Two veteran harness racing journalists – Jay Bergman, longtime editor/writer/handicapper in the Sports Eye/Daily Racing Form publication family, and Joe Kyle, a noted photographer/writer primarily associated with the Horseman and Fair World magazine, were selected to be ballot candidates for this summer’s voting for entrance into Communicators Hall of Fame.
Their selection was determined by the result of a vote of the Directors of United States Harness Writers Association (USHWA), the sport’s leading media organization, at their annual meeting on Saturday.
Jay Bergman established his excellence in harness racing as the longtime editor and columnist for Sports Eye, where he highlighted both the equine and human star performers of the sport, featured horses that bettors might keep an eye on for future profit and also took to task those not adding to the forward movement of harness racing. He served as a freelance correspondent or columnist for many of the sport’s major publications, and also did television commentary for a number of harness racing’s top tracks and races. A 1984 winner of a John Hervey Award for writing excellence, Bergman is currently a columnist for DRF Harness.
Joe Kyle is primarily associated with the Kentucky-based Horseman and Fair World, and was its “go-to” man for both writing and photography when the Grand Circuit made its annual tour of the mile ovals at Indianapolis, Springfield and DuQuoin (IL), and the Red Mile in his publication’s base of Lexington, KY – a natural association for Joe, who grew up in the Midwest. Kyle saw, wrote about, and captured on film most of the sport’s stars in many of the industry’s top races. He won the inaugural George Smallsreed Award for photography in 2001 for a picture of Hambletonian winner Scarlet Knight and trainer-driver Stefan Melander–himself a noted photographer in Europe.
Bergman and Kyle will be voted on by the membership of USHWA during midsummer balloting, which is held in conjunction with balloting for the sport’s most prestigious honour, election to the Hall of Fame of the sport. Those Hall of Fame candidates will be determined by the Screening Committee of USHWA at a meeting held in conjunction with the previous year’s Halls of Famers formal introduction into the Harness Racing Museum in Goshen NY the first Sunday in July.
Having conducted its Directors’ meeting on Saturday, USHWA will hold its annual General Membership meeting on Sunday morning. On Sunday night, USHWA will host the annual event honouring the sport’s best and brightest, the Dan Patch Awards Banquet. The Banquet will also be the first public gathering of the new crop of Hall of Famers–Tom Charters, Jeff Gural, Bill Popfinger, and Tim Tetrick–as well as Communicators HOFers Ken Weingartner and Phil Pikelny. The Dan Patch Banquet can be seen live starting at 6:30 p.m. at https://www.facebook.com/USHarnessWriters/.
(USHWA)