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EDWARD J FLEMING Fleming Lincoln Fields Head Rose From Ranks fo Success Sold Newspapers as Boy at Old Washington Park Plans For Crete Plant Elaborate ElaborateBy By TEDDY COX COXWASHINGTON WASHINGTON PARK Homewood 111 June 17 Edward Joseph Fleming as a youngster of 15 hawked programs and newspapers some 45 years ago at the old Washington Park race course located not far from Chicagos loop After walking to the track then trudging homeward he de ¬ posited his meagre earnings usually 25 or 30 cents with mother nibbled at supper and fell exhausted to bed Dad Flemings family of 14 children presented something of a financial problem his weekly stipend as a member of the Fire Department hardly meeting the drain on it itDuring During the last month or so this same Edward Joseph Fleming has trekked daily usually in a chaufferred limousine to an ¬ other Washington Park spacious and smartlyappointed plant at Homewood 111 Instead of taking office near the entrance gates he now occupies the swank pent ¬ house at the top of the grandstand and the panel attached to his door is marked president presidentEven Even today Ill occasionally reach down and see if the patches have come loose in my trousers he says Guess I became used to them and theyve never left my mind mindPurchased Purchased Track From Winn Group GroupFleming Fleming presently heads a group of af ¬ fluent business men who operate the Lin ¬ coln Fields Racing Association The Lincoln Fields track was purchased from Col Matt J Winn and his associates last year for a figure well over the two million mark When shortage of building materials made it impossible to get the Crete 111 plant in shape Fleming arranged with permission of the Illinois Racing Board and an agree ¬ ment with Benjamin F Lindheimer to shift the scene to Washington Park By next year however he hopes the Crete course will be ready for racing but isnt making any definite predictions predictionsIt It all depends he says reservedly Our plans for improvements are quite extensive and there is the matter of getting the track back into its original condition before it was abandoned as an active track in 1942 Well need a lot of steel brick and lumber much of which is impossible to obtain these days Our architects have completed plans and all improvements have reached the blueprint stage but there is no way of telling when the necessary materials will be available availableLast Last winter Fleming made a tour of the West Coast seeking ideas not only to re ¬ store Lincoln Fields to its former luster but to add many late improvements adopted by Santa Anita Hollywood Park Golden Gate Fields and other courses He returned well supplied with innovations When he obtains the go ahead signal he promises that the Lincoln Fields of the past will hardly be recognizable to that of the future When it is considered thai the countryside course was one of the most pic ¬ turesque of the nation and still is for that matter it is easy to appreciate the big order Fleming has undertaken undertakenWas Was Director of American Turf Assn AssnUntil Until this year Fleming has never served in an actual operational capacity at a race ¬ track Even though Lincoln Fields was purchased before the meeting of 1947 run at Hawthorne he did not take over the helm lock stock and barrel until this year Winns staff handled the affairs on Flemings behalf last year But since 1927 and until last season when he resigned Fleming was a member of the board of di ¬ rectors of the American Turf Association which is guided by Winn and at times owned a number of racetracks that in ¬ cluded Churchill Downs Douglas Park Latonia and Lincoln Fields among others It presently owns the first two mentioned tracks tracksAfter After attending the Colonels board meetings for many years I thought I knew many of the answers in operating a race track but I didnt half understand the amount of work involved until we took over Lincoln Fields It seems that theres a million and one things to do daily and one never gets caught up upFleming Fleming though thrives on hard work Hes never known anything else since his days as a newspaper hustler although at 60 he is getting grey a pouch and pos ¬ sibly isnt the man of unlimited energy of some two decades ago Mentally however he seems more alert than ever and seldom thinks twice before making a decision decisionMessenger Messenger at Yards First Job JobHis His Irishborn parents couldnt afford much of a formal education for their Ed ¬ ward but eventually they became proud of what the school of hard knocks had done for their son First regular job was that of a messenger at the stock yards He showed a fine aptitude for the general scheme and was promoted into general office work When it hit the point where there didnt seem to be any promotion in sight he accepted a position with the LibbyMcNeill company later to branch out as a top salesman and become one of that companys most prominent figures figuresAlways Always popular among his Chicago buddies he branched into politics and ulti mately became secretary and chief investi ¬ gator at the States Attorneys office In that capacity he became a dominant figure in the Windy City especially in many im ¬ portant crime cases casesShortly Shortly after World War I he was tempt ¬ ed by a flattering offer to enter the coal business as a salesman on a commission basis Within a comparatively short period his commissions mounted to a point where he was making more money than the presi ¬ dent of the organization so he struck out for himself founded his own coal business and has been quite successful as the head of the Fleming Coal Company since Today he owns a couple of coal mines in West Virginia and sells just about all the fuel lie can obtain obtainEven Even though I own the company and the mines Im not really the boss he says jokingly Weve been taking our orders from John L Lewis LewisAfter After his coal business became firmly established he annually visited Churchill Downs for the Kentucky Derby and there he met Col Matt Winn They became close friends and this was followed by Fleming investing in the Winndominated American Turf Association AssociationIve Ive always liked horses and when I saw the thoroughbreds I liked them so much more My father was once associ ¬ ated with the great horseman C K G Billings and later was stable foreman for Mayor Heath of Chicago ChicagoWhen When Col Winn put Lincoln Fields on the market I was anxious to obtain the property and we formed a group to con ¬ summate the deal Ive always had a great deal of confidence in Chicago racing Weve enjoyed a successful meeting this year at Washington Park but the main concern in our minds is to get back on our home grounds at Lincoln Fields There we hope to bring the track back to its former popu ¬ larity as well as to win over many new patrons to thoroughbred racing
