John McEvoy, former Midwest editor of Daily Racing Form and author of a series of horse racing mysteries, died Monday in Evanston Hospital near his home in Evanston, Ill. He was 83. McEvoy covered Chicago’s Thoroughbred racing industry for years before becoming editor of the Midwest edition in 1979. In addition to producing a daily edition and coordinating coverage of the Midwest tracks for DRF, McEvoy mentored several younger editors and writers who went on to careers in horse racing. In 1994, the Chicago DRF office was closed, and McEvoy became a senior correspondent based in Chicago, writing feature stories and profiling jockeys, trainers, and executives. Neil Milbert, former longtime Chicago Tribune horse racing correspondent, was a friend of McEvoy’s for 50 years. He recalled earlier this week how McEvoy’s knowledge of racing and talent for writing lifted his stories above the mundane. “John was a student of racing,” Milbert said. “Although most of his career at the Form was spent as an editor, he was an excellent writer. For a few years, he covered the Illinois Racing Board, as I did, and I always was very impressed with his work. During those early years he also would go to Ak-Sar-Ben in Omaha for a week every summer and write news and feature stories on the meeting there. Every day I looked forward to reading those stories.” McEvoy left DRF in the late 1990s and reinvented himself as a novelist with his series of Jack Doyle mysteries. Doyle, a former boxer and advertising representative, finds a home on the racetrack, where through seven books he takes on the bad guys and romances the ladies. The mysteries are filled with racetrack detail and atmosphere – as well as characters named for his friends. "John's great versatility showed when he began writing novels with racing storylines," Milbert said. "His creativity was remarkable." McEvoy enjoyed talking about the history of the turf, and if you ever cared to discuss the merits of Graustark vs. Buckpasser with him, you would find out very quickly he was a Graustark man. But his interest in what happened yesterday at the track was eclipsed by his interest in what was going to happen in the seventh race tomorrow. McEvoy loved to handicap and bet. He was a small-time bettor, but would spend hours looking over past performances before heading out to Arlington Park for a day of wagering. Cashing a bet was fine – the profits paid for a round of beers – but, really, McEvoy’s satisfaction came from solving the puzzle. McEvoy was a published poet, but he didn’t take that talent too seriously. His poem “The Horse Player’s Prayer” begins, “Dear God, and you, too, Moses/don’t let me get beat so many noses.” After beating esophageal cancer in 2007, he wrote “Poem for Radiology Ladies.” McEvoy was born in 1936 in Kenosha, Wisc. He is survived by his wife of 59 years, Judy; their three children, Michael, Sarah, and Julia; 10 grandchildren; and sisters Bernadette (Tuz) Healy, and Mary McEvoy of Dublin, Ireland. A funeral service will be held on June 29 at 10 a.m. at St. Mary's Church in Evanston.