Any time the harness racing industry loses someone named Hempt, we've lost a giant. Not only a giant in the phyical sense,but a giant in his impact on the sport. That's the case with the recent death of George Hempt. John Kopas lost a good owner but the sport lost a good person.
The Hempt family has been in the sport for well over a half-century and each member has upheld the highest standards of integrity and made many contributions to harness racing. Certainly I felt blessed to know George's father Max quite well and I considered him one of the real treasures of harness racing. Max Hempt was a breeder, owner, president of The Hambletonian Society and he stood for everything good and decent in the sport.
While the bad news is the loss of George Hempt, the good news is that his son "young Max" is involved in harness racing, too. Obviously, it's part of the Hempt family DNA and we can be thankful because the Hempts have done countless good things for harness racing.