Wade Cothran "Cot" Campbell

Wade Cothran (Cot) Campbell lived a life of ultimate highs and the lowest lows, and he will be remembered as raconteur, eccentric, author, sentimental father and grandfather, “luckiest husband in the world,” and a visionary horseman who changed the face of Thoroughbred racing in America through the concept of limited partnership ownership of racehorses. Born in New Orleans, Louisiana to Lila Bowie Cothran Campbell, a Mardi Gras queen of Osiris, and William Theodore Campbell, author and record-holding aviator, Campbell has died at age 91. For 46 years he campaigned one of America’s leading stables, Dogwood Stable, based since 1987 in Aiken, South Carolina, a town he and his wife Anne adored and championed. He won the Preakness Stakes in 1990, the Belmont Stakes in 2013, and ran eight horses in seven Kentucky Derbies. Dogwood Stable purchased around 1,800 horses in the United States and abroad and acquired around 2,200 partners in its syndicates. The racing world celebrated him with every honor in its arsenal – among them a 2018 induction in the National Museum of Racing Hall of Fame, membership in the Jockey Club, the Saratoga Walk of Fame, the Honor Guest of the Thoroughbred Club of    America, and the 2004 Eclipse Award of Merit, among many others. He was inducted into the South Carolina Athletic Hall of Fame, received an Honorary Doctorate of  Humane Letters from University of South Carolina in Aiken, was a member of both Atlanta and Aiken Rotary Clubs, Aiken Tennis Club, Palmetto Golf Club, the Piedmont   Driving Club in Atlanta, the Saratoga Golf and Polo Club, and Saratoga Reading Rooms in Saratoga Springs, New York. He was a member of First Baptist Church in Aiken. He served in the U.S. Navy on the USS Bull, a destroyer in the South Pacific and China Seas, from 1944 to 1946 as a Signalman, having enlisted on his seventeenth birthday. His career heights came after a decidedly long season (fueled by an alcohol addiction that he overcame in 1957, never taking a drink again) of searching for a way to express his latent talents. Working as valet car parker, citrus grove worker, apprentice mortician, and master of ceremonies at Cypress Gardens’ water ski shows, he was slow to find his footing. Handicapped by the inability to type and a lack of education (in spite of stints at           Battleground Academy, Franklin, Tennessee; The Darlington School, Rome, Georgia; and The University of the South at Sewanee, Tennessee), Campbell nevertheless decided that he should be a journalist. Purchasing a five-dollar typewriter in a pawn shop, he taught himself to type and subsequently worked as a reporter and sportswriter on three Florida and Georgia newspapers, and then as copywriter/account executive for four different advertising agencies in New Orleans and Atlanta. In 1964, he co-founded Burton-Campbell, Inc., which became one of the South’s leading advertising agencies. His ability to type also led to three books: Lightning in a Jar, Rascals and Racehorses, and Memoirs of a Longshot: A Riproarious Life. Many of Cot’s endearing hobbies and quirks were known only to family, including the ability into his nineties to memorize and recite multiple-page portions of Rudyard   Kipling poems; his taking up the ukulele and golf as he approached 80 and developing a gift for drawing in his ninetieth year; his never-ending storehouse of true tales, often centered around his own foibles and early missteps; his whimsical sense of humor and custom of wearing grotesque and comical masks at incongruous times; and his near-encyclopedic memory for all manner of trivia related to Ty Cobb, Babe Ruth, Man of War, Broadway musicals, songs from the 1930s and 1940s, obscure movie stars, and – naturally – the winners by year of every Kentucky Derby, facts he grilled his daughters on from an early age. Cot was always accompanied by his biggest fan, Anne Dodd Campbell, his wife of 59 years, and credited her with most of his success, having met her soon after he turned his life around. He is survived also by two daughters, Lila Campbell of Atlanta; Cary Umhau (Andrew) of Washington, DC; six grandchildren [Campbell Glenn, Brady Tindall, Cot Tindall, Lila Stiff (John), Carter Umhau, Charlie Umhau]; three great-granddaughters (Dorothy, Eleanor, and Sally Stiff); and one “baby sister,” Sally Waldron (Jim) of   Atlanta; and more friends from all walks of life than a normal human could have amassed in two long lifetimes. Please direct memorials to the “Cot Campbell Fund” of the *Race Track Chaplaincy of America, New York Division, 2150 Hempstead Turnpike, Elmont, NY 11003 (RTCANY.org). A Celebration of Cot’s Life will be held at 2:00 PM Thursday, November 1, 2018 at First Baptist Church, Aiken, with Rev. Ronnie Brewer officiating, followed by a reception on the grounds of the Aiken Training Track, 538 Two Notch Rd, Aiken. (wear comfortable shoes)Pallbearers will be Charlie Umhau, Brady Tindall, Cot Tindall  (grandsons), John Dodd (nephew), Lawson Glenn (dear pal), Charlie Hull (longtime friend who introduced Anne and Cot), Rob Johnston (Aiken soulmate), Jack Sadler (loyal friend and Dogwood employee since 1981), John Stiff (grandson-in-law)SHELLHOUSE FUNERAL HOME, INC., 924 HAYNE AVE., AIKEN Cot’s online guest book may be signed by visiting www.shellhousefuneralhome.com To order memorial trees or send flowers to the family in memory of Wade Cothran "Cot" Campbell, please visit our flower store.