Delaware, OH — Hall of Fame publicist Tom White and former Ohio Harness Horseman’s Association general manager Jerry Knappenberger will be honored as the 2019 Joseph Neville Memorial Award recipients by the Delaware County Fair.

Tom White (left) and Jerry Knappenberger will be posthumously honored with the Joseph Neville Memorial Award at this year’s Delaware (Ohio) County Fair. Jay Wolf photo.

White was a harness racing reporter for the Lexington (Ky.) Herald, Hoof Beats magazine and the Horseman and Fair World. He served as the publicity director for Scioto Downs and the Red Mile and was the Little Brown Jug’s top public relations man from 1996 until 2012.

In 2005, White was inducted into the Communicators Hall of Fame in Goshen, N.Y.

White passed away in February at the age of 84.

Knappenberger began his 50-year harness racing career as a second trainer for Terry Holton. He was hired as the assistant general manager of the OHHA in 1990 and was general manager from 1998 until 2015.

Knappenberger worked tirelessly for the introduction of video lottery terminals in the state of Ohio. The VLTs allowed the Standardbred industry in Ohio to return to its place of prominence with increased purses.

In 2015, he was elected into the Ohio Harness Racing Hall of Fame by a vote of the Ohio Chapter of the U.S. Harness Writers Association.

Knappenberger died at the age of 76 in June 2019.