updated death_date birth_place awards race birth_date horses honours article_title name occupation
january 17 , 2007 5 may 2005 toronto , ontario , canada u. 1946 -rrb- u.s. champion jockey by wins -lrb- 1944 , s. 1946 -rrb- george woolf memorial jockey award -lrb- 1957 -rrb- champion jockey by earnings -lrb- 1944 , preakness -rrb- lane 's end breeders ' futurity -lrb- 1950 -rrb- stakes pimlico special -lrb- 1953 -rrb- new york handicap triple -lrb- -lrb- 1953 -rrb- 1949 -rrb- belmont stakes -lrb- 1949 june 17 , 1916 coaltown bold ruler one hitter , gallorette , devil diver , , windfields capot , nashua , tom fool , united canadian horse racing hall of fame -lrb- 2002 -rrb- states racing hall of fame -lrb- 1957 -rrb- ted atkinson
 ted atkinson jockey
ted atkinson

theodore francis atkinson -lrb- june 17 , 1916 -- may 5 , 2005 -rrb- was a canadian-born american thoroughbred horse racing jockey , inducted into the national museum of racing and hall of fame in 1957 .
born in toronto , ontario , ted atkinson as a child emigrated with his family across the border to upstate new york .
he began his career in thoroughbred horse racing in 1938 and first gained national recognition in 1941 , when he rode war relic to an upset win in the narragansett special over the 1941 u.s. triple crown winner whirlaway .
for 12 of his 21 years in the sport , atkinson was contract rider for the wealthy new york whitney family 's greentree stable .
in 1944 , he was north america 's leading jockey in both number of wins and money earned .
he repeated the feat in 1946 , when he became the first rider to achieve purse earnings of more the $ 1 million in a single season .
riding greentree 's colt capot , atkinson just missed winning the u.s. triple crown in 1949 when he finished second in the kentucky derby then won both the preakness and the belmont stakes .
atkinson was also the jockey for all of hall of famer tom fool 's races , guiding the colt to a perfect season of 10 wins in 10 starts , including the new york handicap triple and winning the horse of the year honors in 1953 .
in 1957 , ted atkinson won the george woolf memorial jockey award and that same year became the first active jockey elected to the national museum of racing and hall of fame .
he was then invited to appear on the cbs television 's `` the ed sullivan show '' .
in an article on jockey eddie arcaro , time magazine wrote that : `` he also gives a large share of credit to gentlemanly jockey ted atkinson , who helped raise the standard of sportsmanship on new york tracks . ''
-lsb- http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,798639-6,00.html following his retirement in 1959 as a result of a back injury , atkinson became a racing official and served as state steward in illinois from 1961 until 1976 .
atkinson , who had been fighting a lengthy cancer-related illness , died at his home near beaverdam , virginia after several strokes , a few weeks short of his 89th birthday .
he was survived by his wife , martha ; children cathie , john and mark ; and three grandchildren , johanna , william and television personality and racing analyst caton bredar .
his late sister , ruth atkinson ford , was a pioneering woman comic book artist who helped create the long-running characters millie the model and patsy walker .
