Hall of Famer pens book about his career

Leon J. Zimmerman, a member of the Harness Racing Communicators Hall of Fame, has written and published a memoir of his favorite stories during a remarkable 65-year career as an award-winning journalist and government affairs consultant.

In the book, “From Bylines to Storylines,” he takes the reader from the newsroom to the corridors of government, sharing behind-the-scenes details of his stories about celebrated people and newsworthy events in harness racing, government and politics.

During his broad experience with one of New Jersey’s most highly respected daily newspapers, The Record of Hackensack, he covered major news events and wrote feature stories and columns, earning an award for “Distinguished Reporting of Public Affairs” from the American Political Science Association.

Zimmerman, a past president of U.S. Harness Writers Association, was there from the beginning of harness racing coming to The Meadowlands, long before the racetrack ever came to be.

It’s all in his book, from the surprising failure in the late 1960s, to the New Jersey Governor’s proposed development in the early 1970s of a sports complex with the racetrack and a stadium for the New York Football Giants.

He continued in a new career as lobbyist for the New Jersey Standardbred Breeders and Owners Association to help win passage of legislation that financed construction and continued working for the standardbred horse industry and NJ Sire Stakes Program during the sport’s most successful era through the next 35 years.

There are also profiles of important harness racing figures and campaign promotion of a voter referendum to expand horse race wagering opportunities in the state.

His book is now available online for purchase directly from Amazon.com for the price of $24.99 by clicking here.

by Steve Wolf, for the United States Harness Writers Association