Steve Crump, '80

Documentary Spotlights Black Jockeys' Achievements

Now, thanks to an award-winning documentary written, produced and narrated by Steve Crump, Americans will know of the achievements of Isaac Murphy, Jimmy Winkfield, Willie Simms and other black jockeys of the latter 19th century and early 20th century.

And they will understand why, when Winkfield returned to Louisville and the Derby decades later, he and his family had trouble even getting into a party held in his honor at the historic Brown hotel.

Crump, a Louisville native and reporter for WBTV-News in Charlotte, N.C. received a prestigious Eclipse award in February for his documentary on African-American jockeys, "Forgotten at the Finish Line." The award honors members of the media for outstanding coverage of thoroughbred racing.

The documentary, which aired on PBS earlier this month, is Crump's tenth. Using old racing footage, news clippings and numerous interviews, it depicts how black jockeys entered the racing world as slaves with a chance to make big money.
It explains how they dominated the sport for years, only to inexplicably fade from memory.

"What I want people to come away with is a sense of understanding," Crump told Merlene Davis of the Lexington Herald-Leader. "It is very easy for people to turn on any sportscast and see African-Americans. I think the greater picture that you walk away with is an understanding of how they got there."

"If someone can walk away from a program like this and say that we achieved, survived and we contributed, then there is hope and the opportunity that somewhere down the road we can do that again."

Crump has received regional Emmy awards for stories on South Africa, southern church arsons, black radio and African-American paratroopers in WWII, and his work has received regional and international recognition at film festivals, the Library of Congress, the North Carolina Historical Archives, the Smithsonian and Chicago's Museum of Broadcast Communications.

His latest documentary, "Carolina Bebop Kings," explores the contributions of jazz greats John Coltrane, Thelonious Monk and Dizzy Gillespie.

Crump, who earned a bachelors degree in communications from EKU has been named Man of the Year by the National Council of Negro Women and Humanitarian of the Year by the NAACP Legal Defense Fund, Charlotte chapters.