A friend remembers Arlington horse racing announcer Phil Georgeff
Editor's note: Although he rode more than 10,000 mounts in his 21-year career as a jockey, Gerry Gallitano readily acknowledges that one of the greatest rides he ever had was working next to legendary announcer Phil Georgeff.
The 70-year-old Gallitano, a former Bloomingdale resident now living in Jacksonville, Florida, spent many years sitting next to Georgeff as they kept racing fans informed and entertained for 30 minutes every racing day via their popular “Chicago Racing Report” on SportsVision, which later became SportsChannel. Together they worked tirelessly to promote the sport and the people working in it whether it was from a track, a television studio or a suburban sports bar.
After the death of Georgeff earlier this month, Gallitano shared some of his memories with the Daily Herald about his television mentor, racing colleague and longtime friend. Here is a condensed conversation with Gallitano about Georgeff, who retired in 1992 after calling 96,131 races. With his signature call, “Here they come spinning out of the turn,” Georgeff was the voice of Chicago racing to generations of fans.
<h3 class="leadin">What made him special:
Phil had a zest for life and a love of horse racing that was second to none. He knew about the history of the horses running at Washington Park (in Homewood), the famous horses that came to Balmoral (in Crete) back in the day, and of course Dr. Fager, Secretariat and John Henry and the famous horses that came to Arlington Park over the years.
His favorite horse was Citation and mine was Secretariat, and we'd josh back and forth on the pros and cons about that, and he'd always win because he knew how to “spin me out of the turn” pretty good.
<h3 class="leadin">
Racing fans loved him:
We did a lot of these “Night at the Races” at some of the sports bars in the suburbs, places like The Stadium, Sports Page and other places.
It was cool because we'd see all the fans. You would be amazed at the number of people who would come out and talk with us. We would sit there and kibitz with each other, and that was our show, which I called our lounge act.
That's how Phil touched the racing fans. He would talk before we'd go on, and then he would sit there afterward and talk for another hour with fans and hear their stories about certain horses and jockeys, and then he'd share some of his stories. They shared a bond.
<h3 class="leadin"><object id="youtubeembed-45066F9E-EF28-4FA7-9554-4B4737826FE3" type="x-im/youtube" url="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aQ2ByoMBq6k" uri="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aQ2ByoMBq6k"><data><start>0</start></data><links><link rel="alternate" type="text/html" url="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aQ2ByoMBq6k" title="Click link to view content"><data><context>Video</context><provider>YouTube</provider></data></link><link rel="alternate" type="image/jpg" url="https://i.ytimg.com/vi/aQ2ByoMBq6k/hqdefault.jpg"><data><width>480</width><height>360</height></data></link></links></object><element id="paragraph-792174B0-6C09-4685-848C-3C94780B2719" type="body"><![CDATA[No one worked harder:
He loved thoroughbred racing, but when he first got established he worked for the Carey family and did the harness meet. Once he got the Arlington Park commitment on a year-round basis, he then did the thoroughbreds.
For many years when he started he would do double duty. He'd do the races at Hawthorne (in Cicero) and then drive out to do the races at Washington Park or Maywood or Balmoral. I didn't know him then, but that was pretty typical of people of that generation - that was their work ethic and nothing was too small for them.
If you ever had the chance to watch him call a race, it was unbelievable. He had a sense of the horses, and a sense of all the jockeys and what they could do. He was amazing.
<h3 class="leadin">In the middle of it all:
Phil could have ventured out and done a lot of things, but he loved the thoroughbreds.
Don't forget that back in those days, Arlington was a premier race place. (Bill) Shoemaker came, and (Laffit) Pincay (Jr.) rode here in the summer, and every good jockey around would come in here.
Then later they moved on to California or New York, but this was a launchpad for good horsemen and young jockeys to test their mettle against the Midwest's best. Mike Smith and Jerry Bailey, both of them rode at Arlington Park and then made it big in New York, and Eddie Delahoussaye and others moved to California.
<h3 class="leadin">Love for music:
Something a lot of people might not know was he had a real love for Mario Lanza, the opera singer. He had all of his movies recorded.
<h3 class="leadin">A special style:
Phil was articulate in everything he did, particularly in calling the races. He was very proud of the racing and the racing people around Chicago.
He was a good family man and he was a man of his word. If he said he was going to do something, he didn't need to sign a contract. If he said he would do it, then he did it.
He was generous with his time, and with his knowledge. He'd help you out. He was the shiny vest of our show, but he never acted like it. He'd make you feel like you were the center of attention even though I was hanging on to his coattails on the show.
<h3 class="leadin"><object id="youtubeembed-185FE2FF-B202-4639-B575-FAEF012A30B7" type="x-im/youtube" url="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6wVBNbmcaAE" uri="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6wVBNbmcaAE"><data><start>0</start></data><links><link rel="alternate" type="text/html" url="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6wVBNbmcaAE" title="Click link to view content"><data><context>Video</context><provider>YouTube</provider></data></link><link rel="alternate" type="image/jpg" url="https://i.ytimg.com/vi/6wVBNbmcaAE/hqdefault.jpg"><data><width>480</width><height>360</height></data></link></links></object><element id="paragraph-792174B0-6C09-4685-848C-3C94780B2719" type="body"><![CDATA[His later years:
He had a relaxed life after he retired. He and his wife, Bobbie, bought a home in Fairhope, Alabama, and it had a pool, which he always wanted.
I visited him a few times and he would say, “I've got it made, jock. I've got it made.”
As the years went by, he became more private. We would talk every two or three months or so, and a lot of his racing friends would call him.
Without fail, I used to call him on January 1st, which was his birthday, and the same birthday for thoroughbreds, which was kind of cool.
And that was perfect because he was a true thoroughbred through and through.
The Phil Georgeff file
Education: Graduate of Austin High School and Northwestern University's Medill School of Journalism.
Early work: As a teenager, he worked as an unlicensed exercise boy at Sportsman Park and later became a publicity intern there in 1953.
First and last calls: Georgeff began calling races in 1959 at age 27 at Washington Park. He was the voice of Arlington Park from 1960 to 1992, and also called races at Sportsman's Park, Balmoral, Maywood Park and Hawthorne Racecourse, where he also worked as a publicity director and made his last call on Dec. 31, 1992.
Famous calls: Georgeff's calls of the following races can be found at YouTube. com:
•
1981 Arlington Million, with John Henry nosing out The Bart at the wire.• 1968,
1973 Arlington Invitational, won by Triple Crown champion Secretariat.•
1984 Arlington Million, the second win by John Henry.