VALE – GRAHAM McNEICE

HARNESS racing and the racing industry lost one of its true gentlemen with the sad passing of Graham McNeice ‘Shadow’ yesterday.

Graham McNeice was 76 years old.

An icon of Australian sports broadcasting, Graham was an acclaimed documentary producer.

Growing up in Croydon Park, he started out as a greyhound caller as a 17-year-old alongside his family friend and mentor, Frank Kennedy.

A radio followed with various gigs at 2KA and 2UE.

Graham later joined Channel 10 as a sports producer and anchor, covering the 1984 Olympic Games, before becoming the founding executive producer and head anchor at Sky Channel (originally Club Superstation) and its face for more than two decades.

It was his passion for documentaries and history that led him to producing documentaries on sport, racing, entertainment and crime for the past 25 years.

His series “Crime Investigation Australia” on Foxtel was his passion as well as work for the Nine and Seven networks with his close friend, the late Brian Walsh.

For harness racing, he produced the award-winning documentary “The Ribbon of Light” in 2011 for the NSW Harness Racing Club (Club Menangle), depicting the proud history of racing at Harold Park after the track closed in December, 2010.

In recent years, Graham converted more than 40 hours of harness races to digital from the old Brian Howard films from the Harold Park days with scores of old feature races and interviews.

These are now stored in the Club Menangle heritage archives.

He was a man dedicated for the bettering of his beloved racing industry.

Many tributes have been posted overnight but Sydney entrepreneur John Singleton summed up ‘Shadow’:

“He was a special man. It’s a sad day, we have lost a beautiful soul.”

Graham McNeice’s funeral details are:

Thursday, September 26, 2024

10:30am at Our Lady of the Rosary Church, 4 Roma Avenue, Kensington.

Club Menangle chairman Robert Marshall, directors and staff as well as all at National Trotguide offer our condolences to Graham’s family, his sister Deidre and nephew Rudi and his many friends at this sad time.

• PETER COLLIER