I pencils and race programs at the 
     
    

    
     Charlottetown Driving Park. In 2005, 
     
     his job description was track charter at 
     
     the GDP. Between these two roles, Bill 
     
     filled eight additional positions of part- 
     
     time employment at the C.D.I’. What 
     
     made Bill’s record astounding was that 
     
     this employment at the C.D.F. was con— 
     
     tinuous for 69 years! His 10 different 
     
     roles revealed a great deal of the behind— 
     
     the-scenes history of horse racing at the 
     
     C.D.P. for over siX decades; however, 
     
     with the evolution of computer technolo- 
     
     g , many of the roles that Bill performed 
     
     have become obsolete and may be a 
     
     mystery to many of the younger people. 
     
    
   
   
    
     After selling pencils and programs for 
     
     eight years, Bill was promoted to "hang- 
     
     ing the numbers” at the old judges’ stand 
     
     in the infield. These numbers would 
     
     show the patrons the times for each quar— 
     
     ter fraction of the race. This was done 
     
     manually during the race because in the 
     
     1940s the electronic computer wasn't 
     
     available to perform this function. Bill‘s 
     
     third job at the GDP. made him assistant 
     
     program director to his brother, Frank 
     
     “Duck” Acorn. From this position he 
     
     moved back to the old judges‘ stand and 
     
     became the official patrol judge for the 
     
    
   
   
    
       
     
    
   
   
    
     upper turn. We must remember that this 
     
     was long before the judges moved to the 
     
     highest level of our grandstand; it was 
     
     also long before the advent of video— 
     
     taped replays to assist judges in making a 
     
     decision. Many of you will remember 
     
     seeing the judges and the announcer cir— 
     
     cling the old judges’ stand in the center 
     
     field as they watched the horses during a 
     
     race at the GDP. 
     
    
   
   
    
     Bill‘s next job description kept him in the 
     
     old judges' stand as one of the three offi— 
     
     cial timers. Each fraction of each race 
     
     was recorded manually by three official 
     
     timers to ensure accuracy. When there 
     
     was a difference in times, a majority 
     
     ruled. Today we have one official timer. 
     
     From timer, Bill moved on to be the “run- 
     
     ner" for the pari-mutuel. For this job, he 
     
     literally ran with the official ticket pays to 
     
     each of the pari—mutuel cashiers. In 
     
     those days, the patrons went to separate 
     
     wickets to purchase and cash tickets and 
     
     the runner had to be fast so as not to 
     
     keep those with winning tickets waiting 
     
     too long. Bill was a “runner" for two 
     
     years when he moved on to become a 
     
     seller of tickets at the pari—mutuel. From 
     
     seller he was promoted to one of the 
     
     chosen three who calculated the win, 
     
    
   
   
    
     place, and show official pays at the con— 
     
    
   
   
    
     153