Ex-WSU Announcer Dies
Mark Kaufman, 47, director of special projects for Emerald Racing Association, died in Louisville, Ky., of cardiac arrest.
Kaufman, who died Tuesday evening, had been in Louisville for Saturday’s running of the Kentucky Derby.
A Seattle native, Kaufman began working at Longacres racetrack in 1964 as a teenager. After graduating from Washington State University, he was the play-by-play announcer for WSU football and basketball.
Kaufman served as Longacres’ publicity director from 1977 to 1990, when the track closed and the land was sold to The Boeing Co. With Emerald Racing, he coordinated simulcast races at the current Yakima Meadows meeting and worked with Northwest Racing Associates on planning for the new Auburn racetrack.