Murray Janoff, born in New York City in April 1915, has been a dedicated sports journalist his entire life. Growing up on Long Island, Janoff was particularly fascinated by harness racing as he watched it develop from a county fair attraction to a professional, nationally recognized pastime. In 1936, after graduating from New York University where he focused his studies on journalism and marketing, Janoff began his career at the Long Island Press. His responsibilities revolved around writing his popular sports column, “Murray Janoff’s Locker Room.” It was in this position that he was able to merge his two passions, journalism and harness racing, by writing a variety of stories focusing on this great American sport. His articles kept current fans up-to-date on harness news, and at the same time attracted a new fan base of newspaper readers by providing them with something interesting and unusual to read. 

With the outbreak of World War II, Janoff joined the Army Corps of Engineers and Military Intelligence Branch. After the war, he returned to his career in journalism, while for the first seven post-war years continuing to serve his country as a Major with the Military Branch Reserves in the New York area. 

In 1947, Janoff performed his greatest act of devotion to harness racing. After discussing the difficulties journalists faced when reporting on the newly established Roosevelt Raceway, he and fellow journalist Mike Lee decided to form a writers’ association to help control promotion of the sport within newspapers, magazines, radio and television. They used the successful tennis, baseball and Thoroughbred writers’ associations as inspiration for their idea. On the evening of May 8th, a few weeks after their initial conversation, Janoff and Lee gathered a dozen writers together at a restaurant in Queens to discuss uniting their strengths and talents. The result of that meeting was the organization known today as the United States Harness Writers Association (USHWA). 

Murray Janoff remained with the Long Island Press for over 40 years, interrupted only by the time he spent in the military. He left the paper in the 1970s to establish his own communications business, serving a client base that included major newspapers, news wire services and an assortment of other publications. He also published three books: Game!Set!Match! (1973), Inside Pro Basketball (1973), and Tennis Revolution (1974). 

Janoff is not only the last surviving charter member of the USHWA, he is also the last surviving charter member of the organization now known as the United States Tennis Writers Association, as well as an Honorary Lifetime Member of the Baseball Writers Association of America. 

Murray currently resides in Florida. He has three children, Craig (wife Suzette) a successful TV director; Donna, a NY Jets publicist; and Karen, a school teacher. He is the grandfather of Deborah, Stephen, Ashley, Danielle and Chad.