joseph mcgraw
Year of Birth:
1876
Immortal:
Yes
Executive Official:
Yes
Executive:
Yes
Elected as Immortal:
1975
Year of Death:
1964
Biography:
Joseph McGraw began his career in harness racing as a trainer and farm manager in Meadow Lands, Pennsylvania. He went on to become an official at tracks, acting as a judge, timer and handicapper. After fifty years service on the Grand Circuit, McGraw became known as the "Dean" of presiding judges and then, finally, as the "Judge Landis" of harness racing. It was McGraw who invented one of the early starting devices for the harness track, known as the snap barrier. McGraw was also responsible for adding claiming races to cards to help support main events. He died in 1964.
Published in the Harness Racing Museum's 1994 book, The Immortals