Minutes: Hall of Fame Committee March 12, 2013
The meeting took place by teleconference. It began at 9:15 EDT and ended at 11:00 EDT.
Present were Hob Brown, A.R. Ginn, Dennis Joannides, Barbara Haupt, John Leininger, Sue Rose, and Kate Romanski.
Everyone was previously sent a copy of the prior minutes and there was one correction to paragraph three: “resurgence of the breed” was changed to “resurgence of the field bred cocker. A.R. Ginn made a motion to accept the minutes as amended, and it was seconded by Hob Brown. The HFC approved the December 27, 2012 minutes.
Old Business
****Inaugural Induction Ceremony – On February 9th the English Cocker Spaniel Field Trial Hall of Fame held its inaugural induction ceremony at the Bird Dog Museum in Grand Junction, TN. Mrs. Ella Moffit, and Mrs. Gladys Harriman were officially inducted as part of the class of 2012. In addition the first English Cocker Dual Champion Camino Boy and NFC FC Diana Floss of Windmillwood MH, “Millie” were also inducted in the 2012 Class. We are proud to be part of the Bird Dog Hall of Fame.
Many thanks to Lisa Brown for the research and write up she did on our inductees. All inductees are permanently memorialized in our space at the Bird Dog Museum. We have reserved a special section exclusively for our inductees where framed photos of the people and dogs together with their biographies can be found in the Continental Wing of the Bird Dog Museum. Dennis further praised Lisa Brown and Kate Romanski for all their efforts putting together the information.
Lisa was also successful in getting a number of members of the Harriman family to attend the ceremony including Mrs. Harriman’s grandson, Tom Dixon and his wife Linda and their two children, Hillary and Adam along with the daughter of Lionel Bond, Joyce Bond Hurley, and her husband Jack were all present. Lionel Bond was a long time trainer for the Harriman’s and they left Lionel the kennel and land on their estate, which Joyce maintains for the family to this day. Joyce Bond Hurley and Tom Dixon also offered comments about their memory of Gladys and the Harriman’s Cinar dogs.
Unfortunately, our graphic designer withdrew from our project just before Christmas. This did not allow sufficient time to find a replacement. The HFC felt we should not rush the project. Special thanks to AR & Ollie Ginn and Sue Rose for their help. The Ginn’s were very gracious in agreeing to frame prints of prior NCC winners, at their expense. Sue Rose provided the prints from the ECSCA library and also put together a time line for mounting. Steve Collins, AR and Ollie hung the prints of the prior champs in our space at the BDM and it made for a nice representation of ECS along with framed photos of the inductees. We did not display the time line as there was insufficient time to completely review it, but thank Sue Rose for all of her work. Dennis reported getting nice feedback and positive comments from visitors that walked through our space.
****Congratulations to AR Ginn. He was elected to the Board of Directors of the Bird Dog Foundation. This is quite an honor for AR and it gives the ECS an even greater presence at the museum.
****Financial Condition of the ECSFTHOF We are the only breed in the new wing to have fully funded its endowment. We have even overfunded our endowment. It was AR’s impression that all breeds were given six months but this was apparently not conveyed to all of the breeds. The BDF recommended we have our own checking account for disbursements as they are not staffed to handle such requests. Karen Spurlin confirmed we have $1,600 in the HFC allocated account, in addition the BDF is sending a check for $5,793.21 representing funds in excess of our endowment, to Karen as treasurer for the ECSCA. This gives us a total of $7,393.21 available to fund future costs of the ECSFTHOF.
****Should HFC have its own treasurer? Kate noted that Karen is swamped with all she has to do being treasurer of the ECSCA. Currently Dennis has logged most of the monies for the ECFTHOF except what was sent to Karen. The group agreed we need to have some method of organizing funding. Hob said we are our own organization and we should take the responsibility, however after further discussion regarding the complexity of donations and tax filing requirements, the committee decided to keep it simple. We concluded in the future Hob will keep track of expenditures and income and the monies will still go through ECSCA. Barbara moved and John seconded this motion. It passed by a voice vote.
****Status of ECS display — building a computer program to display photos, videos and time line (Red Setter display)
The committee has a lot of really nice photos and video files at our disposal and the question is how to best utilize them. We are aware that the Red Setters used a vocational school to do their work. We will research our options and contacts for this. Terry Reckart will be contacted by Dennis. Hob will talk to Tom Dixon’s son, Adam and see if he might help. We also would like feedback from those who observed other displays.
****Donations to the BDF and potential for loan agreements.
AR has been present at a Board of Directors meeting and relayed that the museum does not like to take just anything on loan. They don’t have the room to accommodate everything people would like to donate although they have on rare occasions accepted something. As for our part, we would have to get permission from ECSCA Board to approve any donation from them. Dennis asked if we could run a specific item by the Board with the option that it would be returned if it is no longer displayed. We know neither body wants to deal with anything complicated. John asked: “If it’s our display why can’t we just put in what we want to?” We decided to table this item and find out what other groups do. As Kate remarked, “We don’t have that much in the first place.” The Shawfield Glenfire trophy would be eligible but others can be retired by the winner if won three times. We need to inventory what we might have for potential donation or loan.
**** Display Cases John Leininger has kindly offered to build something for the ECS display at a fair price. He is doing the same for the springers
****Should dogs from other countries be admitted to our Hall of Fame? Our rules say that any inductee must be an AKC Field Champion. The committee would like to find out more about this, looking at what other breeds have done. John Leininger is going to research the conditions under which Hales Smutt and Saighton Stinger were admitted to the Springer HOF. Any decision would be tabled until after John reports.
****Sixty-five age requirement – Our By-laws state that the inductee into the HOF must be 65 or deceased. The committee all agreed that this is a lifetime achievement award, but had an extensive discussion on exceptions plus the size of the cocker community compared to other breeds. What about an individual who may have retired from the sport prior to age 65 but had achieved notable and deserved recognition at a young age? Some felt this person shouldn’t have to wait until age 65 to be inducted and others felt they should. Most agreed that anyone under the age of 65 still actively competing should not be an inductee. At this time no change will be made to the By-Laws.
****HFC Secretary – This role will be divided between Barbara Haupt as recording Secretary for the meetings and Kate Romanski who will act as special secretary for all notices and communication to the field, including nominations for HFC members and HOF nominees. Thanks expressed to both for agreeing to share this responsibility.
****HOF Advisory Panel Chair – A chair person needs to be selected for the HOF Advisory Panel. Those eligible are prior handlers of NCC winners, current FTC members, past living inductees to the HOF, and former HFC members who have completed their term on the committee.
For the future 2013 inductees, the committee concurred we need to provide condensed historical information to the AP together with forms to make nominations. We need to decide how to disseminate the information.
****HFC nominations needed June 1 – August 31 – Three at-large members rotate off the HFC this year. Existing terms run out December 31, 2013 for Sue Rose, John Leininger, and Dennis Joannides. All three are eligible to be nominated again if they choose to serve, but must be elected to a new term of three years.
“ECSFTHFC Nominations and Election
Nominations of prospective members for the ECSFTHFC shall be submitted to the ECSFTHFC Chairman between June 1st and September 30th prior to the expiration of the class of membership stated above. Each nomination must be submitted on the ECSFTHF form provided by the ECSFTHFC. Nominations can be made by any individual who has a dog eligible to run in the NCC for the current year, as well as by any prior ECSFTHFC or FTC member. Nominees shall have extensive experience of field trialing cockers
Voting for the new ECSFTHFC members shall take place by ballot mailed to the owner of a dog eligible for the NCC in the year the class of membership ends. The owner shall receive one vote, regardless of the number of dogs qualified. ECSFTHFC members shall be elected by the majority of the votes cast. If at any time there is a vacancy in the post of Chair of the committee, such vacancy shall be filled automatically by the ECSFTHFC from its current members. The Chair of the Committee shall serve for a period of 3 years and may be re-elected for a maximum of another 3 year term provided they are a current member of the ECSFTHFC while serving as the Chair of the Committee. If at any time there is a vacancy in a particular post for a member of the Committee, for any reason, (including, but not limited to, a former member’s death or resignation), such post shall be filled by the ECSFTHFC, selecting from the field trial community, a suitable person possessing the necessary skills and experience. This person shall serve until the next regularly scheduled election of class member.”
We also discussed the potential of using Survey Monkey for voting. Kate and Sue agreed to work together in putting together nomination forms and ballots for eligible voters.
NEW BUSINESS
****Status of the English Cocker Spaniel Field Trial Hall of Fame Committee
Dennis has received the resignation of Ernie Hasse from the committee. We all agreed we need someone who has knowledge of the dogs and the people. Several names were discussed by the committee; Hob will contact our choice and will let Dennis know the response as soon as he receives it.
**** Cocker Field Trial at HOF – John Leininger suggested we think about holding a cocker trial at the HOF next year during inductions. We need to see what the interest is and how many entrants we might attract. He indicated grounds were available and it might be run as an alternate series with the Springers. This might help both breeds with manpower and increased participation.
****Date for Next Meeting – The committee decided on April 4th for our next meeting by conference call.