by Jerry Connors, for the PA Harness Racing Commission

Harrisburg, PA — Ralph P. Jones, Jr., 87, a proud son of Delaware County, Ohio, and longtime racing official, primarily at his beloved county fairs, died May 15, 2013.

Mr. Jones had been ill for some time, and this past Monday asked to be allowed to go to his home in the Harrisburg suburb of Mechanicsburg, where he found his final rest with his beloved wife Ginger and other family members present.

USTA photo

Ralph Jones

Mr. Jones combined quality and quantity in a way few officials, or any harness personages, ever have. In 2012 he marked his 75th trip to the Delaware, Ohio Fair — starting eight years before the first Little Brown Jug — and last fall he attended the “hometown” Standardbred Horse Sales auction for the 51st consecutive year.

In 1962 Mr. Jones moved to Pennsylvania to work for Harness Horse magazine, and he cast a long, powerful shadow over Keystone State racing for the next half century. In addition to his well-known roles as a no-nonsense but fair official at the fairs, Mr. Jones also worked for the Pennsylvania Harness Racing Commission, rising to the level of Deputy Executive Secretary.

The number of people who had been touched positively by Mr. Jones and his “1A,” Ginger, is legendary, and at no recent public appearance did any personage have a larger group of greeters and well-wishers around him than did Mr. Jones.

Though the ravages of age attacked parts of his body in the last few years, to harness racing’s eternal benefit his mind was left intact, and stories, with great detail, from the last three-quarters of a century would flow from Mr. Jones effortlessly with little prompting. He had seen them all — man and horse; great, near-great, and maybe not-so-great — and few could be mentioned without drawing a pertinent recollection from Mr. Jones, who certainly was not shy about adding his own commentary and opinion, frequently pithy and, when deserved, not exactly complimentary. He could make people “see” the stories he was spinning — not a bad feat for a man who had been stricken with blindness in the last years of his life.

Fortunately, last year Mr. Jones sat down with Kim Rinker, the U.S. Harness Writers Association’s Member of the Year in 2012, and they put together a small book of Mr. Jones’ recollections and observations called Buckeye Side Wheelers and Keystone Tail Sitters: Reflections of Harness Racing’s Glory Days. Though only 64 pages in length, the book missed few of the major players of the modern era of harness racing, and focused a spotlight on a few deserving ones to whom time may not have been very kind.

Mr. Jones, more than anyone, would have appreciated the final irony of the 2013 Pennsylvania Harness Racing Fair Guide arriving at the Harness Commission — as these final celebratory words about his life were being written.

More details on viewing and funeral information for Ralph Jones will be distributed as they become known.