"He was the author of three books, one on Roberto Clemente, another on jockey Bill Hartack and one on a pair of songwriters. After leaving newspapers, he liked to investigate and write about true crime, especially in his hometown of East St. Louis. Christine won Eclipse Awards for outstanding writing about horse racing, in 1984 and 2004. In 2000, he was given Walter Haight Award for career excellence in turf writing."
""Bill was an old school journalist," said Mike Willman the former longtime media relations executive at Santa Anita. "He kept copious notes and was a contrarian by nature. He was fair and extremely knowledgeable. "He really enjoyed being around the people in racing. You could take issue with something he wrote and then debate it and there was never any animus. I really respected him for that.""
Williard (Bill) Christine Jr. died Aug. 25 at age 87 at his Hermosa Beach home after a three-year battle with acute myeloid leukemia. He spent 23 years covering horse racing for the Los Angeles Times and logged a 42-year newspaper career across seven publications, including a stint in racing public relations. He authored three books on Roberto Clemente, jockey Bill Hartack and a pair of songwriters, then pursued true-crime reporting focused on East St. Louis. He earned multiple honors including Eclipse Awards (1984, 2004), the Walter Haight Award (2000), and David F. Woods Memorial Awards, and served as president of the National Turf Writers and Broadcasters (1990–1992). Born in Illinois, he graduated Southern Illinois Carbondale in 1963 and began his career at the East St. Louis Journal.
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