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NFL Legend, Savior Of West Virginia Horse Racing: Tribute Paid To Sam Huff At Memorial Service

“Sam Huff saved the Thoroughbred breeding and racing industry in West Virginia.”

That declaration was made by Ken Lowe, the chairman of the West Virginia Racing Commission, as approximately 150 friends and business acquaintances gathered Monday afternoon at the Middleburg Community Center in Middleburg, VA. to pay tribute to Robert Lee “Sam” Huff. The Pro Football Hall of Fame football player and Thoroughbred owner and breeder died Nov. 13, 2021 from complications of dementia in Winchester, VA.

Lowe was one of several speakers at the service, which was held just a few furlongs from the farm where Huff lived with his longtime partner Carol Holden.

Among them was J.W. Marriott, Jr., the 89-year-old executive chairman of Marriott International, who fondly recalled Huff's long association with the company as the vice president for special markets. He told the story about Huff's persistent request for one of the parking spots at Marriott headquarters that were reserved for Marriott board members.

Shortly after Mr. Marriott granted Huff's wish, several other vice presidents complained. So, Mr. Marriott told those who complained that those spots were reserved “for board members and anyone else in the Pro Football Hall of Fame.”

Leonard Shapiro, a former sports writer and editor at The Washington Post, who co-authored Huff's autobiography “Tough Stuff,” talked about Huff's upbringing in a coal mining camp near Farmington, WV.

Frank Herzog, one of Huff's longtime radio broadcast partners covering the Washington Redskins, shared tales of their time together in press boxes across the country. (Huff spent more than 30 years as a broadcaster for the team.)

Keith McIntosh, a regional representative for Sen. Joe Manchin III of West Virginia, also made some remarks to the attendees.

The 35^th edition of the West Virginia Breeders Classics, co-founded by Holden and Huff in 1987, was held Oct. 9, 2021. The event has now generated more than $29 million in purses for the breeders and horsemen of West Virginia. In recent years, Huff served as the chairman emeritus; Holden still serves as president.

Lowe read an official resolution honoring Huff from the West Virginia Racing Commission that read in part:

“Sam Huff's efforts grew the West Virginia Breeders Classics into a premier event, bringing local and national television coverage to showcase the State of West Virginia, Jefferson County, Charles Town and the hard working people of the racing and breeding industries of West Virginia…The West Virginia Racing Commission would like to issue this resolution in honor of Sam Huff for his support, contributions and unwavering dedication to the Thoroughbred racing industry, the West Virginia Racing Commission and the State of West Virginia.”

In addition to starting the West Virginia Breeders Classics, Huff and Holden co-hosted a syndicated weekly radio show called “Trackside” for many years on their Middleburg Broadcasting Network.

The service also featured a video highlighting Huff's coal mine experience, his popularity as a member of the New York Giants and the cover story on him in TIME magazine.

Also in attendance was trainer Graham Motion, who trained Huff's stakes-winning filly Bursting Forth.

The service concluded with some personal remarks from Huff's namesake and grandson Robert Lee Huff III and music provided by the Mount Pisgah Baptist Church's gospel chorus.

Contributions in Huff's name may be made to Aftercare Charles Town, PO Box 136, Ranson, WV 25438. The 501(c)(3) organization is responsible for rehoming Thoroughbred racehorses that have raced at Charles Town.

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Friends, Associates Pay Tribute to Sam Huff at Memorial Service

“Sam Huff saved the Thoroughbred breeding and racing industry in West Virginia.”

That declaration was made by Ken Lowe, the chairman of the West Virginia Racing Commission, as approximately 150 friends and business acquaintances gathered Monday afternoon at the Middleburg Community Center in Middleburg, Va. to pay tribute to Robert Lee “Sam” Huff. The Pro Football Hall of Fame football player and Thoroughbred owner and breeder died Nov. 13 from complications of dementia in Winchester, Va.

Lowe was one of several speakers at the service, which was held just a few furlongs from the farm where Huff lived on with his longtime partner Carol Holden.

Among them was J.W. Marriott, Jr., the 89-year-old executive chairman of Marriott International, who fondly recalled Huff's long association

with the company as the vice president for special markets. He told the story about Huff's persistent request for one of the parking spots at Marriott headquarters that were reserved for Marriott board members. Shortly after Mr. Marriott granted Huff's wish, several other vice presidents complained. So, Mr. Marriott told those who complained that those spots were reserved “for board members and anyone else in the Pro Football Hall of Fame.”

The 35th edition of the West Virginia Breeders Classics, co-founded by Holden and Huff in 1987, was held Oct. 9. The event has now generated more than $29 million in purses for the breeders and horsemen of West Virginia. In recent years, Huff served as the chairman emeritus; Holden still serves as president.

Lowe read an official resolution honoring Huff from the West Virginia Racing Commission that read in part:

Also in attendance was trainer Graham Motion, who trained Huff's stakes-winning filly Bursting Forth.

The service concluded with some personal remarks from Huff's namesake and grandson Robert Lee Huff III and music provided by the Mount Pisgah Baptist Church's gospel chorus.

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Sam Huff, 87, Passes: NFL Legend Played Big Role In West Virginia’s Thoroughbred Industry

Sam Huff and his partner Carol Holden were driving back to their West Virginia home after attending the inaugural Maryland Million races at Laurel Park in 1986 when Huff came up with the idea of having a similar day for state-breds.

“We're going to do that in West Virginia,” Huff said, according to a 2011 Bloodhorse.com article by Tom LaMarra.

Sure enough, they did. The first West Virginia Breeders' Classic was held at Charles Town Races less than a year later, thanks to Huff's tireless advocacy for horses bred in West Virginia and fueled by a fiercely competitive personality that earlier in life made him among the most feared players in the National Football League.

Huff and Holden sold sponsorships for the event and found additional revenue from uncashed pari-mutuel tickets. The initial running, which included Charles Town's first-ever $100,000 race, was a success, and it's steadily grown over the years, becoming second only to Charles Town Classic day.

The couple also bred and raced horses in West Virginia and hosted a radio show, Trackside, that ran for 28 years, ending in 2016, when Huff began suffering from dementia. His condition led to a court fight later that year between Holden and Huff's daughter over his custody and care.

Huff died on Saturday in Winchester, Va., at the age of 87.

Born Robert Lee Huff on Oct. 4, 1934, in Edna Gas., W.Va., Huff was called Sam at early age and never learned why, according to a 1988 autobiography. Growing up in Coal Camp No. 9, he was from a family of coal miners but escaped that occupation when he accepted a football scholarship to West Virginia University, where he played both offensive and defensive line positions and was named an All-American before being drafted by the New York Giants in the third round of the 1956 NFL draft.

During his years in the National Football League, Huff was known for an aggressive defensive style that led CBS news anchor Walter Cronkite to narrate a documentary, “The Violent World of Sam Huff,” that aired as part of the network's “Twentieth Century” series. As the leader of the New York Giants defense, he helped the team reach the NFL title game six times in eight years before being traded to the team then known as the Washington Redskins, where he finished out his career and worked as a commentator on the team's radio broadcasts for 38 years, retiring in 2013.

Huff was inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 1982.

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Letters to the Editor: Bob Fierro On Sam Huff

You should understand that from the time I could figure out pro football as a kid in the 1950s, I was probably the only one in New York City who detested the football Giants and loved the Baltimore Colts. Don't ask why, it just happened (and continues to this day–go Jets!). Thus, you would not be surprised to learn that through some machinations by the policeman father of a friend I wound up in the bleachers at Yankee Stadium with a dozen other young teens in December, 1958 for what turned out to be “The Greatest Football Game Ever Played,” as determined by a blue ribbon panel in 2019.

That I was probably the only one in stadium who stood and cheered and whooped when Colts fullback Alan Ameche swept past the Giants linebackers to score the winning touchdown was, in retrospect, a huge mistake, because I was immediately pounded into a pulp by my friends.

So, imagine many years later when as newly-elected president of the New York Thoroughbred Breeders I was at a reception for the state program presidents when the dining room doors opened up and in walked one of those Giants linebackers, a tall, fit, and totally mesmerizing man named Sam Huff.

I was beside myself with incoherent thoughts fleeting through my head and did not even have a chance to catch a breath after he was introduced to me and a couple of other presidents. He must have noticed my dropped jaw and for some inane reason I babbled, “I was at the Giants-Colts game when Alan Ameche scored the winning touchdown, and I was 13 years old and a Colts fan and when I went crazy after he scored my friends beat the crap out of me.”

Sam looked me in the eye while everyone around us took a deep breath and then smiled and said, “Would you like that to happen again?”

That was the Sam Huff I came to know–a sweet, determined, purposeful man who along with his partner Carol Holden brought quality, dignity and excitement to the breeding and racing industry in his beloved home state of West Virginia. The three of us got to know each other quickly and they actually invited me several times to be a guest on their radio program–once by cellphone as I was winding my way through the hills of his state on my way back home to New York from a sale in Kentucky.

Though he was stricken almost a decade ago by dementia, he still showed up at the sales at times and when he didn't, I missed a man who had become a star in two great sports–as well as a pal.

My condolences to Carol, his family, and West Virginia–to paraphrase John Denver, his state's country roads have taken him home.

MIKE SEKULIC
Churchill Downs' management is taking a hardline position by suspending Bob Baffert for two years. Baffert is an awfully successful trainer, so I am starting to wonder what might happen if his horses win all the big Derby prep races? Let's say Baffert wins the Santa Anita Derby, Florida Derby, Wood Memorial, Arkansas Derby, Blue Grass S., etc., will Churchill Downs double down on their position and run a Kentucky Derby filled with Derby prep also-rans and allowance horses? Or will they let Baffert's horses participate? Stay tuned. It seems like digging in your heels, even when you might be wrong, is the order of the day.

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