Three great
greyhounds and a racing legend have been tabbed for induction into the
Greyhound
Hall of
Fame this coming fall.
Izz A Champ, Wayside Carol, Dodgem By Design and Jack Kahn will be inducted in ceremonies this October at the Hall in Abilene, KS.
Jack Kahn was born in New Rochelle, NY in 1909. He graduated from Cornell University in 1931 and then went to work for his father importing silk from the Far East. He married his wife, Louise in 1935. He moved around a bit before finally settling in Florida. Along the way in his career Jack got into manufacturing, television, hotels and more, before getting into the
greyhound business in the early sixties. Through a couple of other
greyhound enthusiasts and track owner Jerry Collins, Jack was introduced to Ed Moses. This pair would enjoy a long, successful relationship and end up producing some of the best
greyhounds of the era.
Behind the Moses breeding and bloodlines Jack had such stars as K's Clown, K's Viking, K's Broadway, K's Clever, K's Moonglo, K's Chestnut, the immortal K's Flak and many, many more. Jack would travel his charges for match races and special events anywhere and everywhere. His kennels won many championships and his list of All American, Rural Rube and Flashy Sir winners is as impressive as there is.
His great racer, K's Flak produced some future great studs including, Wincarnis, BJ's Justin, Mi Designer, Greys Statesman and more. The bloodlines of these studs and many of Jack's females carry on through today's breedings.
Owned by Dorothy Roban,
Izz A Champ (Tell Tom-Miss Ismay) was a true sprint superstar. In 1970 he compiled a 33-27-4-2 record while racing at Palm Beach, Daytona and Sanford-Orlando. He won both the Palm Beach and Daytona Inaugurals and was undefeated at both Daytona and Sanford. He was the track win leader at Palm Beach with 21 victories. He won the Inter-City match race series between Palm Beach and Sanford and was an All American for that year.
In 1971 at Palm Beach he had 29 starts with 27 wins and 2 seconds, including a streak of 21 straight wins. He, once again, was the track win champ and repeated his win in the Sanford match race series. The fear of minus pools led Daytona Beach Kennel Club management to decide to pay the owners of Izz A Champ a Grade A purse 30 times not to race! Champ broke the track record at Palm Beach four times during the 1970-71 racing season and broke the 30 second barrier nine times in that same period (something that was very uncommon at the time). For all of this he was named Captain of the 1971 All American team and was awarded the first ever Rural Rube award from the NGA.
In 1971 and 1972,
Wayside Carol was one of the nation's premier distance dogs. A red Brindle daughter out of Rinaker-Lady Eve she was whelped in December of 1968 and was owned by the Wayside Kennel. Over the two year period she accomplished the following:
1971 Hollywood Derby winner
1971 Hollywood Endurance Champion
1971 Track Champion - Hollywood
1971 Finalist - Flagler International
1972 Hollywood Derby winner
1972 Hollywood Endurance Champion
1972 Track Champion - Hollywood
1972 Finalist Flagler International
The 71 Flagler race included the likes of Carry On, Lorded, Target, Madison Joker and Carol's littermate, Wayside Frosty (Lorded was the winner). The 72 version was won by Carbono and included Gurley, Rough Black Handle and a dog you may have heard of named Big Whizzer, proving she raced against some of the very best! She was an All American in both 71 and 72 and was the NGA's first ever Flashy Sir award winner in 1971.
The final
inductee in this year's class is
Dodgem By Design. The Charter Kennel star was bred by Rod and Sue Boatright. He was whelped on January 15, 2000 and is out of
Hall of
Famer, Gable Dodge by Cruzin By Design. While most will remember Dodgem for his brilliant stud career, he did have a fine, albeit short, racing career.
He began running at Tampa in July of 2001 and won Grade A in just his 7th start. He finished the year at 25-11-3-2-2 despite missing over a month due to injury. He moved on to Derby Lane where he made the finals of the All Star Kennel preview and won the Derby Lane Sprint over the likes of Courageous Nicky, Tahitian, Fuzzy's Geronimo, Talentedmrripley and Kiowa Sweet Trey. A few weeks later he captured the Matinee Idol Stakes over Stan's Boy Flyer, Courageous Nicky, Scatilac Navajo and Talentedmrripley. He ran 4th in the T.L. Weaver Memorial to cap off the Derby Lane meet going 26-9-6-4-3.
He returned to Tampa and finished a disappointing 6th as the second favorite after being blocked in the Tamps Sprint Championship. The Winner was another All American, Ben Awhile. He finished at Tampa with a 17-8-3-0-1 record and moved on to the Woodlands to compete in the Kansas Bred Sprint finishing 6th in the finals during a troubled trip. He finished his career at Derby Lane winning several more races before being retired sound in May of 2003 with a career record of 84-32-13-8-9.
As a sire, Dodgem topped the sire standings for three years in a row from 2009 through 2011. He still remains in the top 50 sires in 2017 and has sired more than 12,000 offspring including stake winners and All Americans such as Ten For Tee, CT Buck Wild, Hi
Noon Renegade, WW's Dog Gone, Aerial Battle, PG Tiger, Yahoo Radar, BD's Grayson and Optimus Prime.
A well deserving group for sure. Be sure to attend the ceremonies on
October 12 and welcome these four greats to the
Hall of
Fame!
