Edgar Allen Jr., Churchill Downs’s former director of publicity, died on Wednesday in Nashville, Tennessee. He was 84.

Allen was hired by Churchill in 1979 and spent ten years working at the Louisville track. Tony Terry, who succeeded Allen, has fond memories of his mentor.

“He was just a perfect gentleman,” Terry told the Louisville Courier-Journal. “Even though he was from Tennessee, I think everybody came to envision him as a Kentucky Colonel because of his very relaxed Southern charm. I don’t think any media ever came that he didn’t try to assist.

“He brought the same focus in assisting the media in covering the Kentucky Derby [G1] that he’d been shown in covering other sports. He was just a consummate journalist.”

A former sports editor of the now-defunct Nashville Banner, Allen was a former president of the National Basketball Writers Association and National Football Writers Association. He covered 13 Super Bowls during a sports writing career that began in 1942.

A memorial service will be held on Saturday at noon CDT at the Church of the Advent Episcopal in Nashville. Visitation will be held at the church on Friday from 5-7 p.m. EDT and on Saturday from 10 a.m. until the service begins.