The 2010 USHWA Night of Champions presentation of the Dan Patch Awards is over, but you can relive all the names and faces that represent the best our sport has to offer right here by viewing the Official Journal online. Just click on the pages you wish to view and read all the bios and well wishes for all the honorees.

P. 1-25         P. 26-50         P. 51-75         P. 76-100         P. 101-125         P. 126-134

Deerfield Beach, FL – Joseph Hartmann, long time harness racing publicist, was found dead in his Deerfield Beach home on Sunday, March 12. He was 59.

Hartmann had spoken with his ex-wife, Maggie Bruno, on Friday and stated that he had been feeling ill most of the week. When he did not answer phone calls throughout Saturday and Sunday morning, Maggie and a friend went to his apartment, where they found him dead, apparently from a massive heart attack.

Hartmann was recently placed on the ballot for election to the sport’s Communicators Corner of the Hall of Fame in Goshen, NY.

In the early 1970’s Hartmann began his career as a sports reporter for the Middletown Times-Herald in upstate New York, covering the harness races at Monticello Raceway. He later moved to his hometown of Port Jervis to work for the Union-Gazette, where he honored at State Sportswriter of the Year by the New York State High School Wrestling Coaches Association.

During the 1980’s, Hartmann worked as publicity director at Foxboro Park in Massachusetts, Pocono Downs in Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania and then at Pompano Park in Pompano Beach, Florida, publicizing many Breeders Crown events at the last-named oval.

In 1996 Hartmann returned to Foxboro Raceway, where he worked for two years as assistant general manager and publicity director. He then assisted with the opening of the new track in Massachusetts, Plainridge Racecourse, serving as general manager for the track’s 1999 opening.

He later returned to Florida, where he worked as executive director of Florida Standardbred Breeders and Owners Association and then as a free-lance writer for several of the sport’s trade magazines and associations, especially for the Hambletonian Society, Breeders Crown and the Horseman and Fair World (as their Florida correspondent).

Hartmann was a past president and chairman of the board of the United States Harness Writers Association, and a past president of the North American Harness Publicists Association (NAHPA) . In 1994, Hartmann won the NAHPA Allen J. Finkelson Golden Pen Award, which was particularly important to Hartmann because of his close association with the Dean of publicists during their time together at Pompano.

Joseph Hartmann is survived by his mother, Betty Jane Hartmann of Port Jervis NY, two brothers and a sister, ex-wife Maggie Bruno, two daughters, Noel Czerwinski of Red Lion PA and Jessica Goggins of Poughkeepsie NY, and four grandchildren.

There will be a memorial service on Thursday, March 18 at 9:30 am at the St. Ambrose Catholic Church at 380 South Federal Highway, Deerfield Beach, FL 33441 (954) 427-2225.  In lieu of flowers, family has suggested a contribution to the Harness Racing Museum and Living Hall of Fame, Goshen NY.

Fellow USHWAns:

I would like to take this time to thank everyone for a successful dinner at Empire City Casino at Yonkers Raceway. The dinner committee did an outstanding job and the evening was a success, thanks to the hard work of many who helped make this night one to remember. As for next year I have asked Steve Wolfe as 1st Vice President and Chairman of the Dinner Committee to look into having the awards banquet in Southern Florida. I will update everyone in my April letter of the developments and progress of the banquet and all other committees that I am looking for volunteers to help out with.  

I wanted to share a little bit about myself for those of you that are unfamiliar with me; I grew up in harness racing going to the track with my father from the age of five. A few years later, Ohio USHWA Hall of Famer Terry Holton moved in across the street from me and I got to know him while on my paper route. From that point forward a great friendship began and Terry mentored me throughout my tender teenage years. I called my first horse race at the age of thirteen at the Hartford Independent Fair in my home county of Licking County, Ohio. From there I went onto cutting my teeth in track management at Scioto Downs in Columbus under the tutelage of mentor and Assistant General Manager Jerry Kalb and General Manager Bob Steele. While at Scioto Downs I held many jobs including Simulcast Program Manager, Simulcast Director and Track Announcer, along with learning many other managerial aspects of the sport of horse racing including Assistant Race Secretary under the keen eye of friend Stacy Cahill. When I left Scioto Downs in 2005 I went to work for the United States Trotting Association as Advertising Director for a short stint before being called into action as Vice President of Racing and Simulcast by Jeff Gural, owner and Chairman of American Racing and Entertainment, LLC (Tioga Downs and Vernon Downs) to reopen the once bankrupt Vernon Downs and once shuttered Tioga Downs. Today, both of these properties shine in the sport of harness racing and are well known for our tireless efforts in the marketing of our great sport. I truly appreciate and respect Jeff Gural for Herculean efforts in keeping the sport alive and vibrant in Upstate New York and allowing us to market and explore ideas of getting people back to the track.      

As many of you know I am a family man first and foremost, I have been happily married to my beautiful bride Lori for almost five years (anniversary April 23rd), we have two sons, Jeffrey and our newest addition Travis is sixteen months old. The family and I currently reside in Athens, Pennsylvania which is a stones throw away from New York. 

I also wanted to thank each one of you for putting your trust in me and electing me President of this fine democratic association. As I do with each organization I am associated with, I will work tirelessly to ensure that the job is done correctly. I will need each one of you to be involved over the next couple years to be successful, so I will be calling on you from time to time to step up and help out with this association.  If you are interested in helping out by serving on committees, please contact me at jasonlbj01@aol.com or by phone at (607) 699-7588. 

In closing, we open at Vernon Downs on Friday, April 16th and at Tioga Downs on Saturday, May 1st (Kentucky Derby Day) and I invite each and every one of you to come out to either one of our tracks and be a guest of mine for the day.

I hope to see you all at the races. Be well.

PS: I know it’s only March, but hotels book up quickly at Goshen, so please make your reservations early.

Truly yours, 

Jason M. Settlemoir
President-USHWA

With the current trend toward electronic mail as a cost-saving measure, many local and national firms have eliminated large US Postal mailings. The harness industry is no exception.  Beginning this year the USTA/USHWA Horse of the Year balloting will be completed electronically. 

Considering this fact, I have undertaken an initiative to ensure that my fellow USHWA voters are receiving USHWA-related Emails.

Some web browsers like Mozilla Firefox, as well as various Email providers, such as G-Mail, maintain fairly restrictive spam filters. This is a desirable feature for many Email users, myself included, who utilize these tools to protect ourselves from the unwanted, annoying, yet omnipresent SPAM. I promise, along with my fellow USHWA officers, TO NEVER SEND YOU SPAM (canned or otherwise). 

However, over the course of the racing season and subsequent voting schedules, it will be important for us to alert you to various nominations, biographical, and voting deadlines as they arise. Therefore, the significance of this Email is two-fold. First, to determine that the Email address that we have for you is up to date and that you are receiving our communiqué. Second, to request that you alert your fellow chapter members about future Emails, especially those who may not have Email or are not receiving Email. Those individuals are kindly asked to please send me their current information. 

With future voting going electronic, USHWA officials are working hard to make sure that your voice is heard, and that your vote is counted. Annual Hall of Fame & HOTY voting may be one of THE MOST important things that we do for the harness industry. 

With that in mind, thank you for taking the time to read this letter.                                                                                                                                       Chris Tully-National Second Vice-President   tullytrot@yahoo.com

With the advent of primary distribution of the newsletter online, there is no pink paper reminding you that USHWA dues for 2010 are due: $40 for active members; $25 for associate members; and the option of $15 for retired or “life” members. If in sending in your dues you could give the Secretary (Box 1314, Mechanicsburg PA 17055) your home address, e-mail address, and affiliation, they would be useful for a general tidying of the USHWA records.

Those who still get their newsletters through the mail already know that they are still getting those good old pink dues slips. And they still will be used – and postal mailed – to those “e-members” who are tardy in returning their remuneration.

Most of the membership was well aware that Jack Ginnetti was unable to attend this years meetings and Banquet due to health issues with both himself and his wife, and he was missed by all. Jack was operated on this past week and is currently resting at home. We would like to send along our best wishes to the Ginnetti's and hope they are both "back behind the gate" soon! If you would like to drop Jack a card you can mail it to: Jack Ginnetti 103 Naugler Avenue, Marlboro, MA  01752.

I would like to take this opportunity to thank everyone who worked so hard to help us have a successful dinner and journal.

Starting with everyone who sold an ad, especially Jason Settlemoir, Dave Little, Moira Fanning, Randy Manges, Judy Davis-Wilson and Alicia Schwartz, We are now in the process of collecting the ad money so if you sold one please check and see if it's been paid.

Thankfully the bad weather didn't ruin our event and even though some people couldn't make it, we still had nearly 400 people in attendance.

I would like to thank:

Roger Huston and Dave Little for being entertaining and professional and for keeping the night moving.

Ellen Harvey, Ken Weingartner and Kim Rinker for helping with the script.

Heather Moffett and Faust productions for another terrific video.

Rick Smith for another journal masterpiece and Gail Cunard for using whatever method it took to get it to us.

Joe Hartmann who volunteered for the unenviable task of making sure all the presenters were on time.

Kelly Young for tracking down the honorees to put flowers on them and Moira Fanning for coming up with the flower idea.

Moira Fanning and Gail Cunard for donating raffle items.

Alicia and Alan Schwartz and Bob Lieberman for another successful raffle.

Rosa Ferreira, Barbara Wittstruck and Carolyn Atherton who all stepped up in a big way to help us even though they are not members.

Chris Wittstruck who spent the evening wiping fingerprints off the trophies.

And last but not least, Whitney Fields for taking care of the trophies as well as putting together the centerpieces and the flowers that our honorees wore.

I have received many compliments regarding the dinner and we should all be proud of that.

Thanks again,
Debbie Little

Jason Settlemoir, adding another office of authority to his burgeoning collection of important harness racing positions, was named President of the United States Harness Writers Association during this past weekend’s annual meeting of USHWA in Yonkers NY. 

Settlemoir, vice president of racing and simulcasting for New York State tracks Tioga Downs and Vernon Downs and already a Vice President of Harness Tracks of America and a director of the U.S. Trotting Association, succeeds former president Debbie Little of the New York Post, who will now assume the position of Chair of the Board of the writers organization. Settlemoir was quick to praise his predecessor.

“Debbie Little devoted incredible amounts of time and energy to USHWA in order to make sure that it operated as best as it can, and accomplished many good things,” Settlemoir noted. “Debbie and I have talked about the ‘top spot’ in our organization, and I’m sure her counsel will remain valuable as I step up to face the challenges of the USHWA presidency.”

Veteran racing scribe and publicist Steve Wolf of Florida moves up a chair to first vice-president, while Chris Tully of Goshen Historic Track joins the Board as second vice-president. As mentioned, Little will become of the Chair of the USHWA Board. Returning in familiar roles will be Alan Prince as Treasurer; Bill Brown as Executive Secretary; and Jerry Connors as Secretary.

The U.S. Harness Writers Association is a 200+ member association devoted to the communication of the major developments of the sulky game. It elects members of the Hall of Fame and the various year-end awards, both human and equine; it is involved in charitable and educational enterprises; and it annually organizes the annual banquet which honors the best and brightest of the sport, with the dinner last Sunday at Yonkers honoring 2009’s champions.

The New England Harness Writers held there thirty-first awards banquet on Sunday, Sept. 6, 2009, at the Plainridge Racecourse in Plainville Mass. with a very excited crowd watching the affair.

The inductees into the "Hall" were: Townsend Ackerman (deceased), Peter Blood, Gary Piontkowski and Roger Slobody, who all have contributed greatly to harness racing. Peter Blood has also been inducted into the Florida Chapter’s Hall of Fame and the Plainridge "wall of fame".

Click here to see the complete story with pictures.

Fred Segal, president of the Florida Chapter of the United States Harness Writers Association, has announced the award winners for the 2009 season. They will be honored at the association’s annual Hall Of Fame Awards Dinner on Sunday, March 7, 2010 at Diamante’s Banquet Center in Ft. Lauderdale, Florida.

Click here to see the complete story with pictures.

As the racing season came to a close in Western New York this past weekend, the Upstate Chapter held its Night of Distinction Awards ceremony to honor all the best performers from the last twelve months. Eleven awards were doled out and due regard was cast upon their recipients.

Click here for a complete recap of the nights proceedings in word and pictures (courtesy of Paul White) and click this link to watch video of each award presentation.

Over 240 people turned out at Kutshers Country Club in Monticello, NY on October 25th when the Monticello-Goshen Chapter of the U.S. Harness Writers Association held their 51st  Annual Awards Banquet. Tom Grossman was honored with the Excelsior Award and Billy Parker, Jr. received the organization’s  Lifetime Achievement Award. Ray Schnittker, Kelly Young, Dave Little and Terry Donnelly were also cited and Southbound Trucker was named “Horse of the Year”.

Click here for the entire story with many pictures (compliments of Geri Schwarz)

Here are some views from the inductions at the HOF in Goshen from July 4th.            Photos are courtesy of Barbara Bedell, Times Herald Record, Middletown, NY

Tom K. Crouch, Alan J. Leavitt, and Timothy J. Rooney were the 2009 inductees to the Harness Racing Hall of Fame.

Inductees to the Communicators Hall of Fame were John Berry and Leon Zimmerman, pictured here with emcee Roger Huston.  

Elbridge T. Gerry Jr., President of the Board of Trustees of the Harness Racing Hall of Fame pictured with Pinnacle Award winner Robert A. Tucker.

The family of Immortal honoree Lew D. Williams, the first black American Hall of Famer, accepted the award on his behalf.        

The United States Harness Writers Association is a group of more than 250 members committed to the chronicling of harness racing through the print and electronic media. It was founded in 1947 by New York City area sportswriters who were covering harness racing at Roosevelt Raceway. It remains the only media organization in harness racing with a membership of newspaper, magazine, radio and TV, ad agency, publicists and others involved in racing communications. With more than 250 members, most of them allied to one of 12 regional chapters, the association strives to bring about a closer relationship among the media, racetracks and horsemen to promote a centuries-old American-bred sport.

USHWA members, in annual voting, choose harness racing's most prestigious awards like the Living Hall of Fame and the Horse-of-the-Year. Its Proximity Achievement Award is one of the sports most cherished honors. It also recognizes top divisional winners and leading drivers and trainers at its annual awards dinner, which began in 1948.
 
The association is governed by a member board of directors, which represents the chapters and at large members (those living or working in regions where there is no chapter). Also serving are seven national officers and all past presidents.

USHWA works with the united States Trotting Association in the Horse of the Year balloting. USHWA also presents the John Hervey Awards for excellence in writing and broadcasting. Its members choose Hall of Famers, so the association also works closely with The Harness Racing Museum & Hall of Fame at Goshen, New York.

Many chapters hold annual awards or recognition dinners to salute the leading horses and drivers in their areas. Some chapters also raise money for local charities.

                                Contact USHWA at ushwa@paonline.com

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