This fall marks the third year for live harness racing in the tri-counties courtesy of The Mint – Cumberland Run in Corbin. But did you know that a local resident was actively competing in the sport decades before conversations about building a racetrack ever got underway?
It’s true. And now, with this man’s dream finally coming to fruition thanks to the construction of a racing facility in Corbin, his family is re-telling his story to help ensure that his contributions are not forgotten.
Walter “Wally” Carroll was raised and started a family of his own in the Jellico, Tenn. area. After relocating to Chicago, he began to develop a deep passion for harness racing. Eventually, in the early seventies, he decided to return home and purchase a farm where he would begin raising and training racehorses. The farm, which is still in the family to this day, is located in extreme southern Whitley County, near Boston School. The road leading up to the farm bears his name – Wally Carroll Road – and satellite images of the property show where the former owner’s own track used to be.
For years, Carroll used this track to train horses to compete in the sport of harness racing. While he did not drive competitively himself at first, he eventually obtained his license and ended up traveling to compete on some of the most well-known tracks across the eastern United States.
According to Vonda Kay Haun, Carroll’s daughter, her father raced in-state at facilities such as Red Mile (Lexington) and Louisville Downs. She said he also returned to Chicago several times to compete, and made trips to St. Louis and New York as well.
“This was his passion. He loved it,” Haun said of her father, who passed away in March of 2016.
Carroll’s other daughter, Debra Afterkirk, who currently resides in the Keavy area of Laurel County, said that her late father would be thrilled to see the harness racing facility that now exists just about 30 miles from where he once spent countless hours raising and training horses of his own.
“He wanted this here,” Afterkirk said of Cumberland Run. “He would have loved it, and he would have wanted to be a part of it.”
It was around the time of the birth of Carroll’s great-grandson, Jathan McNealy, that conversations about building a racetrack in the local area really began to get serious. Carroll’s two granddaughters – Tabitha McNealy and Maghan Rowe – said that the possibility of a facility being built here greatly excited him, and he hoped that one day it would become a reality.
Although Carroll was unfortunately not able to see his dream take physical form, his family is now doing their part to collectively honor his legacy in the sport. They are also excited to have the opportunity to experience for themselves something that he spent so many years encouraging and advocating for.
“It’s amazing,” Afterkirk said. “It makes me proud to know that my dad planted a seed, and that he worked toward this. This is what he wanted.”
Carroll’s daughters, granddaughters and great-grandson all say that they hope harness racing competitions will continue to grow in popularity, and that it will continue to bring money into the local area. They say this is something else that would have made him happy, as he was a businessman himself and owned a fondly remembered pool hall facility in downtown Jellico for many years.
“I was so proud of him,” Afterkirk said of her father. “Because he was raised very poor, but he grew up and made something of himself with buying and training these expensive horses. He accomplished owning the farm, and he made sure that it was secure even after he was gone. He was a wonderful dad.”
