Edward Franklin "Pop" Geers

 

A granite obelisk and a small park just off West 7th Street in Columbia, TN, on the side of Mt. Parnassus, the highest point in Maury County, were dedicated in 1926 to honor the memory of Tennessee's most famous harness racer, Edward "Pop" Geers. Funds for the memorial, the only one in existence to a racehorse driver, and the park were donated by Geers' many friends and fellow-horsemen throughout America and abroad. Because of the great interest in the project, contributions had to be restricted to no more than $1000 from horse-owners and no more than $1 from grooms.

The "Grand Old Man of the Turf," Pop Geers, with his extraordinary racer, Napoleon Direct, an ex-plow horse, was the first to drive a horse under a two-minute mile. In 1916, the pair set the record of 1:59 ¾ minutes, and Geers' accomplishment was immortalized.

Napoleon Direct was never expected to be a great racer. His sire was the famous Walter Direct, but his dam was only a walking saddle horse. Geers was successfully racing Hal Pointer for years, and Napoleon Direct, who was first used to plow fields, was not envisioned by his owners as a racer. In 1914 with Geers driving him, he scored 10 first places, and in 1915 he won all five starts. In 1916, he won 8 of 9 starts. In his career with Napoleon Direct, Geers established 23 firsts and 3 seconds in 28 starts.

Pop Geers, who through all his fame was a modest and shy man - the "Silent Man from Tennessee" - died on September 3, 1924. He was buried in Rose Hill Cemetery in Columbia, where his gravesite was in view of the white obelisk proclaiming his fame on the slopes of Mt. Parnassus.

Napoleon Direct outlived Geers by ten years, dying in 1934. When the famous old horse was laid to rest with honors on the Old Tolley Farm which became Haynes Haven (now part of the property of Saturn Corp.), the Maury County Courthouse bell tolled in his honor.

Source: Excerpted from the July 3, 1976 Bicentennial issue of The Daily Herald