When the Monticello-Goshen chapter of the United States Harness Writers Association holds its 51st annual awards banquet on Sunday, October 25 at Kutshers Country Club, the organization will present an award named in honour of the late Phil Pines, who not only was a charter member of the chapter, but a man of all seasons in harness racing.
“The former longtime director of the Harness Racing Museum and Hall of Fame, himself a member of the Communicators Hall of Fame, passed away late last year, but we thought it only proper to keep his memory alive with an annual Phil Pines Award,” noted Ed Palladino, the chapter’s chairman of the board.
“Phil was the sports prime historian as well an award winning writer and broadcaster famous for his 'Cracker Barrel Sessions,' and his legendary book 'the Complete Book of Harness Racing,' which has had multiple printings since he first wrote it back in the 1970s.”
A native of Trot Town USA and an expert painter, Pines saw his first Hambletonian in 1935, the year Greyhound was victorious, and it was little wonder that his career would gravitate toward the standardbred sport
After a stint in Hawaii during World War II where he designed posters for the Air Force in the Pacific Theatre, Pines returned home and it was through his painting ability that he initially became involved in the Harness Racing Hall of Fame in his beloved Goshen, New York. In 1963, he became the director of the Hall, a position he held for over 43 years.
“There were few in the sport who were as knowledgeable and there was no greater gentleman in every sense of the word than Phil Pines,” said chapter member Amos Finch, himself a charter member of Monticello-Goshen USHWA.
On October 25, 2009, at the chapter’s annual banquet, Kelly Young, an award winning writer and communicator who has grown-up in the shadow of the sport of harness racing, will be the inaugural recipient of the Phil Pines Award.
(With files from USHWA)