A victory for the family of Mann

William Johnson

August 31, 1970

They descended out of the boxes at Arlington Park racetrack, an excited and talkative little throng of folks, all flushed. They pressed through the fans at the rail in noisy yet rather efficient fashion—not unlike schoolchildren in a fire drill—to crowd inside the winner's circle. They were visibly proud and pretty puffed up, yet a little stiff and bashful, too, unaccustomed as some of them were to glory. But they kept arriving in the winner's circle until it was more or less overflowing with them—perhaps two dozen in all, cousins and in-laws and children and grandchildren and old school chums and a family doctor and certain other shirttail relations. This was the family of Mann—John L. Mann of Dallas—here assembled to pose radiantly for pictures, to receive congratulations and certain other more material rewards for the remarkable performance of their one-horse racing stable. "We may have only one," said John Mann, "but isn't he just the one!" Indeed he was, for last week the Mann family's pride—a strong and handsome 2-year-old bay named Staunch Avenger, who was bought at a budget price—went to the starting gate for the fourth time in his life and came home a winner for the fourth time.