Edward Franklin Geers was born on January 25, 1851 in Lebanon, Tennessee. He was the son of a farmer and shopkeeper.

A young Geers was given a pair of cows to oversee and taught them to line drive and eventually traded those cows for a two-year-old colt trotter. Thus began one of the greatest driving careers in the fledgling sport of harness racing.

Geers’ first notable success came with an imported Morgan chestnut stallion, about 14.5 hands high, called Little Dave. [More...]

The one-word epitaph for James K. Hackett would be ‘unpretentious.’

Long recognized in harness racing as a keen judge of yearlings, a fine trainer and a journeyman driver, “Rocky” - as he was known to his friends on the Grand Circuit - was perhaps, modest, to a fault.

From a respected family where harness horse are a way of like, Jim took his victories and losses in stride. The son of a Madison County farmer, Hackett compiled a brilliant, decoration-filled World War II record, but was quick to hide his ribbons, medals and citations and returned to the sales ring, the training barn and the sulky.

Having apprenticed under William ‘Doc’ McMillen, Jim resumed operation of his public stable in 1946 and furthered his education under one of the sport’s greatest teachers, his father-in-law, Wayne ‘Curly’ Smart.

Hackett’s highlight of his driving/training career was a straight heat win in the 1967 Little Brown Jug with Sam Huttenbauer’s colt, Best Of All. [More...]