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
Gene Autry's Melody Ranch fire." Two episodes of the program featured notable variations from the standard format. One involved the changing of the name of Berwyn, Oklahoma, to Gene Autry, Oklahoma. From there, on November 16, 1941, the "Melody Ranch" program aired as a part of the name changing ceremony. An Oklahoma Gazette article from September 3, 2009, included the following information:He is also the namesake of an Oklahoma town, population 99. Born in Texas, Autry was raised north of the Red River near Ravia after his parents moved there in the 1920s. Autry's Flying A Ranch, where the famous cowboy kept his rodeo