More About the Author
Some several years ago, Greyhound racing, this country's seventh biggest spectator sport, went fragmented: registry, tracks, owners, trainers, fans. Even the press and adoption agencies went venting various themes. Extremist animal rights groups threatened to close the country's fifty tracks down by the year 2,000. National Geographic ran a graphic televised exposé of bad happenings to Greyhounds at the conclusion of their racing careers. Loyal fans began to shy away. Times were a changing, and The Sport of Queens, a term by the way the English never heard of, had a problem; the extremists made a lot of noise, but most of the downhill slide was more than likely caused by casinos and the glut of televised sporting events. Although simulcast and a coast to coast adoption movement took up some of the void, pari-mutual (horses too) took a hit; because to the masses, the ability to read a racing program suddenly looked like a lot of work. A slot machine is easier. Much easier. And quicker. The days when 40,000 people showed up to watch the dogs race were history. The tracks, by golly, stood their ground, made up difficult wagering gimmicks nobody understood, dragged their feet on troubling issues, and proceeded to close, one by one.
In and/or about this time-frame, Bob McKinnon, who was retiring from 31 years of high school English teaching, and who had been writing FICTION in the non-fiction monthly magazine The Greyhound Review, submitted a story for his column called "Maddog's Eleven Commandments," in which fictional retired dog trainer Maddog McDermutt, in his opinion, ticked off eleven traditional stupidities dog racing must face and change, or somebody else was going to do it for them, and when they did it would not be fun and games.
The Greyhound Review, the national magazine of the Greyhound registry, the representation of owners, breeders, and, obviously, the dogs themselves, published the story! (March, 1993).
Maddog's crystal ball turned out to be somewhat foggy and soggy from time to time with satire. Satire, by the way, is an important form of literature, usually meant to be funny, but with an underlying theme of constructive criticism, using wit as a weapon. Apparently, Maddog upset some of his readers; they had another opinion of satire. Furthermore, they thought the guy was real. And he was no wit; he was a half-wit.
Greyhound old timers, the backbone of the National Greyhound Association, came up out of Texas and Oklahoma and Florida to their annual convention in Abilene, Kansas, the dog racing capital of the world, mad as hell, "prepared to lynch Maddog McDermutt." That's what one of the editors related to McKinnon.
The readers who read about Maddog thought that he was real?????
Although the editors of the magazine found this situation humorous, they fully intended to keep their jobs. Robert Scott McKinnon (and his column "The Far Turn,") was fired, or perhaps more politically correct, granted an extended vacation.
And so, for the time being, Robert Scott McKinnon faded away. However, oddly enough, Maddog McDermutt did not. His satire and humorous point-of-view lingered. With every issue, readers wanted to know: "Where's Maddog?" A Texas dentist drove to Montana to check out Maddog's demise. A New York subscriber called to check on Maddog's whereabouts. On a trip to Portland's Multnomah Stadium for stories, McKinnon actually ran into several trainers who remembered Maddog from the old days, at Key West, at Yuma, at Green Mountain, at Apache Junction. They had, by golly, schooled pups together, ate hot dogs together, great memories had by one and all.
????????
Well, one thing often leads to another, you never know.
On a somewhat reluctant trial basis on the part of the magazine's editors, Maddog McDermutt returned to the pages of The Greyhound Review, with his own column, "In Search of the Big Picture." He and his sidekick Little Elsie (McKinnon's wife Suzy) traveled to Greyhound tracks in Colorado, Arizona, Oregon, New Hampshire, Iowa, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Wales, England, and Scotland, New Zealand, Australia with a week at Tasmania's tracks, Canada and Mexico, as well as the Hall of Fame and the National Greyhound Association in Kansas. Maddog covered the annual meeting of Greyhound Pets of America, at that time the biggest adoption group in the world, and at first they tried to throw him out of the meeting; but after the smoke cleared, he was asked to be on the board of directors. He declined. Although he received various threats, he submitted his rendition of the meeting, and it was published. Maddog dared to expose a sacred cow or two, or three, and a few cows that weren't sacred at all. Adoption or otherwise. And Maddog got away with it.
Sort of.
But underlying all the satire and fun and games, a certain underlying thread remained always.
Maddog and Little Elsie championed the dog.
Always.
When push came to shove, it's the dog, stupid.
Some years ago, Maddog and Little Elsie were named honorary lifetime members of Greyhound Pets of America. They have been to Dewey Beach, Prairie Beach, visited with and done stories on L.A.'s what is now called Fast Friends, Multnomah in Oregon when that track was running, GPA in Springfield, Missouri, and many other adoption agencies across the country, track by track, too many to mention, and an adoption picnic in the middle of nowhere in the outbacks of Australia, under the shade of a few giant Eucalyptus trees. And, at an adoption picnic out on the parking lot tarmac of Bluffs Run in Council Bluffs, Iowa, the McKinnons adopted a retired racer by the name of RJ's Beretta, and named him Jones after a McKinnon novel, Down Under Jones. The dog, with the help of the IGA and in particular, Bev Yates, became an Iowa icon. Jones went on many travels with the McKinnons; together, they manned a booth at three Iowa State fairs for the Iowa Greyhound Association, a fair they say is the country's biggest with a million visitors over eleven days. Bev Yates produced a movie the McKinnons made about Jones, Montana: I Love Ya!, about a 3,000 mile boat trip that went six miles. This short film was premiered at the Riviera at a Greyhound Pets of America national convention and all fifty chapters received a copy.
Retired English teacher Robert Scott McKinnon and his family, wife Suzy, son Chris, daughter Wendy, raised racing Greyhounds. It all started with an adopted dog named Moose. The McKinnon's second Greyhound was a retired top Grade A dog named Montana Broadway from the old Great Falls Glacier Dog Track, in Great Falls, Montana, in a high-powered lease deal with none other than Gary Guccione's dad, Don Guccione. Before you know it, McKinnon is in the Guccione racing kennel at Black Hills. Gary worked the kennel as well that summer, and also wrote the program charts for the track. Gary graduated to announcer and then track racing secretary and then moved on to the National Greyhound Association. McKinnon moved on to his own booking at Rapid City and almost ended up in debtor's prison. But that's where the stories began, those awful days at the race track where you were lucky to get four hours sleep. At Black Hills, that's where it all began, where McKinnon met Hugh Mungas, Ben Dover, Fleas Finnegan, Little Elsie, Mangy Martinez, Cornelius T. Cratervoid, Ratfink Rhodentia, Stan Dupp. And now, years later, Maddog McDermutt, the world's greatest dog trainer retired to the pen. The guy in the pink jump suit with hot dog mustard running down his front. And that three-sided button: Republican. Democrat. Independent. Depending on who he was talking to.
Publications:
Novels: Down Under Jones, Moose, Bruce and the Goose, To Yellowstone: A Journey Home, Jesse's Hound, The Haunted Aquarium Castle,
A trilogy in paper back and ebook: The Captain's Dog, a dog's view of the Lewis and Clark Expedition, Parts 1,2, and 3.
Musicals and Plays: The Tooth Fairy Came to Gopher Gulch, Sport of Kings, The Kissin' River, The Haunted Aquarium Castle.
Stories and articles: somewhere around 300, dogs and tropical fish mainly.
Screenplay: Down Under Jones.
An ebook publication Vintage Maddog.
Magazines, Travels with Jones and From Cairo to Iowa, on the trail of the Racing Greyhound.
