Daryl Genz to be Inducted in the Footbag Hall of Fame!
This was a recent post from Peter Irish, the Chairman of the Footbag Hall of Fame Nominations Committee.
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Dear footbag players, family, and aficionados,
The Footbag Hall of Fame Historical Society (http://www.footbag.org/hof) is pleased to announce that voting has concluded for this year’s nominees, and we have the results (below)!
Please join us in congratulating the following six individuals who have all demonstrated the highest dedication of their lives to the sport of Footbag and are worthy of their place in the Footbag Hall of Fame (in no particular order):
(1) Jack Lentz – Erie, PA (USA)
http://www.footbag.org/members/profile/38318
One of the best-known and longest playing footbaggers on the US east coast, Jack has been a grass-roots footbag promoter for over 25 years. He has also been one of the primary sponsors of east-coast footbag tournaments — sponsoring with money, footbags, and more, year after year. Jack is one of the longest active players in footbag history (since 1984) and has attended and competed in every single Funtastik Summer Classic (23 years and counting), and nearly every East Coast Championships (26 years and counting). Jack is undoubtedly one of the longest current active competitive players in footbag history. Jack is also the two-time Intermediate Singles Net world champion.
(2) Daryl Genz – Nampa, ID (USA)
http://www.footbag.org/members/profile/12199
Owner and founder of Freedom Footbags, Daryl is one of the biggest sponsors of footbag in the modern era. Daryl is four-time world champion in Open Doubles Freestyle, and has made top-quality footbags accessible to the general public for many years. Daryl has sponsored nearly every North American footbag event with either footbags or money (often both) since the mid-late 1990s. Daryl’s freedomfootbags.com website has been one of the best sources for footbag freestyle on the internet, and Daryl continues to work extensively to spread and promote footbag. Daryl went so far as to quit his job as an engineer to devote his life to making and selling footbags and promoting the sport. Daryl is still a world class freestyle player in his own right.
(3) Jane Jones-Zerbe – Seattle, WA (USA)
http://www.footbag.org/members/profile/12180
A long-time promoter of women’s footbag, Jane has worked tirelessly to promote footbag to women during her extensive career. She was particularly intent on introducing women to highly technical freestyle, and was trailblazer in that field. She started the influential website, shreditas.com, which offered some of the first videos of women’s freestyle, and was the largest source of women’s footbag information in the world. This website was a huge influence on women’s freestyle, particularly in Europe, and helped expose women’s freestyle to the world. Jane toured the United States and performed footbag for over 100,000 school kids as a tour member for the World Footbag Association. Jane co-founded the Rain City Shred Club in Seattle, and was an organizer of the Seattle Footbag and Juggling Festival. Jane was one of the most technical women freestylers of her time, inspiring many women to push their limits and the limits of women’s freestyle in general.
(4) Steve Smith – Malta, IL (USA)
http://www.footbag.org/members/profile/12631
Steve Smith has been an influential and important force in the midwest (US) footbag scene for over 15 years. As a world class net player, Steve has trained and mentored many Chicago area players, including world footbag net champion PT Lovern. In addition, Steve has earned true distinction in the realm of footbag golf, as a consistent top performer at the World Championships — including at least two world champion titles in footbag golf. Steve has helped organize midwest footbag events, and has served for years on the International Footbag Committee, the official rules body for the sport of footbag, as member and/or chair of the golf and consecutives subcommittees.
(5) Carol Wedemeyer – San Francisco, CA (USA)
http://www.footbag.org/members/profile/13386
Carol is the 6-time Women’s Singles Freestyle world champion, and is generally regarded one of the top women’s freestylers in the sport to date. Carol unseated Sam Conlon, and continued to dominate women’s freestyle for quite a few years. No other woman since has been able to match her record. She was the first woman in history inducted into the Big Add Posse, an elite club of footbag’s best freestylers. Carol helped develop women’s freestyle, inspiring many freestylers around the world to compete in organized footbag.
(6) Justin Sexton – Helsinki (FINLAND)
http://www.footbag.org/members/profile/12028
Justin co-founded and led the Finnish Footbag Association, one of the first organized footbag associations in Europe, and as such was central to the development of footbag in Europe. Justin organized many important footbag tournaments in Finland, culminating in the IFPA World Footbag Championships which he helped bring to Helsinki in 2005. Justin has served on the European Footbag Committee, the International Footbag Committee, and won the Mike Marshall award for his outstanding contributions to the sport. As a player, Justin was known as the “Flying Finn” — he competed at a world-class level in both net and freestyle for many years. Justin inspired and galvanized a generation of footbag players in Finland and Europe.
Our thanks and congratulations to these individuals for their contributions to the growth of the sport of footbag. Please feel free to congratulate them yourselves — you’ll find their e-mail and other contact information on their player profile pages at the corresponding links above.
The formal induction ceremony for these 2009 Hall of Fame members will take place during the US Open Freestyle Championships in Portland, OR (USA) on the weekend of July 11-12, 2009, with Mr. Hacky Sack (John Stalberger) presiding.
For those inductees who cannot attend, we will celebrate your induction in your absence, and there will be a second ceremony at the 2009 Funtastik Summer Classic in Harrisburg, PA (USA) as well, hosted by Brenda & Joe Solonoski, with Yours Truly as Master of Ceremonies.
Thanks to the footbag community for your continued enthusiastic support of the Hall of Fames by participating so actively in the nominations process this year.
Congratulations once again to the new inductees!
Peter Irish, Chairman
Footbag Hall of Fame Nominations Committee
http://www.footbag.org/hof
