heavyweight championship fight in a little town in Montana called Shelby.  The town was populated by 3000 yearly souls.  I looked it up and today the town's population is still 3000.  Corum describes Dempsey as the hardest puncher he ever saw.  Big compliment since he would have seen Marciano in his prime.  In Corum's time a heavyweight championship was a big event on the sporting scene.  No more.

Jack Dempsey seems to have gone out with the Roaring Twenties.  P. 119

A fool may now and then be right by chance.  P. 136

What was college football like in the 1920's when Columbia and Cornell were powerhouse teams.  I did not know that it was the Columbia Lions on Morningside Heights at Baker Field.  I always marvel at how once upon a time NYC was the hub of college football.  P. 136-37

Columbia beats Stanford in the Rose Bowl.  A long train ride from New York.  Quite a story.  The Columbia Lions.  When did the Columbia blue and white stop playing football?

The author has a poignant story of Damon Runyon.  Strange fellow.  Great writer says Corum.  Tragic death.  Living in a hotel in NYC.  Sounds like fun back in the day living in NY hotels.

Corum says that Willie Mays is the best baseball player he ever saw.  I agree.  His favorite baseball pitcher was Grover Cleveland Alexander, who once was credited with 374 wins but some statistician took one away from him to leave him tied at 373 with Christy Mathewson.   He has nice things to say about Leo Durocher, who once tipped him off that he would be the new manager of the NY Giants.  He raves about the horse Man-of-War.  The best boxers he ever have the privilege of watching were Joe Louis and Sugar Ray Robinson.  Okay.

This autobiography is basically of stories and events in his life rather a traditional biography.  He says almost nothing about his parents.  Rather strange I would say.