THE BOWLING NEWS - The Hall of Fame

The Bowling News did not publish in January but its February issue will be available shortly in your favorite St. Louis area bowling center.

Editor Craig Mathews has forward to Bowling Hood his column regarding Hall of Fame issues:

By Craig Mathews, Sr

The purpose of any state Sports Hall of Fame is to recognize the top performing members of all sports whether that performance is on or off their sport's playing field and to be the premier showcase for these outstanding sports figures.

What is surprising is the number of people that are over looked by the state Hall of Fame's induction committees. This failing is not the committees fault as it is an inherent flaw in the induction system. They cannot know everybody that deserves the recognition, so they only choose those people that are most well-known. And this creates unfair comparisons between possible members and the more outstanding members.

As example, Babe Ruth is my undisputed best baseball player of all time. He was a 20game winning pitcher and, if you add that fact to his batting stats, you can understand my claim. If your system promotes comparisons, who could compete against these stats?

Induction into a Hall of Fame should not be a popularity contest , but each prospective candidate should be looked at for what they have accomplished and then accepted or denied.

Because the state Sports Hall of Fame committee cannot know everyone that is deserving, they should rely on the state organization of each sport they recognize.

If the individual sport's state organization inducts a member to their Hall of Fame, the inductee should automatically be included in the rolls of the state's Hall of Fame.

This system would do justice to all the deserving members of Halls of Fame that do not have the notoriety of other well-know members.

And would recognized and acknowledge the importance of the individual sports board members that do the inducting of their sports Hall of Famers.

If a state's Sports Hall of Fame committee desires the pomp and circumstance of an induction dinner, then invite all existing members to attend, at their own expense, to hear of their inclusion; invite the newest inductees, also at their own expense, to be recognized as the current year's induction class. And there is no need for individual speeches by any of the inductees.

As far as plaques for all included members and for the current year's inductees, the included members would buy their own plaques and the current ones would get them given to them.

And the cost to all the included members would not be that great because of the number of plaques that would be needed. However, even if the cost was $50 per plaque, I believe there would be no argument because of the honor of what the plaque would signify.

The system needs to be changed so those people that are deserving get the recognition that they have earned.