Emmy Winner and Racing Fan Tim Conway Dead at 85
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Photo: Benoit Photo
Tim Conway (tan jacket) joined Southern California jockeys in 2009 for a fundraiser at the Pampelmousse Grille
Comedian Tim Conway, who in 1987 helped launch the Don MacBeth Memorial Jockey Fund, died May 14 at the age of 85, according to NPR and other news outlets.
Conway, a big fan of horse racing who also owned a few horses, best expressed his love for the sport by launching the Don MacBeth Memorial Jockey Fund, which provided financial aid and assistance to injured jockeys and exercise riders. The fund, founded in 1987 by Conway and his wife Charlene along with Chris and Judy McCarron, was the first of its kind and established a model for the current industry-run Permanently Disabled Jockeys Fund.
Hall of Fame jockey Chris McCarron said Conway's love for racing and riders helped launch the fund.
"Both he and his wife Charlene loved the sport, loved the riders, and cared a lot about them," McCarron said of the six-time Emmy winner, who earned four of those awards for his work on the Carol Burnett Show.
Jockey Jerry Bailey with Tim Conway after Awad’s victory in the 1993 Lord Avie Stakes at Gulfstream Park.
McCarron recalls Conway serving as a celebrity host in the inaugural running of the St. Paul Derby (now called the Mystic Lake Derby) in 1986, a race that drew more than 23,000 fans to Canterbury Park. Conway wanted to donate his appearance fee to support riders, a wish that identified an industry need.
"He didn't want to pocket the money, he wanted to donate the money to an injured jockeys fund. When I shared with him that we didn't have one, he said 'Well, let's start one.' That was the genesis of the Don MacBeth Fund," McCarron said. "It should have been named the Tim Conway Fund in all honesty, but he didn't want that. He was a very humble man; a real class act through and through."
The fund was launched in 1987 and be named after Don MacBeth. When MacBeth ventured to Santa Anita Park in 1987 to receive the George Woolf Award, McCarron was recovering from injury. They had dinner together and MacBeth, who died from cancer later that year, encouraged them to move forward on the fund that would carry his name.
"It was huge to have Tim Conway," McCarron said. "We had several celebrity vs. jockey softball games. He would bring all of his Hollywood friends. We had an annual event at the Pamplemousse Grille where we raised a lot of money. Tim, and Bob Newhart, and Harvey Korman, all of his buddies, would come to that event and entertain the heck out of the audience.
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"He wasn't just a name as co-founder. He was fully entrenched and very much involved throughout the whole time the organization was in existence."
In 1989 the Turf Publicists of America honored Conway's efforts with the Big Sport of Turfdom Award. The Don MacBeth Fund assisted more than 2,000 riders before ceasing operations at the end of 2011.
McCarron fondly recalls Conway's love of the sport.
"He was a comical owner too," McCarron said. "His silks, on the back, had two words: 'No Passing.'"
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