HARRISBURG PA – William (Bill) O’Donnell, who had one of the greatest careers any racing driver has ever had and has remained a major influence since his retirement from the Sulky as president of the Central Ontario Standardbred Alliance (COSA), has been chosen to receive the highest award given exclusively by members of the United States Harness Writers Association (USHWA), the Stan Bergstein – Proximity Award.
The trotter Proximity retired as the richest Standardbred ever, a few years before an award was named in her honor in 1952. Bergstein, the only “double Hall of Famer” and himself a Proximity winner in 1976, had his name added to the grand prize after his death in 2011.
Bill O’Donnell, like a disproportionate number of immortals, hails from Maritime Canada and worked his way up to Foxboro and Saratoga. He then set his sights on the sport’s flagship circuit, The Meadowlands, and Bill and John Campbell quickly became synonymous with excellence in Jersey and on the Grand Circuit, just as an earlier pair of ‘Golddust Twins’ – Stanley Dancer and Billy Haughton – shone in their day.
It was Haughton, then a top driver, who delivered one of the sport’s defining moments when, in the 1984 Woodrow Wilson Pace, he piloted the mighty Nihilator in favor of catch driver O’Donnell, who competed every night and in top form. A year later, O’Donnell became the first driver ever to win $10 million in a single season, and regularly drove world champions such as Prakas, Napoletano, Valley Victory and Camtastic.
Tragically, O’Donnell and Haughton’s names would be linked for the final time, after Haughton died in a racing accident in 1986. O’Donnell and Campbell took it upon themselves to be among the leaders in a campaign to mandate more protective helmets, and the fruits of this venture were immediately realized and continue to this day.
O’Donnell moved back to his native Canada in 2001 and largely stopped driving and training; in the Grumpy Bill, he led 5,445 winners who took home $90,672,526 (the vast majority of which was earned between 1980 and 2000).
In 2009, he co-founded and was named president of the Central Ontario Standardbred Association, whose early job was negotiating an equestrian contract with the Woodbine Entertainment Group. COSA has a dozen representatives at Ontario racetracks; has rider benefits and charity programs; and runs a successful and sophisticated marketing and television organization, although the television business is now independently managed.
O’Donnell is a respected industry leader, a member of several prestigious boards of directors and with a strong understanding of the key issues in the sport. He is also one of the more eloquent speakers and storytellers; Few major figures have ever escaped a snappy, wry delivery of “Billy O.”
Bill O’Donnell will be recognized at the 2026 Dan Patch Awards Banquet presented by Caesars Entertainment, which will honor the best of the best in harness racing, both human and equine. The banquet will be held on Sunday, February 22, 2026 at the Rosen Shingle Creek Resort in Orlando, Florida. Sponsor information for the banquet can be obtained from Shawn Wiles at [email protected]; You can advertise in the souvenir journal via Kim Rinker [email protected]; tickets via Judy Davis-Wilson, [email protected]; for room reservations, click here hotellink. More information about the banquet and associated USHWA meetings that weekend will be available soon at www.usharnesswriters.com.
The United States Harness Writers Association is the leading group of communicators on the Standardbred horse field. USHWA conducts the official annual voting for the sport’s most prestigious honors: induction into the Hall of Fame and Communicators Hall of Fame, along with the selection of the Horse of the Year, Trotter and Pacer of the Year, and each season’s leading division horses. Each year, USHWA hosts the Dan Patch Awards Banquet, honoring the best and brightest performers in North American harness racing. This banquet is the association’s primary source of funding, and with generous financial support from the harness racing and breeding industries, USHWA is able to host the banquet in a world-class manner in a world-class facility.
From the Harness Writers Association of the United States
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