Nominees needed for Hall of Fame

by Craig Leweck, Scuttlebutt
I am a big fan of institutions that seek to preserve history. It is an epic problem in our sport, particularly now as so much content is shared online, but only temporarily due poorly designed websites, or worse, website addresses that are not renewed.

So when it comes to athletic hall of fames, I’m in. However, since participation in Sailing is not as cleanly defined as other sports that have similar initiatives, eligibility for consideration is equally less clear.

But you can’t consider someone if they haven’t been nominated, and that is a significant weakness of the system. Both Australia and the USA are asking the public for nominees, but there is no available list for who has been nominated.

In the absence of information, people take the time to nominate people already nominated, or worse, assume people have already been nominated. Additionally, a public list of worthy nominees helps to remember laudable peers that are not listed.

Both the Australian and USA institutions are relatively new, dating back only to 2017 and 2011 respectively. For a sport as old as Sailing, to overlook its storied history, is remarkably easy. Memories are short, and relying on the active sailing public to give tribute to creditable candidates from multiple generations earlier is unrealistic.

Having been involved with the USA committee, I’m shocked every year how people had been forgotten. Regardless, both the Australian Sailing Hall of Fame and the US National Sailing Hall of Fame are seeking nominees for the Class of 2019:

Australia: Nominations are open until May 16 (details).
USA: Nominations are open until April 15 (details).

Current inductees:
Australia: https://sailinghalloffame.org.au/inductee/
USA: https://nshof.org/hall-of-fame/all-inductees