Champion the Wonder Horse series; he was one of several horses that Autry rode in that production. After learning about the horse through stunt man and movie horse wrangler Tracey Layne, Autry paid $75 for the original Champion, whose sire was a Morgan trotting horse from Ardmore, Oklahoma. Trained to perform numerous tricks, Champion could untie knots, fall, roll over and play dead, come at Autry's whistle, bow, and shake his head yes and no. In one film he pushes Autry into the arms of his leading lady June Storey. By 1939 his reported worth was $25,000. The original Champion died in 1943, at
Alan Autry news talk show on KYNO AM 940 in Fresno, but left the station in 2011. Autry was born in Shreveport, Louisiana, the son of Carl and Verna (née Brown) Autry. His name was changed to Carlos Brown when he was a year old, after his parents divorced. Autry is a distant cousin of Gene Autry. He worked alongside his mother and stepfather, Joe Duty, in California's San Joaquin Valley, where they planted and harvested cotton, grapes, and other crops. They traveled around the valley living in migrant worker camps. When he was twelve, they settled in Riverdale, California. In high