Esteemed writers Tim Layden, Ed Schuyler, Jr., and the late Edwin Pope have been selected to the National Museum of Racing’s Joe Hirsch Media Roll of Honor.
Layden is a four-time Eclipse Award winner and the 2015 recipient of the Walter Haight Award for career excellence in turf writing from the National Turf Writers and Broadcasters. He won his first Eclipse in 1987 in the newspaper writing category and has since won Eclipses for feature/commentary in 2018, 2022, and 2023.
After spending 25 years as a senior writer for Sports Illustrated—where he covered 14 Olympic Games, eight college football championship games, six NCAA Final Fours, and three Super Bowls, in addition to Thoroughbred racing—Layden joined the NBC Sports Group in 2019. For NBC, Layden produces longform articles, major-event features and columns, and video work for the network’s television and digital platforms.
Prior to joining Sports Illustrated, Layden, a native of Whitehall, N.Y., worked at the Schenectady Gazette (1978 to 1986), Albany Times Union (1986 to 1988), and Newsday (1988 to 1994).
“The first time I went to a racetrack was in the summer of 1976 when I was interning for the Gazette at Saratoga,” Layden said. “I sat next to Red Smith that day in the press box, which was pretty intimidating and scary. My first full year covering racing was 1978 when Alydar and Affirmed met in the Travers. That was my first real introduction to major league sports in the Capital Region. It was basically trial by fire for a 22-year-old.”
Layden said he received early guidance as a racing journalist from stalwart reporter John Pricci and Joe Hirsch, the Roll of Honor’s namesake.
“John helped me out with a lot of the basics, as did Joe,” Layden said. “I didn’t have any background in racing and my first time going to the track was to cover the sport. Joe was very patient and kind to someone who didn’t even know how to read the program. Covering racing has been a big part of my life. I remember doing a story on D. Wayne Lukas in the 1980s and here I am 40-some years later and still writing about him. Things have changed, but I’ve been pretty fortunate to hang around.”
The transition to working for NBC Sports Group has been seamless for Layden, who says he has enjoyed the television aspect of media.
“It’s a fresh challenge to write for television, but it’s been fun and I’m grateful to the NBC team for the opportunity” he said. “And I’m still doing some print work, which I still love. So I guess I’ll go a little longer.”
Schuyler, a native of Bloomsburg, Pa., covered primarily horse racing and boxing for The Associated Press from 1960 until his retirement in 2002. Inducted into the International Boxing Hall of Fame in 2010, Schuyler was the National Turf Writers and Broadcasters’ selection for the 1996 Walter Haight Award. He began covering the Triple Crown series with a sidebar for the 1967 Kentucky Derby. In 1974, Schuyler became the lead national racing writer for The Associated Press, a position he held until his retirement. During that time, Schuyler covered every Triple Crown race. Additionally, he covered the Breeders’ Cup from its inception in 1984 until he retired. Through the wire service, Schuyler’s work was read nationally in papers and media outlets throughout the United States.
“My father was a great newspaperman and I wanted to be just like him,” said Schuyler, who lives in Southold, N.Y. “I had the best job in the world. I got to see all the great horses, cover so many wonderful people … D. Wayne Lukas, Woody Stephens, Shug McGaughey … it was long hours and a lot of work, but it was also really a lot of fun. There was nothing like Kentucky Derby week, and how could you not love being at places like Saratoga and Keeneland? I was pretty lucky to do what I did.”
Schuyler wrote about many of the 20th century’s biggest stars in both racing and boxing, including Triple Crown winners Secretariat, Seattle Slew, and Affirmed, as well as heavyweight champions Muhammad Ali, Joe Frazier, and Mike Tyson, among others. He covered boxing at the Olympics from 1976 through 2000 and reported on fights in 19 countries.
“I covered 23 Ali fights, saw Mike Tyson get beat in Japan, watched Forego come from behind to win the Metropolitan Handicap, amazing Breeders’ Cup races … so many great memories,” Schuyler said. “To be a writer and cover what I did for more than 40 years was a dream come true. There are so many great stories and personalities in sports, especially in boxing and horse racing. If you can’t find a good story there, you’re in the wrong business.”
Pope (1928-2017), a native of Athens, Ga., won three Eclipse Awards for newspaper writing (1976, 1982, 1986) during his decorated journalism career—each of those awards was earned while covering racing for the Miami Herald, where he began working in 1956.
A graduate of the University of Georgia, Pope was only 11 years old when he began writing for his hometown Athens Banner-Herald. By age 15, he had been promoted to the sports editor of the paper. After college, Pope worked briefly for United Press International, Atlanta Journal, and Atlanta Constitution.
After writing his 1955 book Football’s Greatest Coaches, Pope left the Atlanta area for Miami to join the Herald. Hired as a columnist and assistant editor, he was promoted to sports editor within a year. He officially retired from the paper in 2003 but continued to contribute columns until 2016, when he wrote his last piece eulogizing Muhammad Ali.
Pope, who covered every Super Bowl from 1967 through 2013, won numerous awards in addition to his three Eclipses for horse racing coverage. He was inducted into both the Pro Football Hall of Fame and the College Football Hall of Fame, as well as the National Sportscasters and Sportswriters Hall of Fame. Additionally, Pope was selected for the Red Smith Award in 1989 by The Associated Press Sports Editors. The late Jimmy Cannon of the New York Daily News called Pope “the best writer of sports in America.”
Previous selections to the 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 F. T. 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), William Leggett (2020), Walter Haight (2021), Jack Mann (2021), Jay Privman (2021), Heywood Hale Broun (2022), Bert Morgan (2022), Damon Runyon (2022), Dick Jerardi (2023), Paul Moran, and John L. Hervey.
The National Museum of Racing’s Joe Hirsch Media Roll of Honor was established in 2010 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. The criteria has since been expanded to allow the consideration of other forms of media.
Often referred to as the dean of thoroughbred racing writers, Hirsch won both the Eclipse Award for Outstanding Writing and the Lord Derby Award in London from the Horserace Writers and Reporters Association of Great Britain. He also received the Eclipse Award of Merit (1993), the Big Sport of Turfdom Award (1983), The Jockey Club Medal (1989), and was designated as the honored guest at the 1994 Thoroughbred Club of America’s testimonial dinner. The annual Grade 1 Joe Hirsch Turf Classic Invitational at Belmont Park is named in his honor. Hirsch, who died in 2009, was also a former chair of the National Museum of Racing and Hall of Fame Nominating Committee and the founder of the National Turf Writers Association. He was inducted into the Hall of Fame in 2023 as a Pillar of the Turf.
The Joe Hirsch Media Roll of Honor Committee is comprised of Edward L. Bowen (chairman), author of 22 books on thoroughbred racing; Bob Curran, retired Jockey Club vice president of corporate communications; Ken Grayson, National Museum of Racing trustee; Jane Goldstein, retired turf publicist; Steve Haskin, Secretariat.com and longtime BloodHorse columnist; G. D. Hieronymus, retired Keeneland director of broadcast services; Jay Hovdey, five-time Eclipse Award-winning writer; and Dan Smith, retired senior media coordinator of the Del Mar Thoroughbred Club.
For more information about the National Museum of Racing and Hall of Fame, including upcoming events, please visit www.racingmuseum.org or call (518) 584-0400.
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