Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SUNDAY, June 26, 1994 TAG: 9406260085
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: C1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: RAY COX STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
For many years, Crumpler has been showing her American saddlebred horses at the Roanoke Valley Horse Show, and she's back again this year.
"When I come up to this show, I always feel like I've come home," she said.
Crumpler's heritage in the city goes back to her days as a student at Martinsville High School. She would come to the old Lakewood Farm, parts of which still stand near the intersection of Williamson and Peters Creek roads, to study under trainer Jimmy Thompson.
"He really taught me everything I know," said Crumpler, 58.
At this point, that is quite a bit. Operating out of her North Star Farm in Walnut Cove, N.C., Crumpler has owned and ridden several world champion saddlebreds, including one named Cocoamotion, a fine harness horse that she showed here this week.
Other champions she's had include Artistic Impression, a horse she's using for breeding stock back on the farm, and Talented Asset, a two-time world champion she sold last year.
She didn't really want to sell the horse; it had been one of her all-time favorites. But the father of Babara Goodman Manilow (she's married to Barry's brother) wanted the horse for his daughter and he would not take no for an answer after seeing it perform at the World Championships in Louisville, Ky.
"He made me an offer I couldn't refuse," said Crumpler, who is a major benefactor of the Roanoke Valley Horse Show.
This week, she's brought some less-accomplished horses to the Salem Civic Center (with the exception of Cocoamotion), but she is no less fond of this group. One of them is named Harlem's Hot Scoop.
"She's young and green, but we think she has the potential to be a real great horse," Crumpler said.
The other horse she has with her this week is named George Amos, who worried her at first because of his unpredictability.
"Now, I've suddenly gotten very fond of him," she said.
Credit for George Amos' development goes mostly to trainer Johnny Lucas of Gibsonville, N.C., who trains all her horses, Crumpler said.
"He really is a great trainer," she said.
George Amos is ridden by Crumpler, as well as her daughter, Andrea. Eventually, Andrea will ride George Amos exclusively.
The daughter, a recent Wake Forest Law School graduate who is preparing to take the North Carolina bar, is one of her mother's most unabashed fans.
"She's one of the best riders in the country," Andrea Crumpler said of her mother. "That may embarrass her, but that's me bragging, not her."
Accomplishment is nothing new to Doris Crumpler, who was winning national science fairs when she was in high school. It was one of her discoveries in her basement chemistry lab that helped lay the foundation for the family fortune.
The process she discovered was a means of dyeing and finishing synthetic fibers. Her father, a German scientist named Julius Hermes, figured out the commercial applications for the process. With that knowledge, he founded Martin Processing, Inc. of Martinsville.
The company took the process and, working with DuPont in Martinsville, perfected Mylar, a thin polyester of great tensile strength used in a range of products from recording tape to insulating film and fabrics. Martin Processing also made the same material under the brand name of Lumar.
Crumpler went on to major in psychology at Duke and married shortly after graduation. Although her father wanted her to go into the family business, she refused, fearing their relationship would suffer.
The business was sold a while back to a British company. Crumpler's share of the estate has helped keep her in good horses and farmland.
"I was poor when my father was living; he didn't believe in spoiling his children," she said. "I used to think about whether or not to go to the store to buy lipstick.
"I've made up for it since."
In one respect, Crumpler hasn't changed.
"I was a jock in high school," she said.
To an extent, she still is.
"She can still jump a fence when one of the horses gets away," her daughter said.
Crumpler still regularly plays tennis. Recently, the U.S. Tennis Association team she plays for won the North Carolina state championship in its class.
"The thing I love about tennis is that if you play well, you win," she said. "Showing horses, everything can go well but it will still be up to the judges.
"I don't like that part."
by CNB