Since his victory on Bright Hour in 1932 in the Tennessee Timbers at Overton Downs, Calvin Houghland has been active in all phases of steeplechasing. As a rider, owner, organizer, official and sponsor, Calvin Houghland has been successful. Following in the footsteps of his illustrious father, Mason Houghland, as President of the Volunteer State Horsemen’s Foundation, he has been the guiding force in the Iroquois Steeplechase. The Iroquois Steeplechase is an intensely competitive, dangerous day of horse racing over jumps that attracts the top steeplechase horses, owners, trainers, and riders in the United States. It provides substantial purses and assembles a huge crowd of spectators from around the country. Since the Iroquois’s association with Vanderbilt University Children’s Hospital during Calvin Houghland’s stewardship of the event, the race has raised over $4,000,000 for the health care of children in the region. Calvin Houghland knows how it is to win the race, having done so as a jockey and three times as an owner. However, his contributions to the Iroquois and steeplechasing go far beyond his support and participation as a competitor. He is the perfect example of that adage that there is no end to what a man can accomplish if he doesn’t care who gets the credit. His unwaning attention to every detail of the day is reflected in loving participation year after year of a celebration of life on the second Saturday in May, which stands as a beacon of jump racing in the Unites States.
