Fansided

Buddy Ryan had a farm … a Kentucky thoroughbred farm

By Liz O'Connell

Aug 20, 2016; Houston, TX, USA; General view of a football before a game between the Houston Texans and the New Orleans Saints at NRG Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Troy Taormina-USA TODAY Sports
Aug 20, 2016; Houston, TX, USA; General view of a football before a game between the Houston Texans and the New Orleans Saints at NRG Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Troy Taormina-USA TODAY Sports /
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Buddy Ryan’s horse farm was his own franchise. He raised his colts like he trained his players, to be competitive all the time, not just on Sunday afternoons.

The memorials and tributes affirm that coach Buddy Ryan will always be remembered for his genius coaching football. Off the field, Ryan had a passion for raising, racing and sometimes training and winning with his own thoroughbreds. Who else would name his runners FortySixBlitz and Firedforwinning?

In 1976, Ryan and his wife Joanie purchased a derelict farm near Lawrenceburg, Kentucky. Off-season and between coaching gigs, the Ryans renovated and built up a professional-level thoroughbred farm. The Ryan’s sons Jim, Jr. and twins Rex and Rob, who are now the Buffalo Bills’ head coach and assistant head coach/defense, labored on the farm during college summers.

In 1991, the Chicago Tribune’s Don Pierson spent time with Joanie and Buddy Ryan on the farm.

"Every off-season — June for a football coach — the Ryans would work the farm. Sons Jim Jr. and twins Rob and Rex were paid $1,000 a month when they were in college.“I never gave them a day off,” Ryan said. “One summer, they said, ‘Dad, we’ll work for nothing if you just give us a day off.’ ”The “players’ coach” speaks highly of his horses, too. Eight are stabled at racetracks — Cincinnati’s River Downs, St. Louis’s Fairmount Park and Arlington Park. The rest are on the farm, including five yearlings romping together in a field. Ryan is proud of their lineage. He has used connections well to breed to such sires as Bet Twice, Strike Gold, High Brite, Smile, Louisiana Slew and Sonny’s Halo.“They love to run these hills. They’re like athletes, well-muscled. I let them run together. They play and bite each other. Makes them more competitive, I think,” he said.If he were selling the yearlings instead of racing, the marks would deter buyers. Ryan is in the high-risk end of the horse business. It is a hobby for him, not a living. Even if his horses run in the money, the purses for which they compete aren’t as big as a head football coach’s salary. Horses eat whether they win or lose, and they don’t go on waivers as easily as players.“They’re pets,” Joan said."

In 2003, Joanie was admitted to an Alzheimer’s care facility. Ryan sold the big farm and bought a house in Shelbyville and a smaller farm in Bagdad, closer to Joanie so he could visit her.

After Joanie passed in 2013, Ryan kept on with his horses until his health precluded it.

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