HARRISBURG PA – One came to prominence in the shadow of New York City; the other is a son of the Midwest. One is primarily a writer who also has done much television journalism; the other achieved principal fame as a photographer, but he also wrote often and well.
What links them is their talent in communicating the
abilities of the very best in harness racing, and thus Jay Bergman and Joe Kyle
were voted in to the Communicators Hall of Fame by the United States Harness
Writers Association (USHWA), the sport’s leading journalism organization.
Bergman achieved his greatest impact during his 27 years of
working at Sports Eye, a daily newspaper which primarily dealt with
handicapping (Bergman was one of the key theorists behind the creation of a
track “variant”) but also offered opinions on the issues of the day – a
position, especially after he became editor-in-chief in the 1980s, Bergman did
frequently and forcefully, not afraid to offer criticism and call people and
organizations to task. He won a 1984 Hervey Award in the “news and commentary”
writing division.
A frequent author for many of the sport’s most respected
publications, Bergman is currently a columnist for DRF Harness, the harness
racing arm of Daily Racing Form. He has served on-camera as television commentator
for The Meadowlands and The Downs at Mohegan Sun Pocono, and also assisted
television broadcasters behind the scenes of many of the sport’s top races.
Kyle is a native of Decatur IL, 40 miles from the mile Grand
Circuit track in Springfield IL and not far up the road from DuQuoin IL, where
the Hambletonian and then the World Trotting Derby were held. He covered the
top Midwest racing for many years, and with his move to the staff of The
Horseman And Fair World magazine in Lexington KY, Joe also wrote about and
photographed the stars of the sulky game during the annual Grand Circuit visit
to Lexington’s Red Mile.
His photography has been cited by USHWA, with its Smallsreed
Award, and the World Trotting Council. Ironically, that particular winning
photo was taken at a race in Bergman’s “back yard,” The Meadowlands, after
Scarlet Knight won the 2001 Hambletonian for trainer-driver Stefan ”Tarzan”
Melander – a noted photographer in his native Sweden. Kyle attended many of the
sport’s major races wearing both photographic and reporter hats during his time
at The Horseman.
Jay Bergman and Joe Kyle will be honored at the 2022 Dan
Patch Awards Banquet, as the 2021 Banquet has been cancelled due to
health/travel considerations. That same year, they will be formally inducted
into the Communicators Hall of Fame at the Harness Racing Museum in Goshen NY.
