Harris, Palmer honored as Joe Hirsch Media Roll of Honor
recipients
Legendary turf writers Dr. Russ Harris and Joe Palmer have been chosen as the
National Museum of Racing’s Joe Hirsch Media Roll of Honor recipients for 2011.
Harris and Palmer join 2010 selections Steven Crist, Charles Hatton, William
Nack and Red Smith.
The Roll of Honor was initiated in 2010, in memory of distinguished turf
writer Hirsch who died the previous year, to recognize individuals whose careers
have been dedicated to, or substantially involved in, writing about Thoroughbred
racing (non-fiction), and who distinguished themselves as journalists.
Harris began his journalism career at the Canton Repository in Ohio following
service in World War II. He became involved in turf writing and handicapping in
1957 at the Akron Beacon Journal, where he made his selections under the
nom de plume Phil Dancer. Harris learned that the word Phil meant lover of
horses in Greek. He used Dancer because of his fondness for the great Native
Dancer.
Harris moved on to the Miami Herald and also worked some summers for
Daily Racing Form while in Chicago, which led to a job as a steward at
Hawthorne, Arlington and Washington Park. His next stop was the Philadelphia
Inquirer, and then the New York Daily News, where he served as a
prolific racing writer as well as handicapper until 1988, when he became solely
a handicapper through 2008.
Along with his popular columns and distinguished race coverage, Harris was
among the leading public handicappers in the country for decades. He selected
the winners of all nine races on the card at Belmont Park on May 8, 1981, and
continued to thrive through 2008, when he was the top public handicapper at
Saratoga.
Away from the track, Harris spent time as a teacher, and at age 75 earned his
Ph.D. from Lehigh University in 1999. He wrote a 378-page thesis on the
relationship between Charles DeGaulle and six U.S. presidents. Harris is also a
member of the National Museum of Racing and Hall of Fame’s Nominating Committee
and Historic Review Committee. He resides in Bryn Mawr, Pennsylvania.
Palmer was born in Lexington, Kentucky, on October 18, 1904. He graduated
from the University of Kentucky in 1927 and taught English composition and
literature at UK from 1928 to 1932, and at the University of Michigan from 1932
to 1934, where he pursued a Ph.D. in contemporary literature.
In the summer of 1934, Palmer was hired as an associate editor at The
Blood-Horse. Before school began that fall, the magazine offered him a
full-time position. Palmer was only a thesis short of his Ph.D. when he wrote to
his committee chairman at Michigan, Dr. Howard Jones, stating: “I shall not get
back to Michigan this fall, if ever.” Jones replied: “My dear fellow, you were
called and chosen to revive the dying splendors of literary scholarship, and I
hope that after a year or two we shall have you back in Ann Arbor…I suppose
that the fair women of Michigan are no rivals to the fast horses of Kentucky.”
Complementing his work for The Blood-Horse, Palmer wrote the 1939 book
“Names in Pedigrees,” was responsible for most of the 1940 work “Horses in the
Blue Grass,” and also a 1942 publication “The Thoroughbred Horses.” In addition,
he authored the annual American Race Horses in 1944, 1945 and 1946.
Palmer was hired by Stanley Woodward in 1946 as the racing writer for the
New York Herald Tribune, where he wrote the popular column, “Views of the
Turf.” His work was syndicated into The Blood-Horse, the Lexington
Herald-Leader, and numerous other publications throughout the country. He
also worked for the Columbia Broadcasting System as a radio racing announcer.
Palmer died of a heart attack in 1952 at the age of 48. Following his death,
the New York Racing Association (NYRA) named the Joe Palmer H. and later the Joe
Palmer S. in his honor. In 1953, a collection of his columns was published in
the book “This Was Racing.” The book was so popular that it was reprinted again
in 1973.
Famed sports writer Walter “Red” Smith said Palmer’s work was “the best that
appeared in any American newspaper, on the sports page or otherwise.”
The reverence in which Palmer was held by his peers is reflected in the
naming of the Joe Palmer Award for Meritorious Service to Racing, which has been
presented annually by the National Turf Writers and Broadcasters since 1964.
The National Museum of Racing will present crystal plaques for the Hirsch
winners in separate ceremonies. Palmer’s award will be accepted by his son,
Stephen Palmer.