John Joseph Fitz Gerald (March 7, 1893 – March 17, 1963) was a turf racing writer for the ''

New York Morning Telegraph ''The Morning Telegraph'' (1839 – April 10, 1972) (sometimes referred to as the ''New York Morning Telegraph'') was a New York City broadsheet newspaper owned by Moe Annenberg's Cecelia Corporation. It was first published as the ''Sunday Me ...

'', from 1912 to 1940 (except for his service in

World War I World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...

), serving as turf editor for the last 15 years. He was later the public relations director at various times for Garden State Racetrack and

Atlantic City Race Course The Atlantic City Race Course (ACRC), formerly the Atlantic City Race Track, was a Thoroughbred horse race track located in the Mays Landing section of Hamilton Township, in Atlantic County, New Jersey, United States. The track is located off ...

New Jersey New Jersey is a U.S. state, state located in both the Mid-Atlantic States, Mid-Atlantic and Northeastern United States, Northeastern regions of the United States. Located at the geographic hub of the urban area, heavily urbanized Northeas ...

as well as the

Tropical Park Race Track Tropical Park Race Track was a horse racing facility built on at the current intersection of Bird Road and the Palmetto Expressway in Southwest Dade Miami part of metropolitan Miami, Florida and what is now Olympia Heights. The race track w ...

Miami, Florida Miami is a East Coast of the United States, coastal city in the U.S. state of Florida and the county seat of Miami-Dade County, Florida, Miami-Dade County in South Florida. It is the core of the Miami metropolitan area, which, with a populat ...

. Fitz Gerald was the sports editor of the ''Daily Sports Bulletin'', a sports daily, in his later years. His last name was sometimes spelled ''FitzGerald'' by others, but ''Fitz Gerald'' was the spelling used in his ''Morning Telegraph'' column. He is best known today for popularizing "

Big Apple "The Big Apple" is a nickname for New York City. It was first popularized in the 1920s by John J. Fitz Gerald, a sportswriter for the '' New York Morning Telegraph''. Its popularity since the 1970s is due in part to a promotional campaign by t ...

" as a nickname for New York City.

References

External links

J. J. Fitz Gerald obituaries (1963)
1893 births 1963 deaths American military personnel of World War I Sportswriters from New York (state) American newspaper editors Horse racing in the United States {{US-horseracing-bio-stub