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.