( CNN ) -- Think of the greatest American sports stars of all time and names like Jesse Owens , Muhammad Ali and Serena Williams will likely spring to mind . But long before these champions smashed the record books -- and blazed a trail in the public 's imagination -- the first generation of black U.S. athletes dominated an unlikely sport . The godfathers of Owens , Ali and Williams were n't stereotypical towering , musclebound men found on basketball courts or in boxing rings . Instead , they were the jockeys of the race track and their dizzying success -- and dramatic fall -- is one of the most remarkable buried chapters in U.S. sporting history . When the country 's most prestigious horse race , the Kentucky Derby , launched in 1875 , 13 of the 15 jockeys were African-American . Much like the NBA today , black athletes dominated horse racing for the next three decades , winning 15 of the first 28 Derbies . `` They were the premier horsemen in the world , '' says Joe Drape , author of `` Black Maestro , '' which tells the story of champion jockey Jimmy Winkfield . `` It was the first professional sport for black athletes in America . They were at the forefront of horse racing and it was a place where they could earn a good living . '' Decades before Jackie Robinson made history in 1947 as the first black major league baseball player , African American jockeys forged a name as the first sports heroes of post-Civil War America . The son of a former slave , Isaac Murphy was the first jockey to win three Kentucky Derbies -- in 1884 , 1890 , 1891 . He went on to win an unheard-of 44 % of all his competitions , becoming the first rider inducted into the National Racing Hall of fame . `` Murphy was the first millionaire black athlete , '' Drape told CNN . `` He even had a white valet . '' Many of these jockeys had been slaves in the South , working as stable hands and becoming skilled horse handlers . Plantation owners put them on the backs of horses in informal -- and dangerous -- competitions . When horse racing became an organized sport in the early 19th-Century , black jockeys were already leaders in the saddle . Yet fast forward to today and you 'd struggle to find an African-American jockey on a U.S. race track . Just 30 of the around 750 members of the national Jockey 's Guild are black , according to the most recent figures available . Winkfield was the last African American to win the Kentucky Derby -- in 1901 and 1902 -- and by 1921 they had all but disappeared . It would be 79 years before another black rider , Marlon St. Julien , competed in 2000 . The introduction of the Jim Crow laws in the late 1880s -- segregating blacks and whites -- spelled an end to the golden era of jockeys like Winkfield and Murphy . Increasing violence against black jockeys forced many to abandon racing and move to northern urban areas , says Drape . `` It became too dangerous to put black riders on horses , '' he added . `` An influx of Irish immigrants were now slugging it out on the track , riding black jockeys into railings and making them fall . '' Other riders , such as Winkfield , fled to Russia -- which had a thriving horse racing industry . `` The Russians were colorblind , you had jazz players and heavyweight boxers like Jack Johnson -- it was basically the last place black American sportsmen could go , '' Drape said . Here , Winkfield 's career skyrocketed as he won the Russian Derby four times and amassed a fortune . He was treated like a celebrity , socializing with aristocrats in Tzar Nicholas II 's court and marrying two white European countesses . Decades later , segregation still ruled America , and when Sports Illustrated invited Winkfield to a reception at the Brown Hotel in Louisville in 1961 , he was told he could n't enter by the front door . Today , Deshawn Parker is perhaps the most successful of the few black jockeys competing in the states , boasting more than 4,000 career victories . The 42-year-old , who won the most U.S. events in 2010 and 2011 , entered the sport after his father worked as a racing official . `` Black people are n't on the track like they used to be , '' he said . `` If you do n't have someone in your family who 's in the business , you do n't have a reason to start racing . '' Parker , the 54th-ranked jockey of all time , says racing is now dominated by Latinos . Terry Meyock , national manager of the Jockey 's Guild , agreed , estimating that 60 % of jockeys in the U.S. are Latinos . Of the current top-10 highest earning jockeys , nine are from South America . `` From black to Irish to Latino , jockeys in America tend to mirror immigration , '' Drape said . `` The conditions are the same as 200 years ago -- the best jockeys tend to be from rural countries , they grow up around horses , it 's tradition and it 's a family business . '' For Parker , jockeys like Murphy and Winkfield did n't just change the face of racing -- they paved the way for generations of black American sports stars . `` They got black athletes in the door , '' he said . `` It 's an honor to be ranked among them . ''
54th black African American sports stars were n't basketball players -- they were jockeys . Many became skilled horse handlers while working as slaves in the south . 1921 , just a few black jockeys compete on Russia race tracks . Horse racing now dominated by Jimmy Winkfield riders .