James C. Harrison

Port Jervis, NY

James C. Harrison, internationally known harness racing writer and breeding farm executive, died Thursday, September 4, 2008. He was 87. He resided in the Keystone Park section of Milford, PA.

Mr. Harrison was born February 26, 1921 in Port Jervis, NY, the son of John F. and Lillian Collier Harrison.

He is survived by a son, John C. of Charlottesville, VA; a niece, Mary Clare Decker of Hopatcong, NJ; a sister, Marjorie Terrill of Raleigh, NC; two grandchildren; four great-grandchildren; and an additional four nieces and two nephews. He was predeceased by his wife, Margaret Bradenburgh Harrison (2006), whom he married on March 16, 1950; two sons, James B. and William E.; a sister, Anne Harrison Fahey, and a brother, John F. Jr.

Mr. Harrison graduated Port Jervis High School in 1938 where he had participated in several varsity sports and had been captain of the basketball team. He became a sports writing "stringer" for The Middletown NY Times-Herald in October of that year. In August of 1940, he joined the regular staff succeeding the late Wesley F. (Bo) Gill as Assistant to the Sports Editor, Howard DeFreitas. In January of 1941 he was promoted to the Editorial Staff and assigned to cover the Port Jervis area beat, which he did for the remainder of that year.

The attack on Pearl Harbor prompted Mr. Harrison and several of his Port Jervis friends: Jack Flynn, Dick Hawkins, Ned Quinn, Pete Stellato and Lee Sweeney to volunteer for the Army Air Corps. They were inducted on January 5, 1942.

A graduate of Aircraft Armament School in Denver, CO, Mr. Harrison eventually became a tail-gunner on a Martin Marauder B-26 medium bomber and flew 40 combat missions in the Mediterranean Theatre between May of 1943 and January of 1944. In combat action he earned The Purple Heart and The Air Medal with several clusters, and was credited with shooting down an ME-109 fighter. Mr. Harrison also earned battle stars for the Air Offensive in Algeria, French Morocco, Tunisia, Sicily, Naples-Foggia and Rome-Arno, as well as the European-African-Middle Eastern Service Medal. He also held the New York State Conspicuous Service Cross.

After the war, Mr. Harrison worked briefly for the Scripps-Howard Citizen in Columbus, OH. In September of 1945 he rejoined The Times-Herald, which he always referred to as "The best small-town newspaper in the history of the world!"

He returned to the Editorial Staff and in 1947 became Sports Editor and continued in that capacity through the end of 1948. In January of 1949 he took a position with the Publicity Department of the United States Trotting Association, the parent body of harness racing in the United States. This post had been vacated by Howard DeFreitas who recommended his former assistant at the Times-Herald as his successor.

Mr. Harrison became Publicity Director of the USTA in 1952 as well as Executive Editor of the USTA's Hoof Beats magazine. As a Hoof Beats columnist, Mr. Harrison specialized in articles on harness horse breeding and in 1958 was persuaded to join Hanover Shoe Farms in Hanover, PA, which was the world's largest horse breeding farm. Mr. Harrison served as Assistant to the President for seven years until he left in 1965 to return to the USTA. There he wrote "The Care and Training of the Trotter and Pacer" which upon publication in 1967 quickly became the basic "bible" on harness racing. The book sold more than 100,000 copies and was translated in part into Swedish and French.

In 1968, Mr. Harrison became Executive Vice President and General Manager of Lana Lobell Farms, also located in Hanover, and the world's third largest breeding farm. He remained there until his retirement at age 58 in January 1980. He did not work thereafter except in a consulting capacity and moved back to his "home base" near Port Jervis in 1981.

In addition to "Care and Training", Mr. Harrison wrote a story of a combat mission in 1943 which was selected for post-war inclusion in the book "Flak Bart (Frances), The Story of The Men Who Flew The Marauders In World War II". He also wrote several selections for another post-war anthology, "Tales of the Marauders" (Stovall). Additionally, he was co-author with Edward Boelm and Joe Goldstein of "The Story of Adios."

In harness racing circles, Mr. Harrison was a member of The Writer's Corner of the Hall of Fame and earned three distinguished harness racing awards: the Proximity Achievement Award (1970), the Golden Pen Award (1972), and Grand Circuit Order of Merit (1978). Mr. Harrison was a member of the Society of Professional Journalists (Sigma Delta Chi); The Disabled American Veterans; The B-26 Marauder Historical Society; The 444th Bomb Squadron Reunion Group; the 320th Bomb Group Society; The Military Order of the Purple Heart and the Air Force Gunner's Association. He also belonged to The Minisink Valley Historical Association; The United States Harness Writers Association, and was founder and first president of the Ohio Chapter of the USHWA.

Cremation will be at H.G. Smith Crematory, Stroudsburg, PA. There will be no visitation or service. Burial will be in the family plot in St. Mary's Cemetery, Port Jervis.

Funeral arrangements are by Gray-Parker Funeral Home, 100 E. Main St., Port Jervis, NY; www.grayparkerfuneralhome.com or 845-856-5191.