The Prince of Jockeys

While producing a client event at the Kentucky Derby Museum in Louisville, Ky., in 2019, Nancy Hays ’84 MS discovered a dimly lit gallery that highlighted the history of Black jockeys. A lifelong fan of horse racing, Hays was surprised: “I had never seen a Black jockey,” she says. She wondered why that story had not been told, and her curiosity sent her into research mode.  

She spent the next seven years uncovering the history of Isaac Burns Murphy, one of the most decorated athletes of the 19th century. “Long before basketball, football and baseball, he was … America’s really big first sports hero — the Michael Jordan of horse racing,” Hays says. “And yet no one knows about him.”  

Nancy Hays

Born into slavery in 1861, Murphy won three Kentucky Derbies and four of the first five American Derbies in Chicago. The first jockey inducted into the National Museum of Racing and Hall of Fame at its creation in 1955, he also won the first race decided by a photo finish in U.S. sports history. (The race featured the best Black jockey, Murphy, against Edward “Snapper” Garrison, the best white jockey.) At the time, the press called Murphy “the prince of jockeys.” 

Murphy’s life story had been distorted, rewritten and fragmented over time due to racism and poor recordkeeping, says Hays. She found conflicting reports about Murphy’s birth date and missing information about his riding accolades. Seeking to restore his memory, she worked with her filmmaker son, Eddie Heffernan, on a screenplay in 2020–21.  

Last December she published Riding for America: The Story of Isaac Murphy, Sports Icon of the 19th Century. Intended for young adult readers, the book includes three parts, the largest of which is a work of historical fiction based on Murphy’s life story and his relationship with his mother, America Murphy. The book also includes a nonfiction section and a study guide.  

“It was a challenge to uncover the real truth about horse racing and racism but rewarding to discover how Isaac Murphy still triumphed,” Hays says. 

Hays is the owner of Nancy Hays Entertainment, a boutique production company she founded in 1993 that produces celebrity talent and speakers for private events worldwide. Hays is also an accomplished singer-songwriter and recording artist. She sang the national anthem at the Northwestern-Ohio State men’s basketball game in December 2025.  

To coincide with Riding for America’s release, Hays developed an educational program about Murphy and the history of Black jockeys, which has been presented to elementary school, middle school and high school students in the Chicago Public Schools system. Supported by an Illinois Arts Council grant obtained through Freedom Hall, Hays also created a live multimedia performance for general audiences. She has written songs and plays the guitar and banjo in the program. Wayfarer Theaters staged the show in Highland Park, Ill., in February. 

Hays hopes the screenplay adaptation written with her son will someday become a film. 

“It is important to set the historical record straight,” Hays says, “and share the facts — that a Black man of great talent, integrity and moral character, though born enslaved, succeeded against unimaginable odds to become one of the greatest sports heroes in American history.”  

Camille Haines is an editorial intern for Northwestern Magazine.