ORLANDO FL – Dave Brower and Tim Bojarski were selected as the two candidates advancing to this summer’s balloting for the harness racing Communicators Hall Of Fame, as determined during the Saturday directors meeting of the United States Harness Writers Association (USHWA).
Dave Brower was a mainstay of The Meadowlands for many years, achieving his biggest recognition as a broadcaster on the nightly racing show from the New Jersey oval, in addition to being that track’s morning line maker and track handicapper. The author of the book “Harnessing Winners” was also a highly-visible contributor to the Hambletonian Day television coverage on many occasions, and for the last few years worked in broadcasting during the Grand Circuit meets at Delaware OH and Lexington KY. It was while on assignment at the latter location that he was found unresponsive in his room this past October 7, shocking the harness world and his many fans with his passing at age 53, with much more to give to the sport.
Tim Bojarski began his contact with harness racing communications in 1986 at Batavia Downs, which is near his western New York home of Akron, authoring a tip sheet and writing profiles of horsemen. He is in his 23rd year of writing for Hoof Beats, the awardwinning magazine of the U.S. Trotting Association, for which he has been a columnist for 11 years. The busy Bojarski currently is also employed by Plainridge Racecourse near Boston, the Standardbred Owners of Massachusetts and that state’s stakes program, the New York Sire Stakes and Batavia Downs. He also races a stable of four at east coast racetracks.
Bojarski and Brower will go before the USHWA voters during the midsummer balloting for Communicators Hall Of Fame election, as will those nominees for the sport’s Hall Of Fame determined during a July meeting of USHWA’s Screening Committee, to be held in Goshen NY. A nominee must get three-quarters of the yes-no votes in order to receive their grand honor. Announcements are usually made within a couple of days of the Labor Day weekend.
A summary release of the Directors and Membership meetings of USHWA will be sent out this midweek, after the honorees at the Dan Patch Awards Banquet, presented by Caesars Entertainment, get their rightful spotlight call following the Sunday night banquet.
The United States Harness Writers Association (USHWA) is the leading group of communicators about the Standardbred horse. USHWA conducts the official annual balloting for the sport’s most prestigious honors: induction to the Hall of Fame and Communicators Hall of Fame, along with the selection of the Horse of the Year, Trotter and Pacer of the Year, and the leading divisional horses of each season. Each year USHWA hosts the Dan Patch Awards Banquet, honoring the best and brightest performers in North American harness racing. This banquet is the Association’s principal source of funding, and with generous financial support from the harness racing and breeding industry, USHWA is able to host the banquet at a world-class facility in a world-class manner.