Odds On Racing - Harness Racing

Odds on Personality of the Month:
November 2004

Meadowlands Announcer
Sam McKee
Sam McKee has spent a lifetime
preparing for his role behind
The Meadowlands microphone

Announcer Sam McKee first appeared in The Big M's announcing booth in 1998. Along with his wife, Christine, he's the proud parent of three girls, Meagan, 13, and twins Lindsey and Melissa, 12.

As a youngster Sam played with toy horses and worked at calling races over an immaginary racetrakc that featured such Standardbred standouts as Nero and Rum Customer. He grew up on the family's 32-acre Linden, Michigan farm, fascinated by harenss racing and the people involved in it. His favorites included Hall of Famers Billy Haughton, Stanley Dancer, Joe O’Brien and Delvin Miller.

Sam McKee

"From the time I was 4 or 5 years old, I was fascinated by announcers," McKee said in a 2001 Hoof Beats interview. "When I was 10 I went on a big letter-writing kick, and it blew me away to get something back from a star horseman. I had a very nice handwritten note from Billy Haughton that said something like, ‘In this age of jets and machinery, it’s nice to see young people interested in harness racing.’ Stanley Dancer was very nice, and sent me pictures of Albatross and Super Bowl."

At age 12 Sam began training and joggin horses over the family's half-mile oval. He went on to nab his "P" license at age 18 and that year won two of 38 starts.

"Probably I’m a frustrated driver. Maybe someday I’d like to take the time to race a stable at a place like Pocono Downs. I still have the bug, but my career is moving kind of fast right now, so it would have to be in the future," he said.

McKee began callling races at The Meadowlands through the efforts of The Big M's television production supervisor Mike Sheehan and former race caller and HTA executive director Stan Bergstein.

"We were looking for an announcer to go with Ken Warkentin, who does a lot of TV work as well as announcing," said Chris McErlean, the track’s vice president and general manager of racing. "After Stan had highly recommended Sam, Mike called him. Sam left a very favorable impression from [his first] stay here. When the opportunity came up for a full-time position, he was our first choice. He had worked at tracks in Michigan in management roles. He’s well-versed; he’s worked in publicity, and he’s a pro. He has a good TV presence.

"We had been looking for someone who can do multiple things, with announcing the primary function. Between Sam, Ken, Bob Heyden and Dave Brower, we have a team that gives us announcing, TV ability, morning lines for the races, handicapping analysis for the program, and they can handle any of our many special projects. The combination of the on-air and in-house talent, and Mike Sheehan’s production, makes for a strong combination.

"Also, McKee is just a nice guy with a nice family, and he’s really into racing and knows his stuff. He’s not a prima donna. He’s willing to do whatever is needed to get the job done."

Truth is, while McKee first came to The Meadowlands as a fill-in announcer, he actually could perform fill-in duties in any administrative department. During his employment at Raceway Park in Toledo, Ohio, from 1983 to 1988, he called races, served as director of group sales, and was involved in television and publicity efforts. He also handled group sales and put out a scratch sheet.

McKee eventually became a valued employee at Ladbroke-DRC, working as director of simulcasting and video operations, and served as director of operations at Northville Downs in Michigan. Other tracks on which McKee has left his mark are Sports Creek and Saginaw, as well as numerous fairs.

It was Roger Huston—the veteran voice of Ladbroke at The Meadows and the Little Brown Jug, and another former McKee pen-pal—who helped McKee land his first job calling fair races.

At the 1976 Clinton County (Ohio) Fair, Dennis Nolan, supervisor of officials for the USTA, was scheduled to call the races for the Tuesday-Thursday meet. Nolan, however, was not awash in spare time because of his other responsibilities, and Huston told the fair’s speed superintendent, Bobby Williams, that he should give a 14-year-old boy the chance to call the races.

"I said he’d have to pay Sam $50 a night plus expenses,’" Huston recalled. "He said, ‘I’m not paying a 14-year-old kid $150.’ "I said, ‘Yes you will. He’s good, and you’ll get the money back through the publicity of having him there.’"

Williams hired McKee for the meet and paid him the $150. A career was launched.

The day after McKee graduated from Lake Fenton High School, he became the track announcer at Saginaw Valley Downs in Michigan, holding that post from 1980 to 1982.

"Sam and I have been very close," said Huston. "My guess is that it was 1974 when I first met him. He had written to me, we went back and forth, then he finally had the guts to introduce himself and talk to me. I talked to him for 10 minutes that first time. He would go to Hazel Park and other places, and sit in the stands with a tape recorder and call races and send me the tapes. I’d respond and he would write me right back. I’d get something from him in the mail maybe a day after I sent him a note.

"When I left Pompano [in 1976] for The Meadows, that was practically next door to him. We talked about him coming over and calling some qualifiers. I’m probably stretching it by saying he hitch-hiked from Michigan to here, but he showed up on a Thursday afternoon and announced qualifiers the next day. The kid was good."

Actually, McKee made it to Washing-ton, Pa., when one of his father’s accounting clients was traveling through the area and gave him a ride.

"I was supposed to be going to The Meadows for a couple of days, and it turned into a week. What a memorable experience that was," said McKee, who went home via a Greyhound bus.

When Sam worked the Clinton County Fair, he and his mother stayed at Huston’s mother-in-law’s house in Wil-mington, Ohio.

"He wanted to be an announcer, and he had talent for it, and I did everything and anything to help him get that first job," Huston said. "There’s no question Sam is the number-one race caller in America today. I never tried to change Sam. You’ve got to be yourself. You can’t copy Tom Durkin or Larry Lederman."

McKee admitted there have been periods in his career where he’s tried to borrow from the styles of race-callers he admires, such as Huston.

"I used to sound like a Roger clone," he said. "His style was very popular, particularly in the Midwest, and he remains popular. He’s almost become the fabric of the Little Brown Jug and makes those five days every year memorable. "I do my own thing now. I think Tom Durkin revolutionized race-calling with his descriptiveness. Trevor Denman is also great that way. I find Larry Leder-man to be very entertaining; when I first heard him I was taken aback by it, thinking it was mockery, but it’s not. I find myself laughing at some of the things he says. I’m a fan of Ken Warkentin and his style.

"I have to say the event that helped my announcing the most was calling Thoroughbred races. There’s no room for sing-song. Compared to half-mile track harness racing, there are bigger fields in Thoroughbreds, the horses run closer together, and you might only get a quick glimpse of a jockey’s silks during the race."

McKee admitted that coming to The Meadowlands for a short-term assignment in 1998 was a no-brain decision, but accepting a permanent job in New Jersey last year, in the wake of Bothe and The Meadowlands’ split over a disagreement on job responsibilities, looked like a case of impending culture shock for his family.

"It’s funny, because in the past we always talked about where we’d never move the family, and whenever I thought of New Jersey I thought of oil refineries," said Christine McKee, who married Sam in 1988. "When Sam told me he had The Meadowlands job offer, we were wondering where we were going to live. Being from Michigan, the thought of moving away from there is the last thing you want to do."

The McKees found their slice of Michigan in the pleasant Warren County city of Blairstown, about 60 miles west of The Meadowlands and six miles from the Delaware Water Gap. They have 3.2 acres with a four-stall barn and a couple of paddocks.

Their three daughters often make a path right from the afternoon school bus to the barn to ride their horses. Christine McKee, who as a teenager was a 4-H state champion in Michigan in Quarter Horse showing, might as well do an advertisement for the New Jersey tourism bureau.

"It’s beautiful. It has mountains. The area is so nice and the people are so nice," she said.

Christine McKee remains employed by a large Michigan health provider via telecommuting.

A systems analyst specializing in creating data warehouses, Christine is required by her employer to travel back to Michigan for meetings three times in every six-month period.

"Chris is the one who has put up with my crazy work hours and the relocation," Sam said of his wife, whom he met in 1981. "She’s got used to an unconventional work schedule I have had over the years. She’s a really strong person. And you know, if she didn’t want to come out to New Jersey, we wouldn’t have. She’s the one who made it work."

Luckily for the Meadowlands, Sam and Chris McKee made a good call. (Much of this article has been reprinted with permission by Hoof Beats from a 2001 article by Bob Jordon)