Media members Dr. Maryjean Wall and the late Jim McKay have been elected to the National Museum of Racing's Joe Hirsch Media Roll of Honor.
Wall, a three-time Eclipse winner and the first woman to be accepted to the National Turf Writers and Broadcasters Association, worked for the Lexington Herald-Leader full time for 40 years and continues to freelance for them today. She is a two-time nominee for the Pulitzer Prize and has written two books.
“There had been a few other ladies break into covering racing before Maryjean, but she was exceptional in the length of her career and breadth of knowledge she developed,” said Edward L. Bowen, chairman of the Joe Hirsch Media Roll of Honor Committee. “She embodied that exemplary combination of never falling into treating the subject as routine and never losing the urge to keep learning. That she persevered to earn her doctorate is illustrative of her pride in the professions of writing and history.”
McKay, who passed away in 2008, was a reporter for the Baltimore Sun and worked for WMAR-TV. He later joined CBS in New York before moving on to ABC, where he served as a host for the “Wide World of Sports.” McKay is also the founder of Maryland Million Day, which has now been named in his honor.
“Jim McKay was such a friendly individual that it would have been easy to forget that he was a celebrity were it not for how frequently he was starring in coverage of one sport or the other,” Bowen said. “He truly loved thoroughbred racing and was proud to be involved. I think the evolution of quality in televised sports coverage was hastened by Jim's involvement.”
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