Twenty-five reported as Masters Hall of Fame nominees
Coach Ross Dunton of Tennessee has emailed a newsletter that lists 15 men and 10 women as nominees for the USATF Masters Hall of Fame. Among the shoo-ins are sprinter Roger Pierce and all-around runner Marie-Louise Michelsohn. Tom Langenfeld and Audrey Lary are also a lock. My friends Kathy Bergen and Jim Selby of Southern California are longer shots, but very deserving. The source of these names isn’t given, so don’t consider this a definitive, official list. New inductees will be announced at the USATF annual meeting this December in Reno, Nevada.
Here’s what Ross reports:
USATF MASTERS HALL OF FAME NOMINEES
Kathy Bergen (La Canada, CA)
Ann E Carter (Aiken, SC)
William C (Bill) Carter (Marlow, OK)
Georgia L Cutler (Eugene, OR)
Patrick Devine (Rancho Palos Verdes, CA)
John M Elwarner (Sterling Heights, MI)
Ray E Feick (Gilbertsville, PA)
Mary Hartzler (Gahanna, OH)
William Jankovich (Racine WI)
Wm Joe Johnston (Apoka, FL)
Robert H Keating (Nashua, NH)
Joe King (Central Point, OR)
Tom Langenfeld (Edina, MN)
Audrey Lary (Fredrick, MD)
Linda Lowery (Decatur, GA)
Jim Manno (Oradell, NJ)
Marie-Louise Michelson (New York, NY0
Charlie D Miller (Sanger, TX)
Roger B Pierce (Essex MA)
Gordon E Seifert (Birmingham, AL)
Jim Selby (Fallbrook, CA)
Lillian Snaden (Florence, SC)
Irene Thompson (Syracuse, NY)
Bob D Ward Dallas, TX)
Evelyn Wright (Safety Harbor, FL)
7 Responses
I agree wholeheartedly that Roger Pierce should be a shoo-in, being one of the finest 400 meter runners in masters track and an ardent ambassador of our sport. His entry is long overdue.
Roger s/b a shoo in
Norm Green, chairman of the Masters Hall of Fame Committee, writes to confirm the names on the list:
The list posted by Ross Dunton is correct except that he misspelled Joe King’s last name. The voters are always the current honorees of the Masters Hall of Fame and the current members of Masters T&F and Masters LDR national committees. Voters have until November 1 to register their choices (up to 10 persons) with me. I will report those elected at the joint meeting of Masters T&F and Masters LDR at the Reno convention. At that time I will share further news with Jill, Tom, and any others interested. The major vehicle for reporting our decisions is National Masters News in its January issue.
A very nice group indeed. OTTOMH, I would say that the 6 who deserve to get in the most (boy, is that a dangerous thing to say) are, in alphabetical order, James Manno, Marie-Louise Michelson, Chas. Miller, R. Pierce, J. Selby, and Robt Ward. Wow, did I just make some enemies.
I especially want to recommend Charlie Miller, Bob Ward, and Roger Pierce. There are others, too, but I haven’t studied the sheets yet.
Charlie isn’t running now, having been sidelined with health issues since 2004. He has scads of national championships in hurdles and sprints and has been in numerous races where he either set a world hurdle record or got beaten by one, including his last on in Sindelfilgen where it took Masters athlete of the year Guido Mueller to beat him in a new WR. Charlie was 2nd.
Somehow, he was not elected last year, a real travesty. I urge his selection.
If you know the throws, you know Bob Ward. He has numerous records.
Others have already voiced a vote for Roger Pierce, and I second that.
In my opinion, one reason that deserving people are ommitted from time to time is that the nominees come from track, field, long distance running, and race walking. As a hurdler, how legitimate is my vote for a race walker? Do I want long distance runners deciding if a shot putter or long jumper is worthy of selection?
I make a very honest effort to carefully evaluate the nominees, but it really difficult for me to measure the achievements in race walking and long distance running. I am sure the RW and LDR voters have similar problems evaluating track and field.
Norm does an excellent job of trying to lay it out so that it is comparable, but it still seems foreign to vote for people I have never heard of and know little of their events.
I have suggested that the electors (I do have a vote.) vote within their own areas of expertise. Anyone else agree?
Let me put out a public appeal on behalf of mastershistory.org:
The next venture I would like to include in the site is biographical information about masters athletes. There are lots of great stories behind those names, many that get retold here on this blog. The purpose of mastershistory.org is to try to make sure those stories, that history is not lost.
The first place we would like to start is to post the bios of the current members of the Hall of Fame — they deserve to have a public record of their accomplishments beyond their name on a web page hidden in the back of the behemoth USATF website.
Each year, in the nominating and voting process, exactly that kind of bio is written or at least compiled. I have written and spoken with Hall of Famers trying to get their bio. To a person, each one has said the person who has everything is Norm Green, the man who almost singlehandedly makes the Hall of Fame the prestigious institution that it is.
I have been trying for almost two years (long before mastershistory.org was ever announced) to get that kind of material, with no success. The lone response I got was effectively “I’m busy” and that was in March of 2007.
I don’t know if Norm Green does not think our effort is legitimate or if he is just that busy. I guess I’m not that patient. If anybody has a copy of the nomination dossiers that have circulated in the past (this is an annual ballot sent to a hundred some odd people), as far back as you might have it, please pass it along to the members of the masters history committee; Jeff Davison, Ken Stone or myself.
If anybody knows Norm, please let him know what mastershistory.org is all about and that our efforts are legitimate and benevolent. And finally, if you know somebody in our sport who has a story worthy of being told, please write it up. Let the world know what masters athletes are all about.
Andrew Hecker
Having watched him run for the last 28 years I’d say he’s a shoe-in as well. But I’m biased.
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