Nik Rajkovic / news@whmi.com

Family and friends of Tom Dorsey will gather on the family farm in Howell Saturday for a private tribute to one of Michigan's horse industry legends. He passed away in January at age 93.

"Tom and his father purchased the farm over on Sexton Road, 168 acres and the 200-year-old home in 1948, at which time he signed with the Detroit Tigers as a bonus baby for $5,000. He was a catcher and went to the minor leagues," says Dorsey's widow Sandra.

"It was $28,000. He used the bonus money to go in with his dad, thinking he would never settle here, because of course, there was nothing in Howell then."

Dorsey was later drafted into the U.S. Army in 1951.

"He was sent to the occupation forces in Germany, where he took over being the mascot trainer with the 'Old Gray Mare.' He taught the 'Old Gray Mare' to do tricks, and that's where he got started with the horses," says Sandra.

"When he came back, he got married, and there was not that much money in baseball, and of course years had passed, so then he got into horse racing."

Dorsey worked his way up to general manager for DRC in Livonia and racing commissioner for the state of Michigan. He also operated the largest thoroughbred breeding farm in Michigan at one point.

He ran multiple businesses within horse racing before retiring in 1999.