Stephen G. Phillips
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
1887
Stephen G. Phillips | |
|---|---|
| Born | Stephen Gabriel Phillips 1887 Xenia, Ohio, U.S. |
| Died | September 26, 1973 (aged 85–86) Xenia, Ohio, U.S. |
| Resting place | Woodlawn Cemetery |
| Other names | Steve Phillips |
| Occupations |
|
| Employer | Roosevelt Raceway |
| Known for | Phillips' mobile starting gate |
| Relatives | Stephen C. Phillips (uncle) |
| Honors | United States Harness Racing Hall of Fame (1962) |
Stephen G. Phillips (1887 – September 26, 1973) was an American harness racing official and inventor who developed the mobile starting gate. He was inducted into the Harness Racing Museum & Hall of Fame in 1962.
Stephen Gabriel Phillips was born in 1887 in Xenia, Ohio, United States.[1] He was born into a family of noted horsemen.[2] He was a nephew of Stephen C. Phillips, a Hall of Fame harness race driver-trainer.[1]
Career
Phillips got his start in harness racing, serving as a race starter at a county fair in Xenia, Ohio.[3] He made it to the Grand Circuit in 1917.[4] He held the role of starting judge on the Grand Circuit for 26 years. The 1926 Hambletonian Stakes in Syracuse, New York featured Phillips as its starter.[1] He was the official starter at Roosevelt Raceway and Yonkers Raceway and had officiated at many of the sport's major harness races.[5] He worked on over 100 tracks throughout the United States.[1]
Mobile starting gate
Phillips revolutionized the sport of harness racing by introducing the first successful mobile starting gate.[5] After seeing camera equipment fastened to a truck to film trotters at Lexington, Kentucky, in 1931, the former driver-trainer spent several years working on a mobile unit.[6] He developed, in 1937, a moving automobile with a folding contraption mounted on the back that maintains horses side by side toward the starting line.[7] In July 1937, he demonstrated his first gate, built on a 1930 Ford chassis, at North Randall, Ohio, but Grand Circuit officials refused its use during races until further approval.[8]
After consulting George Morton Levy, Robert G. Johnson, and J. Alfred Valentine, controlling officials at Roosevelt Raceway, Phillips gained authorization to build an improved starting gate.[9] Following his move to New York in 1940, he refined his invention at the Liberty Aircraft Corporation, devising a folding arm to close the 70-foot wings once the race began.[10] It was built at a cost of $53,000 at the Long Island plant.[6] His improved mobile starting gate first appeared at Roosevelt Raceway in Long Island, New York, in May 1946.[2] The elimination of false starts made it an instant success.[6] His U.S. patent application was filed on July 18, 1946. He was granted the patent on the Phillips' starting gate on February 14, 1950.[11] Within three years of its introduction, his invention was adopted by most major harness tracks in the United States.[12] Its use extended to Yonkers Raceway for the Hambletonian, to Reading, Pennsylvania, for the Reading Fair Futurity, and to The Red Mile for the Kentucky Futurity.[9] In an interview with Arthur Daley of The New York Times, he said he got the idea from watching a film crew record a race.[5]
In 1959, it was ruled that Phillips, as a starter employed by a track, could not hold a financial interest in Roosevelt Raceway, Inc.[7] He ended his 50-year career as a starter in 1960.[10] His final appearance at Roosevelt Raceway was on September 28, 1960.[13] Before his retirement, Phillips started an average of 1,900 races during a season.[1] After he retired, his son Charles "Chuck" Phillips took over operating the starting gate at Roosevelt Raceway.[3]