Oscar Otis

Oscar Otis was one of the leading writers on horse racing and the turf in general during the middle of the Twentieth Century. Starting out as a kid selling copies of the San Diego "Daily Bulletin" on street corners and in saloons, he soon began haunting the stables, paddocks, and race tracks of Southern California and northern Mexico and learned the language of the turf and of its denizens; as a racetrack announcer, and later as a professional newspaperman, turf writer and editor for various publications, including the "Daily Racing Form," he soon became one of the most knowledgeable turf journalists of his time, with his "Double-O" column in the Los Angeles "Times" being one of the most detailed and well-written accounts of thoroughbred racing during this period. He served in the U. S. Marine Corps during World War II and in later years, with his wife, owned a small farm in the San Joaquin Valley where they grew almonds and had a vineyard.