Deshler, OH – Ivan Sugg, 83, passed away at his home in Deshler, Ohio, on June 9, 2026.
Sugg had a storied career in harness racing as a trainer-driver. The McComb, Ohio native grew up in the business that has seen him condition the winners of $9,797,075, from 3,192 starters (528 wins/435 seconds/377 thirds). In his seven-decade career, Sugg drove more than 300 winners to $542,570 in earnings.
Sugg followed in the footsteps of his father Ralph & told one reporter that: “My father had horses since about 1950, and when I was a kid I’d help him after school and during vacations. I thought about going on to engineering school after high school, but I was on the road with the horses and never quite got home and went back to school. I was training while I was in high school, but I went on my own in about 1970.”
Since the USTA first began keeping records in 1991, Sugg amassed 15 seasons where his charges earned $230,000 or greater annually. His two best years as a trainer were in 1999 ($1,298,787) and 2003 ($1,753,030). He also had other years when his horses earned half a million dollars or more (1993, 1994, 1996, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2004).
Over the years, he successfully drove and trained throughout the Midwest as well as on the Grand Circuit and in California, when he first worked with Doug Ackerman just out of high school. He found success early with the cantankerous filly Glad Rags, who was one of the few horses to beat the mighty Meadow Skipper twice.
Sugg is the last trainer (and 10th all time) to have a Pacing Triple Crown winner in No Pan Intended p, 3, 1:50.3 ($1,581,735), who accomplished the feat in 2003. After earning $115,883 for Sugg and Bob Glazer’s Peter Pan Stables of Pepper Pike, Ohio, at age 2, the son of Pacific Fella and grandson of Cam Fella went on to win 17 of 21 starts at 3 and was named Dan Patch Horse of the Year. No Pan Intended recorded his career mark in the $542,500 Breeder Crown Sophomore Pace at The Meadowlands, after winning the $331,000 Cane Pace at Freehold, the $326,727 Little Brown Jug, and the $252,945 Messenger.
No Pan Intended’s Little Brown Jug triumph made the horse the first since Best of All in 1967 to be driven (David Miller—his first Jug win), trained (Sugg), and owned (Glazer) by Ohioans. As a result, Sugg, then 61, was named 2003 Trainer of the Year by the USHWA. More recently, No Pan Intended was voted into the National Harness Racing Hall of Fame & Museum and will be inducted in 2027.
Other top Sugg trainees include A Votre Pante p, 3, 1:51.3 ($448,984); Ameripan Gigolo p, 4, 1:50s ($429,911); Armbro Lantern, T, 1:59.1f ($297,326); Call Toll Free T, 3, 1:55.3 ($266,251); French Embassy p, 2, 1:55.4Q ($223,878); Pan Hanover, p, 3, 1:53.4 ($213,567); The Icepan Cometh T, 2, 1:59f ($167,539; and Instant Impact T, 3, 1:56 ($110,690), among others.
As the patriarch of the Sugg family, his sons Steve, Kurt, and Duke all found success in the sulky. Sugg was inducted into the Ohio Harness Racing Hall of Fame in 2006. He is survived by his wife Patty, sons Duke (Lisa) and Kurt (Becky), and numerous grandchildren. His son Steve passed away in 1995 from Hodgkin’s disease.
Visitation will be from 2-8 p.m. on Sunday (June 14) at Feehan-Rodenberger Funeral Home in Deshler, Ohio.
Funeral services will be held at 11 a.m. on Tuesday (June 16) at the Feehan-Rodenberger Funeral Home in Deshler, Ohio, with the Rev. Gene Sugg officiating. Burial will be at Woodlawn Cemetery in Deshler, Ohio.
Memorial contributions are suggested to Immanuel Lutheran Church Sanctuary Project.