Clay Puett (1899-1998) was the inventor of the enclosed electric starting gate

Starting gate

A starting gate is a machine used in horse racing and dog racing to ensure a fair start in a race.-Thoroughbred/quarter horse racing:...

 used at all major thoroughbred race tracks around the world. On July 1, 1939, Puett's invention made its debut at Exhibition Park, Vancouver, British Columbia. It was an immediate success. By the end of 1940, Puett's gate was a fixture at all major North American race tracks.

Prior to Puett's invention, races were commonly started with ropes, ribbons, or wooden barriers. As a young man, Puett had worked as a rider, as well as a starter, and knew of the dangers that were associated with these methods for starting a race. He began work on a prototype of his invention in 1931, while working as a starter in Greeley, Colorado

Greeley, Colorado

The City of Greeley is a Home Rule Municipality that is the county seat and the most populous city of Weld County, Colorado, United States. Greeley is located in the region known as Northern Colorado. Greeley is situated north-northeast of the Colorado State Capitol in Denver. According to the...

. Puett's company, True Center Gate in Phoenix, Arizona

Phoenix, Arizona

Phoenix is the capital, and largest city, of the U.S. state of Arizona, as well as the sixth most populated city in the United States. Phoenix is home to 1,445,632 people according to the official 2010 U.S. Census Bureau data...

, still manufactures gates for the racing industry, and an award bearing Puett's name is given to innovators in racing by the University of Arizona

University of Arizona

The University of Arizona is a land-grant and space-grant public institution of higher education and research located in Tucson, Arizona, United States. The University of Arizona was the first university in the state of Arizona, founded in 1885...

's yearly Symposium on Racing.
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Fame

His vital contribution to the sport of horse racing is noted in such publications as "Horse Racing's Top 100 Moments", Sports Illustrated

Sports Illustrated

Sports Illustrated is an American sports media company owned by media conglomerate Time Warner. Its self titled magazine has over 3.5 million subscribers and is read by 23 million adults each week, including over 18 million men. It was the first magazine with circulation over one million to win the...

, and The Blood Horse, as well as being the subject of numerous documentaries and news articles. He is also featured in an exhibit in the Kentucky Derby Museum

Kentucky Derby Museum

The Kentucky Derby Museum is an American Thoroughbred horse racing museum located on the grounds of Churchill Downs in Louisville, Kentucky. Dedicated to preserving the history of the Kentucky Derby, it first opened its doors to the public in the spring of 1985...

, in Louisville, Kentucky

Louisville, Kentucky

Louisville is the largest city in the U.S. state of Kentucky, and the county seat of Jefferson County. Since 2003, the city's borders have been coterminous with those of the county because of a city-county merger. The city's population at the 2010 census was 741,096...

. In 1988, Puett was featured as part of a question on the game show Jeopardy!

Jeopardy!

Griffin's first conception of the game used a board comprising ten categories with ten clues each, but after finding that this board could not be shown on camera easily, he reduced it to two rounds of thirty clues each, with five clues in each of six categories...