Williard (Invoice) Christine Jr., a a number of award-winning journalist who spent 23 years overlaying horse racing for the Los Angeles Instances, died on Monday (Aug. 25) after being identified with acute myeloid leukemia three years in the past. He died at his house in Hermosa Seashore, with household by his facet. He was 87.
Former Los Angeles Instances reporter Invoice Christine.
(Christine household)
Christine received Eclipse Awards for excellent writing about horse racing, in 1984 and 2004. In 2000, he was given Walter Haight Award for profession excellence in turf writing. He received the David F. Woods Memorial Award in 1991 and 1992 for his protection of the Preakness Stakes.
He was additionally president of the Nationwide Turf Writers and Broadcasters, a bunch that additionally consists of public relations folks, from 1990 to 1992.
“Bill was an old school journalist,” stated Mike Willman the previous longtime media relations government at Santa Anita. “He kept copious notes and was a contrarian by nature. He was fair and extremely knowledgeable.
“He really enjoyed being around the people in racing. You could take issue with something he wrote and then debate it and there was never any animus. I really respected him for that.”
It was then that he switched to public relations taking the highest media job at Commodore Downs in Pennsylvania, adopted by 4 years because the assistant to the chief vice chairman on the Nationwide Thoroughbred Racing Assn.
The Instances hardly ever hires folks from the general public relations facet, however then sports activities editor Invoice Dwyre determined to take an opportunity.
“Bill Christine was my first hire as sports editor of The Times, and being the first, it was a big deal not only for me, but for people watching me and trying to figure out what I was thinking and how I would cover each sport,” stated Dwyre, who later went on to cowl horse racing for The Instances.
Former Los Angeles Instances reporter Invoice Christine receives an Eclipse Award honoring his horse racing reporting.
(Christine household)
“When he came to The Times, Santa Anita and Hollywood Park and Del Mar were booming and he worked tirelessly to give the sport the coverage it deserved.”
Bob Mieszerski, who has reported and handicapped horse racing in Southern California for a few years and labored alongside Christine after Mieszerski got here to the Instances and added a full web page of racing day by day, echoed Dwyre’s sentiment about his talents and presence.
“He was very welcoming to me when I joined the Times and I always appreciated that,” Mieszerski stated. “He was a great storyteller and I Ioved hearing him recall anecdotes about different people — both in and out of racing — that he encountered.”
Dan Smith, the retired advertising and media head at Del Mar, remembers Christine for his very distinctive snicker.
“It was like ghee, ghee, ghee,” Smith stated struggling to duplicate the sound. “It was very distinctive and very unique.
“He was also a big movie buff. He and his wife went to a lot of movies. And we loved to discuss movies. He followed all of that very closely.”
Christine was identified for his sturdy opinions, which typically put him at odds with the folks he coated.
Christine’s most notable feud was with Wayne Lukas, who didn’t communicate to the reporter for a number of years after one thing Christine wrote.
“He wasn’t reluctant to discuss his opinions, which a lot of people didn’t agree with, but that was OK,” Smith stated.
Dwyre, who would usually change beats yearly, as soon as supplied Christine the Dodgers job, arguably one of the best job within the division, as a result of Christine had been complaining about needing one thing new. However in the long run, Christine determined he would relatively cowl racing.
“He really knew his baseball and had a Hall of Fame ballot,” Willman remembers. “You might have your own opinion and if it disagreed with Bill’s, he had all the ammunition to show you why he was right.”
Even when Christine’s day by day protection was usually buried on a web page deep within the part, surrounded by handicapping and small-type outcomes, Christine would rise to the event and offer you a properly crafted non-obvious story.
“I remember often doing critiques for my staff, especially those who had put out the previous morning’s paper,” Dwyre stated. “I would hold up the sports section and ask which story that was in the section should have been on the front page and wasn’t. Invariably, it was a Christine horse racing story.”
The press field at Del Mar, named in honor of Dan Smith, has a wall the place the photographs of deceased turf writers go.
“I guess his picture will go on the wall soon,” Smith stated. “We’ve still got a few spots left and hope we don’t fill them anytime soon.”
Christine is survived by his spouse of 43 years, Pat, and two twin daughters, Laura and Leslie, his first spouse, Dianne, and stepson Chris.
Christine requested that his physique be donated to USC for medical analysis. After the cremains are returned, there will probably be a small celebration of life.
