Career
A younger brother to United States. Racing Hall of Fame trainer, Woody Stephens, he was often referred to as "Bill" by the media. Stephens began his career in racing as his brother"s assistant at Royce Martin"s Woodvale Farm in Kentucky. However, his career was interrupted during World World War II when he served overseas with the United States Army.
He resumed his career in racing at war"s end and in 1950 succeeded John Nerud as head trainer for Herbert Woolf"s Woolford Farm.
Bill Stephens went on to train for the stable owned by Adele L. Rand. Foreign Mistress Rand, he most notably conditioned Clem whose important wins included three straight over future Hall of Fame inductee, Round Table.
Clem did it first in the September 1, 1958 Washington Park Handicap while setting a new track record time. The colt was then shipped all the way to the East Coast of the United States to the Atlantic City Race Course where on September 13 he set another new track record for a mile and three sixteenths on turf in winning the United Nations Handicap while again defeating Round Table.
Clem then beat Round Table for the third time in a row on September 27 in the Woodward Stakes.
Retired from racing, Bill Stephens was living in Franklin Square, New York when he died at age sixty-four of lung cancer at the Veterans Administration Hospital in Brooklyn, New New York
