MINUTES HALL OF FAME COMMITTEE APRIL 4th 2013
The meeting was held by teleconference. Present: Dennis Joannides, Larry Hansen, Sue Rose, Barbara Haupt, Kate Romanski, Hob Brown, and AR Ginn. Absent: John Leininger. The meeting commenced at 9:00 p.m. EDT and concluded at 10:20.
On behalf of the HFC Dennis welcomed new member Larry Hansen. Larry has been involved with field trials since boyhood and cockers since the mid 80’s. Larry noted he was even present at that first cocker trial (from the present era) held exactly 20 years ago today.
OLD BUSINESS
****MARCH HFC MINUTES – Two additions were made: With regard to items that ECSCA might have available for donation to the Hall of Fame, Kate mentioned that the Shawfield Genfire trophy would be eligible but other trophies can still be retired by the winner if won three times. We do need to inventory what we might have for potential donation or loan. Also, Millie’s full title should have NFC FC preceding her name. The motion was made by Barbara and seconded by Hob to accept the minutes as amended. Barbara will send the March minutes to Cockers in the Field for publication.
**** COMMUNICATION — A discussion took place how we can better communicate with the field trial community to clarify any misunderstandings about the HOF, the HFC and our mission. We agreed we need to have more involvement, and make sure the entire cocker community is aware of what is happening with the committee and share all available information including the nomination procedure and nominating forms.
As our newest member, Larry was asked to comment on any impressions and questions he might have or might have heard regarding the HOF and the HFC. He was aware of some criticism nominating earlier people of the cocker field trial community since that era eventually “failed”. He and others weren’t aware of all the nominations we did have. He had also heard discussion about the 65 age requirement and English nominees.
All of us felt we need more awareness and involvement by the field trial community in the nominating process and the workings of the committee. Hob commented this was our first year and we are still in the learning process. Our group and the advisory committee need to reach out to people; possibly we could do that through our premiums and catalogues at trials. This outreach would be consistent throughout the country and recognizable with a special logo or format. It was suggested regional reps could send out these announcements for publication at cocker trials.
**** Status of the NOMINATION FORMS for electing NEW COMMITTEE MEMBERS. – Sue and Kate will work on something. We have not had a form for this in the past. All agreed a brief bio should be included.
****TIME LINE – All the committee has received the historical information assembled by Lisa Brown and Kate Romanski. The Advisory committee is getting the information by snail mail. It is surely a “must read” for everyone and we thank Lisa and Kate for their efforts putting it together.
****NOMINATION FORMS FOR HALL OF FAME INDUCTEES for both dogs and individuals. This would include the method of distributing of information, collection of names, and producing ballots. Dennis feels we need to revisit the present form and our methods of its distribution. If we had a Hall of Fame website it would make it easier to distribute the forms and they could easily be sent to the advisory person in their area.
****CHAIR TO THE ADVISORY PANEL – Committee members are reaching out to find someone with the best qualifications for this position.
****Prospective AMENDMENT TO THE BY-LAWS regarding foreign dogs who have not earned an AKC FC but have made significant contributions to the field trial champion bloodlines in this country.
One option discussed was to make an exception to the “AKC FC” rule in our bylaws requiring a unanimous vote of the HFC. By-law changes require five affirmative votes to pass.
The motion was made by Barbara that: “We can amend the By-Laws to accept a foreign dog that has not earned an AKC FC title, but did make a significant impact on the blood lines in the USA, provided this acceptance receives a unanimous vote by the members of the HFC if there are five or more members present.” This motion was seconded by AR and passed unanimously by roll call vote.
**** EXCEPTION TO AGE 65 REQUIREMENT for people that have retired from field trialing any breed of dogs for at least five years or who become permanently disabled so as not to be able to continue running dogs.
Discussion: (1) The HOF encouraged us to have an age limitation. (2) A Hall of Fame member should not get special treatment by judges. (3) A person should not have a competitive advantage because of their status. (4) Membership in the HOF is meant to be a life time achievement for the sport. (5) Most of the other breeds in the HOF do have age requirements.
Hob suggested we table the discussion until the entire committee is available and the committee agreed.
**** Status of BUILDING OUR DISPLAY for photos, videos, time line, etc. Dennis has spoken to the wife of Terry Reckart but hasn’t received feedback from Terry to date. This discussion was tabled.
****FEEDBACK FROM THE BDF concerning ownership of items displayed in cases provided by the breeds. AR said if we build a display case, we may accept items for that case as long as they are appropriate. In other words if we have a display case we are in charge of what goes in it. Insurance would have to be covered by us. John Leininger will be building cases for us and for the springer display.
****HOF WEBSITE – How hard would it be to have a website link to publish HOF materials like Lisa and Kate put together? An enthusiastic discussion followed on this topic. All felt we need an avenue to make information easily accessible to everyone in the cocker community. We concluded we would need a manager to set up the website and that person would need to be compensated for their work. A motion was made and seconded that Larry contact his website manager to see if she is interested and what that would entail. She constructed a user friendly site for him and provided a manual so necessary additions and changes could be made easily. We will all check out Larry’s site.
**** ADJOURMENT AND DATE OF NEXT MEETING — May 2nd.