Early Years
Of American parents, Alfred Gwynne Vanderbilt II was born in London, England. His mother, Margaret Emerson, gave him a 600 acre (2.4 km²) horse farm in Glyndon Maryland called Sagamore Farm for his 21st birthday, and it was in Thoroughbred horse racing that he made his mark. The Vanderbilt family had by then given up control of most of their former railroad interests. Alfred G. Vanderbilt was President of Belmont Racetrack in New York and was the principal owner and president of Pimlico Race Course in Baltimore.
When he was called into service for World War II, he captained a PT Boat in the South Pacific, earning the Silver Star for bravery. On his discharge, he returned to racing in a major way.
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Famous quotes containing the words early and/or years:
“Well, it’s early yet!”
—Robert Pirosh, U.S. screenwriter, George Seaton, George Oppenheimer, and Sam Wood. Dr. Hugo Z. Hackenbush (Groucho Marx)
“Not too many years ago, a child’s experience was limited by how far he or she could ride a bicycle or by the physical boundaries that parents set. Today ... the real boundaries of a child’s life are set more by the number of available cable channels and videotapes, by the simulated reality of videogames, by the number of megabytes of memory in the home computer. Now kids can go anywhere, as long as they stay inside the electronic bubble.”
—Richard Louv (20th century)