Alvarado’s Biography Wins Triple Crown

May 12, 2009 - PRLog -- Although the outcome of this years Triple Crown is undecided, The Untold Story of Joe Hernandez:The Voice of Santa Anita by Rudolph Valier Alvarado has received three national book awards. In April, Alvarado’s independently published biography won the 2009 Dr. Tony Ryan Book Award, a prize that recognizes the best book written about any aspect of thoroughbred horse racing. In addition, the book was recently named a winner in the Culture’s category of the Eric Hoffer Book Awards and a finalist in the Biography category of the National Indie Excellence Awards.

The Dr. Tony Ryan Book Award was established in 2006 and is sponsored by Thoroughbred Times and Castleton Lyons, a leading breeding farm in Lexington, Kentucky. The Eric Hoffer Book Award was founded at the start of the twenty-first century by award-winning author Christopher Klim in order to honor freethinking writers and independent books of exceptional merit, while the National Indie Excellence Awards recognizes independent publishers and authors.

Alvarado’s award winning biography chronicles the life of Joe Hernandez, the legendary announcer who called a number of memorable horse races, including those run by Seabiscuit, Malicious, Silky Sullivan, Noor, Citation and Cougar II. Hernandez overcame tremendous odds to achieve success at a time when many Mexicans and Mexican Americans were being repatriated to Mexico due to America’s Great Depression. Hernandez was the caller at Santa Anita Park from Christmas Day 1934 until January 27, 1972. In that time he called 15,587 races in a row. His incredible streak came to an end after Hernandez fainted at the microphone while making the call of the day’s first race. While everyone predicted that he’d be back at the microphone soon, Hernandez passed away a few days later.

Through his research Alvarado discovered where Hernandez was born, something that Hernandez’s own family did not even know. “Joe told his family that he was born in Missouri and early on in his career claimed that he was born in San Francisco. In reality Hernandez was born in Metcalf, Arizona, a mining village that was covered by tons of copper tailings by the time Joe made his first call at Santa Anita.”

Locating where Hernandez was born took Alvarado four years to uncover. However, during that time he also discovered that Hernandez had not only lied about where he was born, but that he had left behind a history of his life that was not true as well. “Joe made a number of claims in news stories regarding his life,” Alvarado explained, “that were simply not true. For example, he claimed that he was born into a large family and that his second wife was the mother of his children. Both of which were not true.”

Commenting on the books appeal Alvarado noted that he thinks people are drawn to the book for a number of reasons. “It’s a mystery, a Horatio Alger story, a cultural examination, a history of horseracing, a history of Latinos, a love story, and a story of heart break, all in one.”
Alvarado was inspired to write Hernandez’s life story after coming across Hernandez’s name while reading Laura Hillenbrand’s Seabiscuit: An American Legend. Alvarado holds a Ph.D. from Texas Tech University and earned an MA in History from Eastern Michigan University where he was a University Fellow and a Parks, King, Chavez Fellow. The book is available at www.voiceofsantaanita.com. Independent bookstores or libraries should contact Yvette Robertson at admin@caballopress.com to place an order or to receive pricing information. The book is also being distributed through Baker & Taylor, one of the nation’s leading book distributors.

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Caballo Press of Ann Arbor is an award winning independent publisher located in Ann Arbor, Michigan.