The Cincinnati Enquirer
and The Associated Press

INDEPENDENCE - Kevin Goemmer, a Louisville native who became one of Northern Kentucky's best-known horse-racing callers, has died of an apparent heart attack. He was 48.

Mr. Goemmer was driving to his home in Independence on Tuesday evening when his vehicle crashed in Hamilton County. He had left work at Charlson Broadcast Technologies, where he was director of sales and marketing.

Mr. Goemmer started working as an announcer in 1980 at Cincinnati's River Downs. He also served as director of publicity and assistant general manager there until 1995, when he left to call races at Arlington Park, Hawthorne and Sportsman's Park, all in Chicago.

Mr. Goemmer returned to Cincinnati in 2000 to take the position at Charlson, which provides graphics for in-house and simulcast products at racetracks. He continued to fill in as an announcer, however, including at Turfway Park.

"He'll always be remembered for some of his patented calls," said River Downs publicity director John Engelhardt, a long-time friend of Mr. Goemmer's.

"(He'd say) a plodder would 'see 'em all.' A pacesetter was always 'showing his heels' to the field," Engelhardt recalled.

At River Downs, Mr. Goemmer created The Stretch Run, a half-hour television show on thoroughbred racing that aired on WCPO for eight years. Mr. Goemmer produced and co-hosted the show with Engelhardt, then his assistant.

He founded the track's "Turf Club" that now has more than 3,500 members.

Mr. Goemmer got his start with horse racing when his father worked at the old Louisville Downs harness track. Mr. Goemmer worked part-time job as a stablehand at age 13, when he met WAKY disc jockey and horse owner Dude Walker. That led to odd jobs at the station and sparked his interest in announcing.

His first radio broadcast came while filling in for Louisville Downs announcer Mel Smith, who became ill.

"They threw me upstairs to sink or swim," Mr. Goemmer recalled in a 1995 interview. "That's how I got started announcing. ... I said, 'Boy, this is great. I want to do this for a living.' "

Earlier in the week, Mr. Goemmer had filled in for Mike Battaglia, the track announcer at Turfway Park. "He still loved calling races, and he always did a great job," Battaglia said.

Battaglia said anyone who was a regular at the track knew Mr. Goemmer, "and it wasn't just down here - it was at Churchill (Downs)."

"Kevin was always smiling, always happy," Battaglia said.

Surviving are his wife, Debbie Holderfield Goemmer; two sons, Justin and Jason, both of Independence; a brother, Darrell of San Antonio; a sister, Drenda Bryant of Hebron; and one grandchild.

Visitation will be from 4-8 p.m. Monday, and the service will be at 1 p.m. Tuesday at Allison & Rose Funeral Home, 5645 Taylor Mill Road, Taylor Mill. Burial will be in Independence Cemetery.