Thursday, March 15, 2007

Hilgendorf accepts Eshelman Award

In a fast-paced 90-minute business meeting, NBUA President Rich Johnson led off by presenting the 2006 Eshelman Award to long-time member and former association president, Steve Hilgendorf. After a short but heart-felt acceptance speech, Steve had to leave to umpire a double header at Husky Ballpark.

The theme of the meeting was the broad participation of the membership in the administration of the association. Prior to the 2006 season, your board of directors established the goal of involving more members in making NBUA even more successful.  

More than 40 members received applause from a grateful crowd of more than 100 umpires for their contributions to the various boards and committees that make NBUA the best umpiring association in the Northwest.   Members who stepped up to volunteer their time and expertise to serve on committees like Training, Evaluations, Finance, Elections, and Website were recognized.

Other highlights of the meeting include:

•  Gary Coy and Richard Leetz received distinguished service awards

•  Mark Clough was recognized as the 2006 Rookie of the Year

•  36 Rookie umpires were introduced (16 of whom had perfect attendance at training)

•  34 umpires were recognized with gift certificates and special hats for working at least 100 games in 2006

•  Amended bylaws were approved

•  Assignor awards went to Julio Ybarra (C tier) Dan Talcott (B Tier) and Rich Connors (A Tier)

Our dedicated Assignor Leslie Fitzpatrick informed the audience that high school assignments would begin Friday, March 9. She asked for patience from umpires as there were a number of school schedules that she has yet to receive. That may cause some changes in schedules as she may have to adjust crews to cover additional games.

For more details, consult the meeting minutes that are posted in the Members section.