Jack Short was a legend from a time when fans flocked to witness the thrill of live horse racing at the tracks in Vancouver and Greater Victoria. As a track announcer, his trademark "And there they go" got people's attention, especially if they hadn't yet placed their bet. A former local stable boy and apprentice jockey who was around tracks from age 11, Jack experienced almost every aspect of the business, from riding, being a jockey's agent and trainer to ownership and breeding. But it was calling the races that earned him his most enduring reputation. He began in 1933 by recreating races on Vancouver radio station CKMO - complete with sound effects - and graduated to the real thing in 1934. He became "The Voice of the Races" calling races live and on radio, on both sides of Georgia Strait, including the Willows, Colwood and Sandown tracks around Victoria. By the time he broadcast his final "Adios Amigos" in 1982, he had called almost 48,000 races and missed just three days of work.

Jim began his sports writing career at age 17 with a part-time writing job for the Victoria Daily Colonist. He went on to become a popular and, at times, controversial sports columnist for newspapers in Vancouver and, later, as a nationally syndicated columnist with the Calgary Sun. His career as a sports writer, broadcaster, and commentator spans more than 50 years. Jim has been described as "one of Canada's funniest writers; his subjects are mainly sports figures, and he finds elements of the bizarre and the comical in every event. Some of the people he writes about are world famous - Silken Laumann, Mark Messier, Debbie Brill, and Mike Tyson among them - while others are far from household names, but they all make great stories. In his distinctive, irrepressible style, he points out the insane humour in Las Vegas title fights, commends the efforts of seven-year-old soccer players and pokes fun at spoiled, highly paid stars. The unflappable Taylor turns his attention with equal glee to the Olympics, the CFL, Skategate (Tonya, Nancy and "The Gang That Couldn't Think Straight"), local characters and world championships, warmly admiring the heroes and hard-workers and cheerfully ridiculing the boors and braggarts."