Randy Paul Romero is a Hall of Fame jockey in the sport of Thoroughbred horse racing, Born into a family involved with horses, his father Lloyd J. Romero was a Louisiana state trooper who trained American Quarter Horses and later, after a drunk driver crashed into his police car and permanently disabled him, he began training Thoroughbreds for flat racing. The 1978 movie Casey's Shadow is based on Lloyd Romero and his family. He was elected into the Thoroughbred Racing Hall of Fame May 27, 2010 In 1975 Randy Romero began his professional riding career at Evangeline Downs in Lafayette, Louisiana. Nicknamed the "Ragin' Cajun", in 1983 at Oaklawn Park racetrack in Arkansas Romero suffered a near career-ending injury when he received major burns to two-thirds of his body from a freak fire that erupted while taking a sauna. He had rubbed himself down with alcohol and moved into the sauna in the jockey's room. As he did he accidentally broke a live light bulb that immediately ignited his entire body. After seven months of rehabilitation he returned to compete at the Fair Grounds Race Course in New Orleans where he won his third of four riding titles and set a track record with 181 wins. 

December 22nd, 1957 in Erath  /  Died:   Aug 29th, 2019 - stomach cancer - aged 61