confusion about the number of Champions, their markings, and their origins. Autry, probably hoping to perpetuate the myth of a single Champion among his fans, was not particularly helpful when questioned on the subject. In one interview, he stated that the original Champion had come from Oklahoma and in another that he had acquired Champion from the Hudkins Brothers Stables, a company that provided horses for Autry’s films. It has been widely accepted that the Hudkins brothers owned the original Champion and perhaps he originally came from Oklahoma. Regardless, the dark sorrel gelding was chosen because he photographed well. With three white stockings and one dark right foreleg, he can be easily distinguished from subsequent Champions, who all had four white stockings of varying height. The T-shaped blaze starting high on his forehead and extending over his muzzle further distinguishes the original Champion.
Autry and producer Armand Schaffer reportedly chose the name Champion, deciding that “Champion” reflected “the best of everything.” It was a fitting name for the clean living hero who championed a strict code of ethics known as the Cowboy Code. Champion first received billing in 1935’s Melody Trail. As his partnership with Autry solidified, the gelding began to be billed as the “Wonder Horse of the West.” Trained by Tracy Layne, he could untie knots, roll over and play dead, bow, nod his head for yes and shake it for no, and come to Autry’s whistle. Wearing his signature bridle featuring bit shanks in the shape of pistols, he carried Autry safely through many adventures. Sometimes he merely had to stroll along the prairie looking sharp while Autry sold a song from his saddle. That might sound like easy work, but it takes a special horse to mosey along carrying a singing cowboy while being photographed by a motion-picture crew and its attendant paraphernalia. Sometimes such scenes were photographed on a soundstage with the horse on a treadmill and the scenery projected in the background. On other occasions, Autry and Champion are clearly riding through the sagebrush outdoors.
The original Champion starred with Autry in all his Mascot and Republic Studios pictures until the actor’s screen hiatus during World War II. His last picture was The Bells of Capistrano (1942). It has been written that in 1943 Champion, approximately seventeen years old, died of an apparent heart attack on Autry’s Melody Ranch, while his master was in the army. Johnny Agee, who was employed by Autry to train and care for his horses, reportedly buried Champion. An obituary notice in the January 26, 1947, edition of the New York Times tells a different story, reporting that the original Champion was retired in 1943 and died on January 25, 1947, at age seventeen. Perhaps the former story was concocted to romanticize Autry’s loss of his original horse, who may well have been retired due to lameness—a not uncommon side effect of toiling in Westerns. Even though he had multiple stunt doubles, Champion did do quite a bit of galloping over hard ground in his early movies, which over time damages the tissues and bones of a horse’s legs.
Champion Jr. and Little Champ
Returning to films in 1946’s Sioux City Sue, Autry rode a new horse, who would be billed as Champion in Autry’s first three postwar films. In 1947’s Saddle Pals and Robin Hood of Texas, the same horse is billed as Champion Jr., but when The Last Round Up was released later that same year, the “Jr.” had been dropped and the mythical “Champion” returned.
Champion Jr., the second screen Champion, was a high-spirited sorrel stallion—who was eventually gelded—with a flaxen mane and tail and four high white stockings. He had a narrower blaze than his predecessor, and it ended in a snip on his nose. Remarkably, he also had a white patch on his belly. He was a show horse originally called Boots and owned by Charles Auten of Ada, Oklahoma. Having heard that Autry was looking for a new Champion, Auten supposedly hauled the four-year-old Boots to Fort Worth, Texas, when Autry was appearing at a rodeo there. The actor reportedly bought the horse for $2,500, even though he later claimed he had never paid more than $1,500 for a horse. The name Boots certainly seems an apt one for Champion Jr., as his flashy stockings extended well up to his knees.
Champion Jr. became known only as Champion, and his status was elevated from “Wonder Horse of the West” to “World’s Wonder Horse” when Autry moved from Republic Pictures to Columbia Studios. More highly trained than the original Champion, he could dance as well as perform an impressive array of tricks. He made some personal appearances with Autry and appeared with him at Madison Square Garden in 1946.
Starring as a wild stallion, Champion (Jr.) showed off his talent in a remake of the Ken Maynard vehicle The Strawberry Roan (1948), Autry’s first color film. The film also marked the debut of Little Champ, a foal supposed to be Champion’s son. Little Champ grew up to become a well-trained trick pony, featured in two more films, Beyond the Purple Hills (1950) and The Old West (1952). He also appeared at Gene Autry’s Madison Square Garden rodeo in 1948 and traveled with the 1949 national tour of “The Gene Autry Show.” A junior version of the Champions, he, too, was a blaze-faced sorrel with four stockings. There’s no record of how long this little crowd-pleaser lived, but based on the great care Autry took of all his horses, Little Champ doubtlessly had a good life.
As for Champion Jr., he and another Champion named Wag were put to sleep at Melody Ranch on December 29, 1969, “due to old age,” according to a handwritten note found in Autry’s personal archives.
The four high white stockings of Champion Jr. earned him the nickname Boots.
The Touring Champions
Autry made quite a few appearances with at least three more Champions. The touring Champions were also sorrel geldings with white blazes and four stockings, instead of three. All were highly trained trick horses.
One of these was known as the Lindy Champion because he was born in 1927 on the day of Charles Lindberg’s first flight over the Atlantic. Originally from Nashville, Lindy was a registered Tennessee Walking Horse trained by Johnny Agee. He had also been used by Tom Mix in live appearances. Distinguished by an oval-topped blaze and a black dot on his nose (sometimes powdered or bleached), he made aviation history of his own when he became the first horse to take a transcontinental flight. In September 1940, he flew in a customized stall aboard a TWA plane from Burbank, California, to New York City for the opening of the Gene Autry rodeo show at Madison Square Garden. It is not known how long the Lindy Champion lived, but since he was born in 1927 and was still working at thirteen, he undoubtedly had a long life.
The horse most commonly known to insiders as the Touring Champion appeared with Autry in the late 1940s and the 1950s at rodeos and stage shows, including Madison Square Garden in 1947. He joined Autry on a publicity tour of England in 1953 and accompanied him into the Savoy Hotel. Widely photographed, this Champion is also the horse immortalized by his hoofprints next to Gene Autry’s handprints at the Chinese Theater in Hollywood. He can be identified by his medium-wide blaze, which veers to the right side of his forehead. It’s possible that the “Touring Champion” was the one called Wag who, like Boots, was euthanized in 1969. The final Touring Champion, and Autry’s last horse to be honored by the name, had a crooked blaze that feathered into his roan color on the left side of his face. Yet another sorrel with four white stockings, he was a stockier gelding than his predecessors. He never worked in films but accompanied Autry on personal appearances from the late 1950s until 1960. He also joined the star on the Merv Griffin and Ed Sullivan television shows. This final Champion, called Champion III by Autry insiders, died at Melody Ranch in 1990. He was forty-one.
Gene Autry, of course, fulfilled his youthful dream of financial stability and implemented his business skills to build a media empire. Returning to his roots in broadcasting, Autry launched a solo career for his mythical horse with The Adventures of Champion radio serial. Lasting one season, from 1949 to 1950, the show aired on the Mutual Broadcasting system and featured celebrity guest stars.
Among the first entertainers to understand the power of television, Autry starred in his own production, The Gene Autry Show. Yet another Champion starred with Gene in ninety-one
