Hall of Fame

 



joseph i. markey

Year of Birth: 
1867
Immortal: 
Yes
ArtistAuthor: 
Yes
Elected as Immortal: 
1978
Year of Death: 
1930
Biography: 

Joe Markey's ardent readers knew him as "Marque." Born in 1867 in Chillicothe, Missouri, he grew up in Red Oak, Iowa. A young man of considerable writing talent, he joined The Horse Review in 1901. In twenty-nine years with the famed journal he established himself as the foremost turf writer of the era. Markey was justly celebrated as one of the most careful and accurate judges of trotters, having been the first to predict stardom for the likes of Lou Dillon, Uhlan and Peter Manning. He was a prime mover in the establishment of the Hambletonian Stake and served as the first secretary of The Hambletonian Society, sponsor of this greatest of races for three-year-old trotters. Joe Markey died in 1930 after several years of ill health.

Published in the Harness Racing Museum's 1994 book, The Immortals