Privman, Haight, Mann Join Joe Hirsch Media Honor Roll

Daily Racing Form national correspondent Jay Privman and late writers Walter Haight and Jack Mann have been selected to the National Museum of Racing’s Joe Hirsch Media Honor List.

Privman, 62, of Carlsbad, California, entered his first race in 1980 — Bid’s spectacular victory at the Malibu Stakes — while in college at California State University, Northridge, and working. part-time for The Los Angeles Daily News. Privman worked full-time for The Daily News from 1981 to 1991, then became West Coast editor for The Racing Times (1991 to 1992) and West Coast correspondent for The New York Times (1992 to 1998). . He was also a reporter for The Thoroughbred Record and The Thoroughbred Times (1983-1998) before joining Daily Racing Form in October 1998.

Along with his distinguished print career, Privman served as a television reporter or columnist for CBS, ESPN, Fox, and NBCSN from 1998 to 2018 and the host of “Thoroughbred Los Angeles,” a show Saturday morning show on AM830 KLAA, 2003 to present. He’s been in every Kentucky Derby (G1) between 1982 and 2019 (missing 2020 and 2021 due to COVID-19 and a health issue, respectively) and every Breeders’ Cup from the 1984 opening until 2021 (except 2020 because of the epidemic).

Author of the books “Breeders’ Cup: Thoroughbred Racing’s Championship Day,” and “Del Mar at 75” and contributing writer to the Daily Racing Form book “Champions,” Privman has won numerous titles for races. race your car. He is a six-time Red Smith Award winner (1989-90, 1997-99, 2008) from Churchill Downs for the best Kentucky Derby story; two-time winner of the David F. Woods Award (2002, 2013) from the Jockey Club of Maryland for best Preakness Stakes (G1) story; and a two-time winner of the Joe Hirsch Award (2010, 2016) from the New York Racing Association for best story in Belmont Stakes (G1).

The Privman’s Breeders’ Cup Awards include six Joe Hirsch Awards (2001, 2003, 2005, 2015, 2017-18) for news reporting and the Bill Leggett Award (2017) for story writing. Other honors include the Old Hilltop Award from the Maryland Jockey Club (2005); Walter Haight Award, National Lawn Writers Association (2005); inducted into the Southern California Jewish Sports Hall of Fame (2011); and the Charles W. Engelhard Award, from Kentucky Thoroughbred Owners and Breeders (2016). Privman is also a reporter on eight Eclipse Award-winning broadcasts: three on ESPN and NBC and a chapter on Sirius Radio and Fox Sports West 2.

Haight (1899-1968), born in Washington, DC, joined The Washington Post in 1924, beginning a 44-year journey with the newspaper. He started The Post as a reporter on a general assignment and began covering Thoroughbred races for the newspaper in 1932. He covered his first Kentucky Derby that year. , began a series of 37 consecutive years of writing about the event. Haight was The Post’s racing writer and editor for 36 years and holds the honorary #1 spot in the Churchill Downs press box for his longevity in the Run for the Commission.

Known for his ability to tell stories, Haight adopted a 2-year-old horse named after him in 1941 to feed him for some entertaining columnists. Haight is known for bringing himself into his writing through first-person narratives, and in his book “Bred to Run” he created a horse named Flat Tire that has Bizarre conversation with the author.

As a charter member and president of the Maryland Racing Writers Association and vice president of the National Lawn Writers Association, Haight has received a career excellence award presented by the National Law and Development Writers Association. Annually awarded by members of the National Lawn Stadium. After his death in 1968, The BloodHorse said Haight “wrote with glee, because he saw the humor and drama in the game” of racing. The publication described him as a “funny man” who reveled in his role as “The Head of the Press Box. Some of his funniest stories never went into print. may conjure up convoluted intrigues from a book’s past or the heartbreaking demise of a four-horse fight, with a combination of hilarities that keep listeners hooked for hours.”

Mann (1925-2000), a native of New York City, began his writing career in 1940 while attending high school for the weekly Long Islander. He attended Columbia University for a year under the GI Bill and served with the Marines from 1943 to 1946 in the North Pacific during and immediately after World War II. In 1947, he returned to journalism as a reporter and editor for two weeks on Long Island, then joined Newsday, first as a reporter, then as assistant city editor, then as a city editor. Sports editor.

Specializing in horse racing and baseball, Mann wrote for Newsday (1952 to 1962); Detroit Free Press (1962 to 1963); The New York Herald-Tribune (1963 to 1965); Sports Illustrated (1965 to 1967); The Miami Herald (1968 to 1970); The Washington Daily News (1970 to 1971); The Washington Star (1971 to 1972); Evening Sun in Baltimore (1980 to 1990); and The Racing Times (1991 to 1992), among others. While sports editor at Newsday, Mann led the section’s transition from a local focus to a national focus on sports.

Mann won the Eclipse Award in 1987 and was honored with the National Lawn Writers Association’s Walter Haight Award in 1993. He also received the Maryland Jockey Club’s Old Hilltop Award for lifetime achievement. Mann was also the author of the 1966 book, “The Decline and Fall of the New York Yankees.” Along with racing and baseball, Mann also covers professional football and does freelance work for Look, Life, People and Penthouse magazines, among others.

Known for his attention to detail, Mann also has a belligerent side that gets him into trouble with his superiors and frequently changes owners.

Clem Florio of the Maryland Racing Club said after Mann’s death in 2000: “He’s done some brilliant things, but at some point, no matter how well he does, someone is going to hit him. trick with his clone. ignore your things. He is interested in capturing the truth frankly and writing well. He said he was fired from the best.

“He’s a very special type of person. He has exceptional insight into things – and he’s a connoisseur of English. He’ll say, ‘If you’re going to tell a story, Tell it right. If you’re going to write, write it right.’ He kept a bulletin board of fake information, including his own.”

At Newsday, Mann was fired, but returned in the early 1960s and then quit or was fired again, according to Steve Jacobson, the Newsday sports columnist who was Mann’s first hire.

“He was the guy who pulled Newsday out of local sports into the big leagues,” says Jacobson. “He was brilliant.”

Past picks for Joe Hirsch Media Roll of Honor are Steven Crist (2010), Charles Hatton (2010), Bill Nack (2010), Red Smith (2010), Dr. Russ Harris (2011), Joe Palmer (2011) , Jay Hovdey (2012), Whitney Tower (2012), Andrew Beyer (2013), Kent Hollingsworth (2013), George FT Ryall (2013), Jim Murray (2014), Jennie Rees (2014), Raleigh Burroughs (2015), Steve Haskin (2015), Jim McKay (2016), Maryjean Wall (2016), Barney Nagler (2017), Michael Veitch (2017), Jack Whitaker (2017), Joe Burnham (2018), Tom Hammond (2018), Charlsie Cantey (2019) ), Billy Reed (2019), Pierre “Peb” Bellocq (2020) and William Leggett (2020).

The National Museum of Racing’s Joe Hirsch Media Honors was established in 2010 to recognize individuals whose careers have been significantly dedicated or involved, writing in purebred racing (non-fiction). ) and those who self-identify as journalists. The criteria have since been expanded to allow other forms of communication to be considered.

Often referred to as the dean of Thoroughbred racing writers, Hirsch has won both the Eclipse Award for Outstanding Writing and the Lord Derby Prize in London from the Horserace Writers and Correspondents Association of Great Britain. He has also received the Eclipse Award (1993), the Big Sport of Turfdom Award (1983), the Jockey Club Medal (1989), and was designated a guest of honor at the 1994 endorsement dinner by The Verge. Thoroughbred Club of America. Joe Hirsch Turf Classic (G1T) every year at Belmont Park named in his honor. Hirsch, who died in 2009, also served as chairman of the National Museum of Racing and Hall of Fame Nominations Committee and a founder of the National Lawn Writers Association.

The Joe Hirsch Media Honors Committee includes Edward L. Bowen (chairman), author of more than 20 books on Thoroughbred Racing; Bob Curran, Retired Jockey Club Vice President of Corporate Communications; Ken Grayson, trustee of the National Museum of Racing; Jane Goldstein, retired field journalist; Steve Haskin, Secretariat.com and longtime BloodHorse columnist; GD Hieronymus, retired Keeneland director of broadcast services; Jay Hovdey, five-time Eclipse Award-winning writer; and Dan Smith, retired senior communications coordinator for Club Del Mar Thoroughbred.