Jeff Hall, Ellis Park's popular director of racing operations who began his career of more than 50 years at the track by parking cars as a teenager, passed away June 4 at the University of Louisville Health-Jewish Hospital. He was 75.
A lifelong resident of Henderson, Hall was known for his strong local connections in the Tri-State region, his deep love of horse racing and his knowledge of how the different components of a track worked and were interrelated.
"When we lost Jeff Hall, we lost on both sides of the river," said Ellis Park-based trainer John Hancock. "Jeff Hall was a horsemen's track manager. His door was open at all times. He would listen at all times, and he would do his best to get done what needed to get done. He always had a smile. He was always there when we needed him."
"I started nearly every day at Ellis by getting myself a cup of coffee and spending my first 10-20 minutes with Jeff," said Ellis Entertainment general manager Jeff Inman. "Just because his optimism and energy gave me a boost to start the day off. He loved this place and he loved the sport; but most of all, he loved the people here. I appreciated his knowledge, but it is his friendship that will always stay with me."
Hall loved to handicap the races and relished driving his golf cart around the backstretch and interacting with trainers. His preferred attire was jeans, boots, a ball cap, and a t-shirt or golf shirt (particularly of the UK persuasion). If the occasion demanded, he'd put on a dress shirt and sometimes even a sport coat.
Hall's wardrobe reflected his down-home personality which was among the reasons he was so popular among those with whom he worked.
"Jeff was Ellis Park's rudder for racing and an institution," said Marty Maline, executive director of the Kentucky Horsemen's Benevolent and Protective Association. "He knew everybody, knew how everything needed to work. He also viewed the horsemen and the Kentucky HBPA as partners, with everyone having the goal of putting on the best racing possible at Ellis Park. Jeff got such a thrill every time an Ellis Park-raced horse went on to win a big stakes. He took so much pride that Knicks Go and Shedaresthedevil trained there last summer."
Marc Guilfoil, executive director of the Kentucky Horse Racing Commission, said they first met when he was working for the commission and Hall was mutuels manager at the long-since shuttered Riverside Downs harness track in Henderson in the mid-1980s.
"Personally and professionally, there wasn't a better person out there," Guilfoil said. "Above everything else, he was a good friend. He truly cared. He cared about horsemen and he cared about the community. You know at each race track the person you can call to get things done, and Jeff was our guy. He was our guy at Ellis Park and for a long time he's been that guy. Jeff got things done, or he'd tell you that it can't be done. A lie was not in him. It might not be what you wanted to hear but he would tell you 100 percent the truth: I can do that or I can't do that."
Hall graduated from Henderson (City) High School and Western Kentucky University. He worked for years at Black Equipment selling heavy equipment and at one stage worked in the oil business. Through most of that time, Hall also worked summers at Ellis Park, starting out as a mutuel clerk and advancing to full-time work as mutuels director to general manager to concentrating on the racing component as director of racing operations.
The Kentucky Equine Education Project, Kentucky's equine economic advocate, released a statement following Hall's death, saying the organization was "saddened to hear of the passing of Jeff Hall. We mourn the loss of our board member and steadfast supporter of KEEP's mission and the work of The Race For Education. His efforts were tireless. Jeff was a true friend to everyone in the horse industry and he will be deeply missed. KEEP extends our heartfelt condolences and sympathies to Jeff's family and friends."
Hall's career in racing spanned six ownership groups at Ellis Park, dating back to when Lester Yeager ran the track for the heirs of James C. Ellis.
"Jeff knew everything about the track: where the wiring was, the pipes," said Henderson businessman Bill Latta, a horse owner and friend who was two years behind Hall in school. "He'd been there long enough that he knew a lot about the total facility and, for lack of a better term, the politics of the horse business and any idiosyncrasies of them. That's a lot of institutional knowledge that is lost now."
He leaves behind his wife of 38 years, Raini Smith Hall; two daughters, Kristie Hall Watson, and Ashley Harper Smith; brother Tim Hall; and granddaughters Charlie Watson and Margot Watson.
A celebration of life will be held from noon until 2 p.m. CT Saturday, June 11, at Rudy-Rowland Funeral Home, 604 Center Street, Henderson, Ky., 42420.
"To call him a dear friend doesn't do justice," said Ellis Park racing secretary Dan Bork. "He was a pleasure to work with and just to be around. He will be missed. He meant so much to the racetrack and the community."
