California Chrome headed for triple crown today at Belmont Stakes in New York, Pyles family holds annual Kentucky Derby celebration in Cleveland Heights, Ohio for the first time without 94-year-old patriarch Joseph Pyles Sr, a Buffalo soldier who fought in World War II and a retired social worker trained at Case Western Reserve University Mandel School of Social Work in Cleveland, Ohio, read the full story in this week's print edition of the Call and Post Newspaper, Ohio's Black press
Local photos by John-Bey
Greater Cleveland ladies pose in their hats in Cleveland Heights, Ohio at the Pyles family annual celebration of the run of the Kentucky Derby
Bottom row from left: Event Host Lillian Pyles, Janalee Brown, Lovelle Hearst, and Hortense Johnson
Second row from bottom from left: Rosalind Smith, Nidia Perez, Bobette Ousley, and Annette May
Third row from bottom from left: Joyce Jackson, Event Host Marjorie Pyles-Hearst, Linda LeSane-Perkins, Elaine Whitlow, and French Taylor
Top row from left: Alexandra Warr Dianna Roberts, Beverly Charles, and Sharon Gorman Bremer
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| Sharon Gorman Bremer won the award for best hat at the Pyles family Kentucky Derby celebration in Cleveland Heights, Ohio, and Anthony Whitaker took home the prize for best dressed male |
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| Lillian Pyles, Marjorie Pyles-Hearst and Beverly Charles, congressional staffer for 11th Congressional District Congresswoman Marcia L. Fudge |
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| Joseph Pyles Sr.
Contributing Reporter Johnette Jernigan contributed to this story.
CLEVELAND HEIGHTS, Ohio-Kentucky Derby winner California Chrome, now seeking a triple crown at the Belmont Stakes in New York on June 7 after winning the Derby on May 7 and the Preakness on May 17, was the talk of the Kentucky Derby festivities in Cleveland Heights, Ohio, a social event hosted locally for more than 15 years by the Pyles family. The Kentucky Derby, held annually at Churchill Downs in Louisville, is always the first Saturday in May, with the Preakness in Baltimore, Maryland held two weeks later, and Belmont Stakes three weeks after that, but never before June 5 or after June 11 for the Belmont Stakes. Winning all three legs will bring a triple crown, the last race horse to do so being Affirmed in 1978. Today's featured race for the 146th running of the Belmont Stakes kicks off at 6:25 pm with all eyes on California Chrome, a three-year-old colt. Chrome has 3-5 odds and is the favorite, with Tonalist and Wicked Strong also dubbed to possibly win, either one, and any other in the race that is victorious, denying front-runner Chrome, and veteran jockey Victor Espinoza, the elusive triple crown. The purse for winning at Belmont is $1.5 million, while the Kentucky Derby and the Preakness brought purses this year of $2 million and $1.5 million, respectively. For the first time, the yearly Heights gathering, hosted by Pyles family adult children Lillian Pyles, Marjorie Pyles-Hearst and Joseph Pyles Jr., went forward without Pyles family patriarch Joseph Pyles Sr., who died in February at 94-years old. Pyles served as a Buffalo Soldier who fought in World War II and retired as a social worker from the Cuyahoga County Department of Children and Family Services and as a teacher at the Mandel School of Social Work at Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland, Ohio.
Pyles graduated with a bachelor's degree in social work from Kentucky State University and went on to earn a master's in social work at Case Western Reserve University. He is a native of Hardinburg, Kentucky. His deceased wife Louise, also the mother of his three adult children and who preceded him in death, was a native of Springfield, Kentucky. She actually initiated Kentucky Derby in Cleveland Heights, said Lillian Pyles, a local casting director and the oldest of the Pyles children, all three of whom are educated.
Read the full story in this week's print edition of the Call and Post Newspaper, Ohio's Black press |
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