As 1978 wound down, Denis Glaccum knew he was in trouble. With little time until his end-of-year deadline, he was not close to making his quota as a salesman for IBM.
Inspired by something he read in an article about kids with cancer, he put a sign on his car that stated, “You may give up hope, but don’t give up trying.” He saw it every day as he got in his vehicle, and it encouraged him.
“I made my quota on Monday, Dec. 31 of that year. I can remember jumping up and down and yelling,” said Denis, flashing back to how excited he was after doing what he had to do. That wouldn’t be the last time he achieved a goal.
It was, he said, “a lesson that changed my life. I was not going to give up,” noted Denis, president of the Plantation Field Equestrian Events series of horse trials in Pennsylvania. Even at age 79, after dealing with some health problems, his determination hasn’t taken a hit.
Denis Glaccum speaking at the 2019 U.S. Eventing Association annual meeting.
“We as individuals do have the ability to make things happen,” he believes, and proved it again this year in the face of Covid restrictions that put many 2020 equestrian events out to pasture.
When he returned to Pennsylvania after a winter spent in Aiken, S.C., everyone was telling him, “We won’t be able to do it,” that the future of the Plantation Field horse trials this season looked bleak,
He was having none of it. When the first two trials on the schedule had to be cancelled as the U.S. Equestrian Federation banned all licensed competitions from March 20 to June 1, the June trials became a must-do. And so they happened, a tribute to his doggedness.
“We were the first sporting event held in Chester County in June, one of three held on the same weekend around the country,” he said proudly.
Doug Payne in an iconic Plantation Field cross-country setting. (Photo by Nancy Jaffer)
Another obstacle, more difficult than any he ever faced in a long cross-country riding career, came up when Plantation Field’s landowner, Cuyler Walker, announced he would no longer lease his land for eventing after this weekend’s international horse trials.
He took offense at the Eventing Nation website’s campaign to change the name of the event. The website contended the world Plantation had uncomfortable racial connotations, even though it referred in this case to the planting of trees, and obviously, Pennsylvania was not a slave state. (See the story in the On the Rail section of this website for details.)
Denis, however, is no stranger to dealing with controversy and always fights back. There are many stories attesting to that.
Molly Bliss remembers what he did for her when she was seeking a berth on the U.S. squad for the 1990 World Equestrian Games in Sweden. She was training in Britain, the youngest rider with the American contingent, and found herself “treated very differently by our coach at the time. He had made it clear that he thought women riders were not up to the same standards as men.” She was not invited to go to the WEG with the rest of the riders.
“Heartbroken, I went into London for the day, assuming I would be flying back to the States that week,” she recalled.
“While I was gone, my mother back at home called Denis. He immediately came to my defense and by the time I had returned from London that evening, Denis and (USET Executive Director) Jack Fritz had made it very clear I was back on the team and would be going to Stockholm.” Molly, who finished capably there, said, “I’ll forever be grateful to Denis for standing by me then and for always being one of my biggest supporters.”
Olympic eventing medalist Jim Wofford calls Denis, “One of these invaluable people that are basically behind the scenes who make the sport grow and improve. He can be difficult because he sees what he wants to do and goes and does it.
“He doesn’t always bring the bureaucracy with him. All of his efforts are well-intentioned and have led to improvements in the sport,” added Jim, citing the wonderful competitions that have been held at Plantation since its transformation from fields to a venue.
Denis organized the memorable Chesterland event that began in Pennsylvania in 1976, then moved to Fair Hill, Md., to run events there before a disagreement with the Maryland Department of Natural Resources led him to start the events at Plantation Field. Being outspoken has not always made things easy for Denis, but he’s not the type who asks that things be easy.
“I decided I would rather open my mouth and be wrong than sit silent,” he noted.
His dedication has been recognized many times. In 2001, he won the Wofford Cup for his contributions to the sport, he’s a member of the U.S. Eventing Hall of Fame and formerly served on the U.S. Equestrian Team’s Three-Day Event committee, as well as being secretary and vice president of U.S. Eventing’s predecessor, the U.S. Combined Training Association.
For him, it’s always been all about horses and making the sport better. Denis grew up in South Orange, N.J., and rode with the Junior Essex Troop, going into the organization as an 11-year-old private.
Dennis learning to jump in 1953.
Members of the Troop, founded in 1943 as a cadet auxiliary of the Essex Troop of the 102d Cavalry, New Jersey National Guard, wore military uniforms marked with the insignia of their rank and handled many tasks at the organization’s West Orange farm. Their activities ranged from courses in marksmanship to rides of 20 and 30 miles where troopers stayed the night in the field with their horses.
The program cost his parents $75 a year and the discipline instilled in him not only fortitude, but also a passion for hard work.
Denis as a member of the Junior Essex Troop (the National Guard Armory is in the background) jumping for the Netherlands trophy at the troop farm in West Orange.
“The only thing I did well at that stage of my life was ride,” said Denis, who came of age during the infancy of eventing in this country. He rode in the 1960 Olympic trials in California, and knew so many figures who grew the sport in this country. As he talks about what things were like 60 years ago, he peppers his conversation with a host of famous names; Philip Hofmann, first president of the U.S. Combined Training Association; Olympians Brig. Gen. Franklin (Fuddy) Wing and Maj. Gen. Guy V. Henry, as well as Max Palmer, who guided the Junior Essex Troop.
Denis competing at Pebble Beach on Wait-a-Minute in 1962.
The officials in those days, he recalled, were all ex-cavalry, operating in an environment much more structured than today’s, “where you learned how to conduct yourself.”
Brian Murray, a member of U.S. Eventing’s board of governors, has known Denis since 1963. He remembers him from that time as “a character; he was focused. He was eight years older than I was. I didn’t really understand eventing in those days. But he was doing something none of us were doing, he was a very good rider and a very driven guy, even then.”
Denis has an important partner in his wife, Bambi, a granddaughter of Amory Haskell, the first president of the Monmouth Park Racetrack. New Jersey’s most prestigious flat race, the Haskell, is named after him.
Bambi recalled her first encounter with Denis at a party she didn’t want to attend. Her mother cajoled her into going, saying prophetically, “You need to go to this party because you might meet your future husband there.”
And that’s just the way it happened. She found herself sitting next to Denis and had no idea who he was, so she asked, “Do you ride?”
Denis took it from there. The couple has two children, Ellie and John Amory, and five grandchildren.
Of living for more than half a century with Denis, Bambi, who serves as secretary of the eventing series, said, “He has an opinion about everything. I’m never bored. He has always loved horses, and if push comes to shove, the horses take precedence over everything.”
The couple has three horses, one of which is an off-the-track thoroughbred that Denis still rides.
As he talked about his involvement with the sport to which he has dedicated his life, Denis said, ”I always got more satisfaction if the horses go well or improve, or if the kids I was teaching improved, than necessarily winning anything. My thing in eventing still is I can go to one of the low-level trials and laugh the whole day. I see people enjoying themselves, I see people doing a sport that requires many traits or skills that do not exist anywhere else anymore in our society.”
