History of the Florida State
Horseshoes Hall of Fame.
A look back in time
Having been selected to the position of historian I thought I would write my first article about the Hall Of Fame, and how it came from conception to where it is today. I have made some remarks on a few of the inductees, as it would take many pages to capture all of their profiles and accomplishments.
1974– Was the first suggestion of establishing a Hall Of Fame, this was in a memo by then president Richard Ferguson.
1975–A committee was formed to set up the guidelines and to return with qualification requirements. The following persons selected for this task were, Norm Gaseau, John Rademacher, Jack Ellis and Earl Johnson. The group asked for input from members. The president wanted to have this established by the next quarterly meeting and a list of candidates.
June–1975 The first two inductees mentioned for the Hall Of Fame were Jimmy Risk and Charlie Stevens. The State had plaques made for these individuals and all other following inductees. After review it was noticed that Charlie Stevens is not listed on the hall of fame web site. The only inductee was Jimmy Risk. This was most likely a clerical error.
Looking at the hall of fame roster it shows four persons
were actually inducted before Jimmy Risk.
Their was no mention in any news letter prior
to this date. Ron Deckard and my self
did verify that indeed there are four names listed on the
1976– In June of that year John Rademacher and John Clingan were elected to the Hall Of Fame
1977– Six persons were nominated for the Hall Of Fame. During the selection process and voting, two persons had a tie for votes, twenty five each. Norm Gaseau recommended that both individuals be inducted , the motion carried. Chris Hansen and Harold Porter were the newest members in the Hall Of Fame. Although at this time their was still no Hall Of Fame building, the selection process continued.
Moving forward to 1980, Opal Corbett was the first woman to be
selected to the Florida Hall Of Fame.
Opal had pitched for twenty three years. Before coming to Florida Opal
was
In June of 1988 the membership authorized the executive council to look at the purchase of a travel trailer. The trailer would be stripped and be used to display Hall Of Fame items and sell game related items at various tournaments. The following session of the council, there were concerns about the trailer, the size, what would be required to pull it and space available to sell game related items. The committee would report back at the next session.
From June of 1988 until September of 1990 there was no
mention of the travel trailer. I would guess this would have been a great task
having to haul this around the state of
In June of 1991 it was decided that the hall of fame room
would require a/c, because of the humid summers in
A dedication of the Hall Of Fame included all of the officers
from F.S.H.P.A. and the mayor of
Since the conception of the Hall of Fame, there are currently
55 members listed. In the following
years 1978, (81), (89), (94), (97), 2000 and (02) no inductees were selected. More members were selected in 2007 than any
other year. The
Chuck Johnston