Johnny "The Mighty Atom" or "Mighty Mite" Adams

Born in Carlisle, Arkansas in 1914, Johnny Adams and his family moved to a farm near Iola shortly after his birth. The smallest of 12 children, Adams received his first experience with horses working them behind plows in the family's fields. Though he stopped growing at 4 feet 8 inches,  farm work gave him a powerful torso, strong arms, and grip. This extra strength gave Adams a level of control that few jockeys possessed.

After gaining experience racing at Iola's Riversie Park and in county fairs, Adams won his first horse riding championship at the age of 22, and in 1935 he left Iola to pursue a career as a jockey. Adams developed an unusual riding style. Most jockeys rode with one stirrup, usually the right, lower than the other. Adams rode with even stirrups and many thought he looked odd on a horse, but he silenced any critics with his ability to win.

Adams rode 3,270 winners and earned more than $9.7 million in purses over the course of his career. His biggest stakes victory came in the Triple Crown's 1954 Preakness. He also won the 1939 and 1946 Santa Anita handicaps.

He won national titles for races won in 1937 with 260 victory's, in 1942 with 245 wins, and in 1943 with 228 wins. In 1955 he became only the fourth jockey ever to collect 3,000 riding victories. Adams was never able to win the Belmont Stakes or the Kentucky Derby, though he had 13 Kentucky Derby mounts and two second-place finishes.

After retiring as a jockey, Adams immediately turned to training in 1959 and enjoyed many more years of success working with horses and a new generation of jockeys. Johnny Adams was elected to the Horse Racing Hall of Fame in Saratoga Springs, New York in 1965. Johnny Adams died at his home in Arcadia, California on August 19, 1995.