HARRISBURG PA – Gordon Waterstone, a 42-year veteran of
harness racing journalism who has worked at The Horseman and Fair World for
over two decades and is a member of harness racing’s Communications Hall of
Fame, has been appointed to the Hall Of Fame Screening Committee of the United
States Harness Writers Association (USHWA) by Kim Rinker, president of the
sport’s leading media organization.
The HOF Screening Committee considers the nominees submitted
by the various chapters of USHWA, talks with a select group of present members
of the Hall Of Fame, and then announces the candidates for the summer HOF
ballot, on which a nominee requires 75% of the yes-no vote to receive the
sport’s highest honor, election to the Hall Of Fame.
Waterstone started his career working in publicity at
Detroit’s Hazel Park, and also worked at other tracks at other points of the
season, including helping with Breeders Crown publicity in that series’ early
days. In 1998 he joined the Horseman and Fair World as associate editor, and
during his time with the Kentucky-based company he has received two John Hervey
Writing Awards, one in the feature category and one in the news/commentary
division, making him one of the few people to have been honored in both
sections. His popular “Backstretch With Gordon” column during the prime of The
Red Mile’s racing season keeps him in close contact with many of the sport’s
leading horsepeople.
A former national president of USHWA and a Life member of
the organization, Waterstone is currently the president and secretary of the
organization’s Kentucky Chapter. He received the USHWA President’s award in
2001.
Waterstone has also been honored by the North American
Harness Publicists Association, Harness Horsemen International, and the
Michigan Harness Horsemen’s Association. The ultimate honor for a harness
journalist, entrance into the Communicators Hall of Fame, came with his
induction ceremony in 2017 at the Harness Racing Museum in Goshen NY.
The first Sunday in July at Goshen, if the world is back in
normal order, will find Waterstone discussing the merits of this year’s
candidates with his fellow committee members: committee chair Judy Davis-Wilson,
Tim Bojarski, Bob Heyden, Jason Settlemoir, and Steve Wolf; president Rinker
also serves on this committee as an ex officio voting member.
