In the days when harness horse racing was a major sport, George Loomis was known as the top trainer and racer in the Midwest.
He trained and drove winners for more than six decades. One of his biggest victories was in 1926 with Hollyrood Walter in the $25,000 Kalamazoo Pacing Derby, called the Kentucky Derby of the harness racing world. About a month later, Loomis drove Hollyrood Walter to a victory in a $5,000 race in Goshen, N.Y.
In 1943, at the age of 81, he won three races and had a second-place finish at the Minnesota State Fair. Loomis' performance highlighted the program at the 1943 State Fair, which the Minneapolis Star called "the best program the Hamline track has had in many years."
In July of 1947, Loomis died while driving his sulky in a feature race at the Portland Meadows race track in Portland, Ore. He was 85.
A week before his death, one of the horses that he trained set a Portland Meadows track record for five furlongs (1 minute, 16.4 seconds). At the time of his death, he was the oldest driver in harness racing competition and had been driving a sulky for 65 years.
Loomis, a native of Princeton, Wisconsin, was praised for his ability to get maximum performance from his horses.
GEORGE LOOMIS
Class: 1963.
Sport: Harness racing.
