USTA Presidents Awards

Lon Frocione, Phil Terry and the Coon family, two individuals and a family that have provided decades of exemplary service to harness racing will be recognized with Presidents Awards at the annual U.S. Trotting Association meeting on March 18 in Columbus, Ohio. The awards will be presented by Phil Langley, president of the USTA.

Charles E. Coon, of White Lake, Mich. and his sons Dan and Greg, are plying the family trades of racetrack design and maintenance as well as officiating races as starting judges. Charles Coon's father, Charles J., was a director of the USTA in the '50s and '60s and started grading roads with a horse drawn team, interspersed with a career in law enforcement, racetrack maintenance, training and driving horses throughout the Michigan fairs.

The family has built or repaired Standardbred and Thoroughbred tracks all over the United States, Canada, Australia and South America. Charles Coon started his career maintaining and serving as a starting judge at tracks throughout New York, Michigan and the Midwest. Dan and Greg serve similar duties for the Delaware (Ohio) County Fair during Little Brown Jug Week and the Red Mile fall meet.

Frocione, 75, is the owner of Deli-Boy Inc., a food service distributor, and Food for Thought in suburban Syracuse, N.Y. His involvement in harness racing spans five decades as an owner, amateur driver and executive.

He is a past director of the U.S. Trotting Association and served 35 years as president of the Harness Horse Association of Central New York. He also has been involved with Harness Horsemen International, the Morrisville College Foundation Board and the Syracuse Mile Advisory Board.

One of his top thrills as an owner was winning the 2001 Woodrow Wilson with Sportsmaster. He also once owned a horse, Palmer Hanover, in partnership with golf legend Arnold Palmer.

Frocione is a charter member of the C.K.G. Billings Amateur Driving Series and has represented the United States in the World Cup of Amateur Driving. He has 187 wins in his career and is an instructor at the annual USTA Driving School.

Terry, 57, went from directing traffic at the Little Brown Jug while in college to becoming its marketing director three decades later. He attended Ohio Wesleyan University in Delaware, Ohio, home of the Little Brown Jug.

He worked for the Delaware Police Department from 1974-87, being promoted to sergeant in 1978, and was clerk of the municipal court from 1987-89. He was hired by the Delaware County Fair to work on safety and security. He later started the simulcast program of the fair’s races and was hired as marketing director in 1998.

Major projects under Terry’s direction included simulcast expansion, the creation of the Jug Future Pool, and working with LaVerne Hill on construction of the Jugette Barn constructed.

Terry, who married Katie McNamara in 1975, also helped his father-in-law, Harold McNamara, with his stables of horses that raced under the Sea-Mac Farm banner. (HRC)

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