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Page 47 · column 3 of 6 · from the scan, no model involved
By Lauren R. Giannini
Times Newspapers Special Writer s-,—ven after 27 years,
L/| Gregg Ryan is still
P* crazy about the sport -* '—of steeplechasing. He was in college when he rode his first race in 1980. A year later he booted home his first winner.
“I was a sophomore and I was on the wrestling team,” Ryan recalled. “When 1 wrestled a guy who was in the Olympics and Pan Am Games, I discovered I wasn’t actually very good at it and I needed another sport.
“I was your typical boy rider as a kid. I’d rather be catching frogs in the stream by the horse show grounds, getting all dirty. Then they’d yell at me to get cm a horse and go in the ring.
Ryan, the nation’s leading amateur jockey grew up with horses in his blood. “My father used to be at Fort Riley in the cavalry,” he said. “My father’s friends were all ex-cavalry, all army officers. When I started racing, Gordon Wright, one of my Dad’s friends, said I finally found my niche in horse sports.”
Ryan bought his first racehorse, Close lb Glory, for the bargain price of $1,500 while he was at St. Lawrence. They placed second in their first race at Genessee Valley.
Ryan’s mentor and trainer was Virginia native and legendary professional jump jockey Jerry Fishhack, who was induct
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