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In 1958, Wiggins, a veteran military photographer, was already a nationally-known photojournalist, having published stories in the leading publications of the day, including Time, Life, Look, Collier’s, Argosy and Sports Illustrated.
Walt Wiggins Sr. (center) with Champion trainers Jake and Bubba Cascio.
he created his dream race scenario. He offered Quarter Horse breeders all across the country initial nominations to the All American Futurity for mere pocket change--and structured the sustaining payments to increase at intervals
of several months. Hensley knew that all
horse owners are high on their own horses— especially the weanlings and yearlings. They’re all undefeated at that age. Hensley’s plan was to entice as many breeders as possible to nominate all their foals to the race. But to do that, he had to offer a life-changing prize to the eventual winner and at the outset there was no way of knowing how many breeders would nominate. And if he got lucky and pulled it off once, could he possibly do it more than once? He decided to risk it. But he knew he would need help.
If you had been searching for a way to describe the phrase “Renaissance Man” in the context of the post-World War II era, you couldn’t have done much better than to post a photo and a bio of the late Walt Wiggins, Sr. And if you were trying to trace the evolution of the All American Futurity, you would definitely backtrack the trail to its origins through the words, photos and tireless efforts of that same Walt Wiggins. It was largely through his promotional genius that the cornerstone race of the American Quarter Horse racing industry received national and international attention in the late 1950s
and through the early ‘70s, fueling what
has today become one of the world’s most important horse races of any type.
In 1958, Wiggins, a veteran military photographer, was already a nationally-known photojournalist, having published stories in the leading publications of the day, including Time, Life, Look, Collier’s, Argosy and Sports Illustrated. Himself a native New Mexican, Wiggins was fascinated when he got word
of a planned horse race in Ruidoso Downs, New Mexico, not far from his hometown of Roswell. He convinced the editors of Sports Illustrated to let him cover the race for a feature story. Walt Wiggins and Gene Hensley hit it off immediately. Hensley recognized that just scoring feature coverage in Sports Illustrated was the type of publicity which was far more powerful than anything he could
buy in the way of advertising. More national coverage like this might make the All American not only doable but sustainable.
In those days, there were photographers
and there were journalists. But the number of people who were professionally adept at both was so small that the term “photojournalist”
had barely been coined. That Wiggins was a successful photographer could not be disputed. In one 12-month period, his photos graced the covers of no fewer than 13 nationally distributed magazines. Thirteen
covers, not just
inside photos.
However, Wiggins’
greatest talent was
as a writer. He was
a consummate
storyteller and
his New Mexico
ranching roots
meant he was
particularly adept
at communicating
with just the type of
people who might
wager on their horses
and on their dreams.
Walt with Sherry Beadle, Ronnie Blackwell and Mrs. Walt Wiggins.
Walt with LW Vail, William Verdugo and Walter Merrick.
SPEEDHORSE November 2022 81
© Speedhorse Archives
© Speedhorse Archives
© Speedhorse Archives