Theophilus Irvin Jr., the first black man hired by the Kentucky State Racing Commission, died March 31 in Lexington. He was 93.

Raised near the Kentucky Association race track in the middle of Lexington, Irvin spent most of his life with horses. He got his trainer’s license in 1947, and his clients included Keene Daingerfield, who became a prominent racing steward. Irvin started with the Racing Commission in the 1970s and worked in the detention barn.

“They’d never had a black man at the racing commission before,” he told the Lexington Herald-Leader. “Any time you’re new, people are going to look at you. But I had the backing of Keene Daingerfield. There were two or three incidents, but after a while, they realized that I was going to be there.”

Irvin’s survivors include a sister and brother.