Whitney Tower
Encyclopedia
Whitney Tower was an American
journalist reporting on Thoroughbred
horse racing
and a president of the National Museum of Racing and Hall of Fame
. He was the son of oil
broker Roderick Tower and Flora Payne Whitney
, a member of the prominent Whitney family
.
, founded the Whitney Museum of American Art
, and his mother became the museum's chairman and president. However, his lifelong involvement in the horse racing industry was a natural career path for someone from one of the pre-eminent horse racing family's in the United States. Tower's great grandfather, William Collins Whitney, built an 800-foot stable with 84 box stalls and an adjoining mile-long training track at his vast summer estate near Old Westbury
on Long Island
. http://www.newsday.com/community/guide/lihistory/ny-historyhome-mansions,0,7633887.story?coll=ny-lihistory-navigation A breeder of twenty-six American stakes winners, William Collins Whitney and his offspring also maintained stables and breeding facilities at Newmarket in the United Kingdom
where they won important races including the prestigious Epsom Derby
.
Whitney Tower's grandfather, Harry Payne Whitney
, was also a major figure in thoroughbred horse racing. He owned a large stable and in 1915 established a horse breeding
farm in Lexington, Kentucky
and was thoroughbred racing's leading owner of the year in the United States on eight occasions. The breeder of almost two hundred stakes race winners Harry Payne Whitney's horses won twelve American Classic Races. The Whitney Handicap
at Saratoga Race Course
was inaugurated in the Whitney family's honor in 1928. As well, Tower's great-uncle Payne Whitney and his offspring owned the very successful Greentree Stable
and Tower's uncle Cornelius Vanderbilt Whitney
was also a major Thoroughbred owner/breeder who founded the National Museum of Racing and Hall of Fame. As recently as 2004, C.V. Whitney's widow, Marylou
, won the Belmont Stakes
.
in Middletown, Rhode Island
he went on to graduate from Harvard University
.
From 1948 to 1954 Whitney Tower worked as a sports reporter for the Cincinnati Enquirer. He then joined the fledgling Sports Illustrated
magazine where he served as horse racing editor for twenty-two years during which time he received the National Thoroughbred Racing Association's
magazine writing award.
Divorced from his first wife, Frances Cheston Train, in 1968 Whitney Tower married Joan Baker Spear, the former wife of [Life] photographer Eliot Elisofon. Tower spent time writing articles in Aiken, South Carolina
, home to the Aiken Steeplechase Association and famous for the flat racing
and steeplechase
Thoroughbred horses that trained at The Aiken Training Track. He and his wife decided to make Aiken their home and moved into a mansion built at the beginning of the 20th century by great-grandfather William Collins Whitney. While living there, the couple became instrumental in the creation of the Aiken Thoroughbred Racing Hall of Fame and Museum
.
In 1976 Whitney Tower founded Classic magazine, a publication dedicated to Thoroughbred and Standardbred
racing as well as show jumping
events. The magazine reported on horse racing matters not only from North America
but from around the world as well and won Media Eclipse Awards
in 1976-77. Following the magazine's closure, Tower joined the National Museum of Racing in Saratoga Springs, New York
, serving as its president from 1982 to 1989 and for ten years was chairman of the Museum's Hall of Fame committee.
Whitney Tower was a resident of Saratoga Springs where he died in 1999 of complications from a stroke
. He was survived by his third wife, Lucy Niblack Lyle, and six children.
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
journalist reporting on Thoroughbred
Thoroughbred
The Thoroughbred is a horse breed best known for its use in horse racing. Although the word thoroughbred is sometimes used to refer to any breed of purebred horse, it technically refers only to the Thoroughbred breed...
horse racing
Horse racing
Horse racing is an equestrian sport that has a long history. Archaeological records indicate that horse racing occurred in ancient Babylon, Syria, and Egypt. Both chariot and mounted horse racing were events in the ancient Greek Olympics by 648 BC...
and a president of the National Museum of Racing and Hall of Fame
National Museum of Racing and Hall of Fame
The National Museum of Racing and Hall of Fame was founded in 1950 in Saratoga Springs, New York, to honor the achievements of American thoroughbred race horses, jockeys, and trainers...
. He was the son of oil
Oil
An oil is any substance that is liquid at ambient temperatures and does not mix with water but may mix with other oils and organic solvents. This general definition includes vegetable oils, volatile essential oils, petrochemical oils, and synthetic oils....
broker Roderick Tower and Flora Payne Whitney
Flora Payne Whitney
Flora Payne Whitney, also known as Flora Whitney Miller , was a wealthy socialite, art collector, and patron of the arts.-Biography:...
, a member of the prominent Whitney family
Whitney family
The Whitney family is an American family notable for their social prominence, wealth, business enterprises and philanthropy, founded by John Whitney who came from London, England to Watertown, Massachusetts in 1635.-Rise to prominence:...
.
Family tradition
Whitney Tower's grandmother, Gertrude Vanderbilt WhitneyGertrude Vanderbilt Whitney
Gertrude Vanderbilt Whitney was an American sculptor, art patron and collector, and founder in 1931 of the Whitney Museum of American Art in New York City...
, founded the Whitney Museum of American Art
Whitney Museum of American Art
The Whitney Museum of American Art, often referred to simply as "the Whitney", is an art museum with a focus on 20th- and 21st-century American art. Located at 945 Madison Avenue at 75th Street in New York City, the Whitney's permanent collection contains more than 18,000 works in a wide variety of...
, and his mother became the museum's chairman and president. However, his lifelong involvement in the horse racing industry was a natural career path for someone from one of the pre-eminent horse racing family's in the United States. Tower's great grandfather, William Collins Whitney, built an 800-foot stable with 84 box stalls and an adjoining mile-long training track at his vast summer estate near Old Westbury
Old Westbury, New York
Old Westbury is a village in Nassau County, New York on the North Shore of Long Island. As of the 2010 United States Census, the village population was 4,671....
on Long Island
Long Island
Long Island is an island located in the southeast part of the U.S. state of New York, just east of Manhattan. Stretching northeast into the Atlantic Ocean, Long Island contains four counties, two of which are boroughs of New York City , and two of which are mainly suburban...
. http://www.newsday.com/community/guide/lihistory/ny-historyhome-mansions,0,7633887.story?coll=ny-lihistory-navigation A breeder of twenty-six American stakes winners, William Collins Whitney and his offspring also maintained stables and breeding facilities at Newmarket in the United Kingdom
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
where they won important races including the prestigious Epsom Derby
Epsom Derby
The Derby Stakes, popularly known as The Derby, internationally as the Epsom Derby, and under its present sponsor as the Investec Derby, is a Group 1 flat horse race in Great Britain open to three-year-old thoroughbred colts and fillies...
.
Whitney Tower's grandfather, Harry Payne Whitney
Harry Payne Whitney
Harry Payne Whitney was an American businessman, thoroughbred horsebreeder, and member of the prominent Whitney family.- Early years :...
, was also a major figure in thoroughbred horse racing. He owned a large stable and in 1915 established a horse breeding
Horse breeding
Horse breeding is reproduction in horses, and particularly the human-directed process of selective breeding of animals, particularly purebred horses of a given breed. Planned matings can be used to produce specifically desired characteristics in domesticated horses...
farm in Lexington, Kentucky
Lexington, Kentucky
Lexington is the second-largest city in Kentucky and the 63rd largest in the US. Known as the "Thoroughbred City" and the "Horse Capital of the World", it is located in the heart of Kentucky's Bluegrass region...
and was thoroughbred racing's leading owner of the year in the United States on eight occasions. The breeder of almost two hundred stakes race winners Harry Payne Whitney's horses won twelve American Classic Races. The Whitney Handicap
Whitney Handicap
The Whitney Handicap is an American Grade 1 handicap race for Thoroughbred racehorses three years of age and older run at a distance of 1⅛ miles. In 2007, the Breeders' Cup Ltd...
at Saratoga Race Course
Saratoga Race Course
Saratoga Race Course is a Thoroughbred horse racing track in Saratoga Springs, New York, United States. It opened on August 3, 1863, and is the oldest organized sporting venue of any kind in the United States. It is typically open for racing from late July through early September.-History:John...
was inaugurated in the Whitney family's honor in 1928. As well, Tower's great-uncle Payne Whitney and his offspring owned the very successful Greentree Stable
Greentree Stable
Greentree Stable, in Red Bank, New Jersey, was a major American thoroughbred horse racing stable and breeding farm established in 1914 by Payne Whitney of the Whitney family of New York City. Payne Whitney operated a horse farm and stable at Saratoga Springs, New York with his brother Harry Payne...
and Tower's uncle Cornelius Vanderbilt Whitney
Cornelius Vanderbilt Whitney
Cornelius Vanderbilt Whitney was an American businessman, film producer, writer, and government official, as well as the owner of a leading stable of thoroughbred racehorses....
was also a major Thoroughbred owner/breeder who founded the National Museum of Racing and Hall of Fame. As recently as 2004, C.V. Whitney's widow, Marylou
Marylou Whitney
Marylou Whitney is a noted philanthropist and a prominent socialite...
, won the Belmont Stakes
Belmont Stakes
The Belmont Stakes is an American Grade I stakes Thoroughbred horse race held every June at Belmont Park in Elmont, New York. It is a 1.5-mile horse race, open to three year old Thoroughbreds. Colts and geldings carry a weight of 126 pounds ; fillies carry 121 pounds...
.
Education and working life
Whitney Tower's parents divorced and when he was four years old his mother remarried to MacCulloch Miller. Sent to study at St. George's SchoolSt. George's School, Newport
St. George's School is a private, Episcopal, coeducational boarding school in Middletown, Rhode Island, USA, just east of the city of Newport. The school was founded in 1896 by the Rev. John Byron Diman, a member of a prominent Rhode Island family. It sits on a hill overlooking the Atlantic Ocean...
in Middletown, Rhode Island
Middletown, Rhode Island
Middletown is a town in Newport County, Rhode Island, United States. The population was 16,150 at the 2010 census. It lies to the south of Portsmouth and to the north of Newport on Aquidneck Island, hence the name "Middletown."-Geography:...
he went on to graduate from Harvard University
Harvard University
Harvard University is a private Ivy League university located in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States, established in 1636 by the Massachusetts legislature. Harvard is the oldest institution of higher learning in the United States and the first corporation chartered in the country...
.
From 1948 to 1954 Whitney Tower worked as a sports reporter for the Cincinnati Enquirer. He then joined the fledgling Sports Illustrated
Sports Illustrated
Sports Illustrated is an American sports media company owned by media conglomerate Time Warner. Its self titled magazine has over 3.5 million subscribers and is read by 23 million adults each week, including over 18 million men. It was the first magazine with circulation over one million to win the...
magazine where he served as horse racing editor for twenty-two years during which time he received the National Thoroughbred Racing Association's
National Thoroughbred Racing Association
The National Thoroughbred Racing Association is a broad-based coalition of horse racing interests consisting of leading thoroughbred racetracks, owners, breeders, trainers and affiliated horse racing associations, charged with increasing the popularity of horse racing and improving economic...
magazine writing award.
Divorced from his first wife, Frances Cheston Train, in 1968 Whitney Tower married Joan Baker Spear, the former wife of [Life] photographer Eliot Elisofon. Tower spent time writing articles in Aiken, South Carolina
Aiken, South Carolina
Aiken is a city in and the county seat of Aiken County, South Carolina, United States. With Augusta, Georgia, it is one of the two largest cities of the Central Savannah River Area. It is part of the Augusta-Richmond County Metropolitan Statistical Area. Aiken is home to the University of South...
, home to the Aiken Steeplechase Association and famous for the flat racing
Flat racing
Flat racing is a form of Thoroughbred horse racing which is run over a level track at a predetermined distance. It differs from steeplechase racing which is run over hurdles...
and steeplechase
Steeplechase (horse racing)
The steeplechase is a form of horse racing and derives its name from early races in which orientation of the course was by reference to a church steeple, jumping fences and ditches and generally traversing the many intervening obstacles in the countryside...
Thoroughbred horses that trained at The Aiken Training Track. He and his wife decided to make Aiken their home and moved into a mansion built at the beginning of the 20th century by great-grandfather William Collins Whitney. While living there, the couple became instrumental in the creation of the Aiken Thoroughbred Racing Hall of Fame and Museum
Aiken Thoroughbred Racing Hall of Fame and Museum
The Aiken Thoroughbred Racing Hall of Fame and Museum was established in 1977 as a tribute to the famous flat racing and steeplechase Thoroughbred horses that trained in Aiken, South Carolina....
.
In 1976 Whitney Tower founded Classic magazine, a publication dedicated to Thoroughbred and Standardbred
Standardbred horse
Standardbreds are a breed of horse best known for their ability to race in harness at a trot or pace instead of under saddle at a gallop. Developed in North America, the breed is now recognized worldwide for its harness racing ability...
racing as well as show jumping
Show jumping
Show jumping, also known as "stadium jumping," "open jumping," or "jumpers," is a member of a family of English riding equestrian events that also includes dressage, eventing, hunters, and equitation. Jumping classes commonly are seen at horse shows throughout the world, including the Olympics...
events. The magazine reported on horse racing matters not only from North America
North America
North America is a continent wholly within the Northern Hemisphere and almost wholly within the Western Hemisphere. It is also considered a northern subcontinent of the Americas...
but from around the world as well and won Media Eclipse Awards
Eclipse Award
The Eclipse Award is an American thoroughbred horse racing award named after the 18th century British racehorse and sire, Eclipse. The Eclipse Awards, honoring the champions of the sport, are sponsored by the National Thoroughbred Racing Association , Daily Racing Form and the National Turf Writers...
in 1976-77. Following the magazine's closure, Tower joined the National Museum of Racing in Saratoga Springs, New York
Saratoga Springs, New York
Saratoga Springs, also known as simply Saratoga, is a city in Saratoga County, New York, United States. The population was 26,586 at the 2010 census. The name reflects the presence of mineral springs in the area. While the word "Saratoga" is known to be a corruption of a Native American name, ...
, serving as its president from 1982 to 1989 and for ten years was chairman of the Museum's Hall of Fame committee.
Whitney Tower was a resident of Saratoga Springs where he died in 1999 of complications from a stroke
Stroke
A stroke, previously known medically as a cerebrovascular accident , is the rapidly developing loss of brain function due to disturbance in the blood supply to the brain. This can be due to ischemia caused by blockage , or a hemorrhage...
. He was survived by his third wife, Lucy Niblack Lyle, and six children.