The Champion
By Henry Piarrot
The champion lives by choice
and not by chance. Embracing the notion that life is a challenge, the
champion views all obstacles as opportunities, while exhibiting the confidence that adversity will eventually succumb to great personal effort.
Mark Dean Graber was born on January 20, 1956 in Toledo, Ohio and is the youngest of his working-class parents seven children. As a child, he often attended horse races with is dad and older brothers. Although in time Mark became a good football player, his size and love of horses found him more suited to pursue a career training and racing “
Standardbreds” after graduating from Oak Harbor High School in 1974.
The racing of horses in
harness dates back thousands of years, but the sport virtually vanished with the fall of the Roman Empire. Then, almost two millennium later, harness racing resumed in America and while Thoroughbred racing has always been known as
“the sport of kings,” the dependable, athletic Standardbred brought racing to the common man.Standardbreds are a relatively new breed, dating back just over 200 years.
The founding sire of all Standardbreds is an English Thoroughbred named “
Messenger,” who was brought to the United States in 1788. The sire was bred to both pure and mixed breed mares, and his descendants were rebred until these controlled procreations produced a new horse uniquely suited to racing under harness.
Young Graber moved to Michigan when he was twenty two years old to work as a “
groom.” He then worked his way up to “
trainer” and eventually became a “
driver” as well. By the time he retired from the sport in 1995, he had started over 500 races, winning more than eighty times. In the fall of 1984, Graber became the co-owner, trainer and driver of a determined horse named “
Overcomer.” After losing eight straight times to a dominant rival horse named “
Schmitar,” the pair finally defeated the three year old and ultimately became the first to capture three straight Ohio state championships.
A year after acquiring his future champion, Mark married Nancy Lee Wheeler. The couple owned and operated their own stable for ten years prior to moving to Sevier County to be near Nancy’s parents in 1995. Before relocating, they sold Overcomer for stud to “
Success Acres,” another stable in Ohio.Since its inception, Success Acres has primarily focused on trotters and not surprisingly, their most successful sire has been Overcomer who was recently retired after siring several champions that have won countless races across America over the past decade.
Today, Mark Graber is an internet marketer in Pigeon Forge, while Nancyworks for the Wal-Mart in Sevierville, TN.Achieving success in sports, business, or the arts, the champion never aspires to mediocrity.
Henry Piarrot is a hotel manager in Sevier County. Please send all story recommendations to hpiarrot@yahoo.com