John J. Fitzgerald
(1894-1963)

turf reporter

Died aged c. 69

John Joseph Fitz Gerald (March 7, 1893 – March 17, 1963) was a turf racing writer for the New York Morning Telegraph, from 1912 to 1940 (except for his service in World War I), 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 in New Jersey as well as the Tropical Park Race Track in Miami, Florida. 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" as a nickname for New York City.

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Commemorated on 1 plaque

John J. Fitzgerald 1894-1963 The turf reporter, who popularized “The Big Apple” as a name for N.Y.C. racetracks, lived here from 1934 to 1963. He first heard the term, equating “the big time” with N.Y.C. racing, in 1920 from African-American stable hands in New Orleans. A decade later, jazz musicians began using the name to identify N.Y.C. as the Capital of Jazz. By the 1970s, “The Big Apple” replaced “Fun City” as the international description of our city.

West 54th Street and Broadway, NY 10019, New York, NY, United States where they lived