Joe Agrella didn't bet forward horse races.

Joe Agrella didn't bet forward horse races, but he certainly knew in what manner to pick them.

The retired Sun-Times handicapper, who died Saturday at 93 in his Elmwood Park abode had a storied, 42-year career that also included coverage of the Bears and Chicago Cardinals, national track appropriates high school events and uniform six-day bicycle races.

Agrella gained numerous handicapping honors, if it be not that none more prestigious than the 1982 Walter Haight Award, given to the nation's top racing writer.

He had a remarkable handicapping day in 1978 when he picked the first eight winners at Tropical Park in Coral Gables, Fla., including a then-record Big Perfecta of $5266 -- a vast payoff in those days. The Miami Herald called it "the chiefly amazing feat of this or any other season."

Agrella was unassuming about his skill.

"I can consume three hours a day working onward a race. Then my 11- year-old daughter arrives out and beats me from picking the jockey's color," he one time said.

Sun-Times staff members religiously followed Agrella's yearly competition with other city and national handicappers in a scorecard receptacle on the racing pages.

"Joe won more frequently than not," retired sportswriter Dave Manthey said. "We'd cheer him when he'd advance into first place."

Agrella started in 1931 at age 18 as a copyboy for the old-fashioned Chicago Times at $10.50 a week.

"My latitude on LaSalle Street cost $250 a week," he one time said. "Just to give you perspective, you could master a good meal for 30 to 35 cents"

Agrella was born in a mountain town near Naples, Italy, in 1912 and came to America at 3 with his mother and older brother Don, joining their father in Ishpeming forward Michigan's Upper Peninsula.

Agrella participated in couple Pacific island invasions with the Navy in World War II.

Survivors include Jane, his wife of 66 years; daughters Joan Parker, Gail Dolan, Pamela Fernandez and Candace Martinez; brothers Don and Chris; sisters Mary Newsome and Helen Graetz; seven grandchildren and five great-grandchildren.

Visitation is 4 to 9 pm Monday at Drechsler Brown & Williams Funeral hearthstone in Oak Park, 203 s Marion. The funeral is 12:15 pm Tuesday at St Vincent Ferrer ecclesiastical body Lathrop and North in River Forest. Interment is at Queen of Heaven church-yard

jgoddard@suntimes.com

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