Draft Minutes Hall of Fame Committee
Dated June 25, 2012
The meeting took place by teleconference. It began at 9:00p.m. EDT and ended at 10:20 p.m. EDT. Present were Hob Brown, A.R. Ginn, Dave Williams, Dennis Joannides, Barbara Haupt, and Sue Rose. Kate Romanski, Sue Wilson and Vicky Thomas joined us as a special guest. Absent was Ernie Hasse.
1 Dennis welcomed all members and Guests.
2 All members of the HFC had previously been sent a copy of the minutes from the last meeting. Barbara Haupt made a motion to accept the minutes of the prior meeting. Her motion was seconded by Hob Brown. Nothing was offered in discussion. The chair called for a vote and the minutes were unanimously approved.
3 Dennis discussed his recent visit to the BDM and his meeting with Tony White a local graphic artist who has worked with other groups on museum projects. The advantages to our space, is it is located close to the entrance of the new wing and since we are the last isle it affords more floor space. Unfortunately, the space is part of the same area as the entry to the women’s rest room as well as a storage area, and two wall thermostats. Tony suggested we delineate our space through use of a banner with nice raised lettering indicating the English Cocker space. He also suggested we create a mural showing English Cockers in action and possibly depicting training scenes or actual field trials.
Dave Williams indicated he had a chance to visit with Tony by phone. Dave was very impressed with Tony’s credentials and production capabilities and felt that his proximity to the museum was a major plus. Although Dave felt it might be easier for him to work with a consultant in his immediate area he felt the advantages of someone on site was more important, especially since he had production capabilities. Tony also seems very interested in getting the project. I feel he might use it as a poster child to develop business with the other breeds.
We discussed the possibility of retaining Tony. Hob felt we should ask him to produce a plan of his vision and how he would utilize the space to effect what the HFC desired. It was decided that Tony would need our input as to what was to be included. Dave offered to put together an initial for the committees review and comments. It would then be forwarded to Tony to give us some evidence of his vision.
4. Dennis invited Sue Wilson to report on the status of the advisory panel that was to offer nominations for individuals and dogs who might be selected to the hall of fame. She indicated her initial letter and contact with potential panel members was somewhat negative. Tom Ness indicated he could not serve for personal reasons, Paul McGagh declined to serve. Olivia declined because she felt the group was too young and Joe DeMarkis declined because of his commercial guiding endeavors not offering sufficient time. Sheryl Mayo agreed to serve as well as Sue Wilson, Terry Oliver, John Dartt, Kim Wiley and Robert Griffin. Sue indicated she had not heard back from Fred Bradley or Martin Bell. Sue felt she understood her charge and that the group willing to participate were inclined to look for nominees pre the resurgence period. Kate offered to send Sue copies of the history to facilitate identifying candidates. Sue Rose also had created a list of some suggestions from the era for the panel’s consideration. Sue Wilson expressed her concern from a personal level that the age requirement was precluding someone who has been very instrumental in the resurgence of the breed and she may be gone before this individual is of age to be recognized. It was explained that our by-laws were somewhat a lift off of the Springer by-laws and that A.R. indicated in researching criteria with members of the other breeds they had chosen age 65 so as to acknowledge a person’s body of work in their lifetime versus a specific period. This was not meant to slight anyone and that worthy individuals could be recognized through our presentation of the history. Sue expressed concern about being able to put forth 6 dogs and 6 people. A.R. assured she did not have to limit the names to a specific era. Dave Williams raised the point that some folks from England might be possible candidates. Hob and AR expressed concern that this is an American hall of fame. Hob pointed out that the Springers, who have more history than the Cockers only inducted Talbot Ratcliff.
Sue inquired about the cut-off date to get the names to the HFC. We stated it was September 15, 2012. We also stressed that advisory panel members could solicit names from other fanciers and people actively trialing. We thanked Sue for her participation. Kate and Sue Rose will be sending all HFC members as well as Sue Wilson and Vicky copies of Kate’s finished work
Kate brought the group up to speed on her completion of all four volumes of the history. She once again reiterated how the AKC Library in New York held much information that is missing from her files. Hob offered up the services of his wife Lisa and her sister who are both trained librarians.
Vicky indicated she has been doing research on the Springer history and has been talking with both Bobby and Ray Cacchio. It appears that The Cacchios were closely tied to the Garvans who were both very instrumental in the 50s and 60s in working with Cockers. Kate seemed to be aware of much of the history and it was suggested that maybe they could visit privately and further explore this information. Vicky felt there may be some confusion about the contribution offered by some of the people mentioned in her article. Dennis felt the HFC meeting did not have the luxury of time and it was not the forum to discuss personalities and asked if it could be discussed privately. We thanked Vicky and Kate for their contribution as invited guests.
5. Wall of Champions–There was considerable discussion about the creation of the wall of champions. Based on Kate’s research there have been in excess of over 160 FT champions since the inception of Cocker field trials. The intent was to provide a place at the BDM where the names of former field trial champions could be displayed. The original thought was to put the registered name, call name, registration number, date of birth, all titles, name of the breeder and name of the owner. Unfortunately, this would take up too much space on the name tag. It was decided to limit the information to the registered names, call name, titles and name of owner. Barbara and Kate both felt it might be nice to have a book nearby referencing more information or even photos of the dogs on the Champion Wall. Hob, AR, and Dennis felt we didn’t have the time and resources to create this currently and it might be considered in the future. The intention is that each person wanting to honor their dog or a dog of the past would pay $100 per name.
6. Other business—Dennis reminded the group about the need to elect officers for the HFC. We are especial need of a treasurer to handle collection and accounting of funds being raised and disbursements to vendors etc. Karen Spurlin might be willing to act in this role as she currently segregates field monies from the rest. The need for a secretary will become extremely important as that person needs to transmit the names to the BDF, write a paragraph about the inductees, create the wording for a scroll to be given to the inductees. In addition Dennis needs help with compiling minutes and documenting voting, etc.
7. The next HFC meeting is scheduled for Tuesday, July 31, 2012 at the same time as today’s meeting.