A HISTORY OF THE SWAAD HALL OF FAME
By Gwendal D. Butler
The SWAAD Hall of Fame may have a brief history in a sense but in reality its history can go as far back as 1945. By this it means that it began when Gordon B. Allen — later to become known as the “father” of SWAAD – was invited to attend the first meeting of the AAAD as the official representative of the Southwest. His ideas and leadership offered and felt at the meeting left such an impact on the other leaders in attendance. As a result of that meeting he was invited back annually until SWAAD was formally organized in 1948. The first player from SWAAD to earn the MVP award in an AAAD tournament was Lee Montez. He made that award in 1948.
Throughout the years several players and some leaders had been admitted to the AAAD Hall of Fame. There were quite a few other leaders and players in the SWAAD that deserved just recognition for their contributions to SWAAD. A lot of talk has been done in the past years about doing something for those participants, but no action had ever been taken until 1970. It occurred at the meeting in Austin where a motion was made to start a SWAAD Hall of Fame. That motion was unanimously passed. No further action was done until late 1972 when group to be nominated for admittance to the SWAAD Hall of Fame. The first group selected was done rather hastily and duly accepted at the 1972 meeting. The Saddest fact is several deserving players were left out due to lack of proper records for cortication. It was decided that none were to be admitted in 1973. Also a Director was needed to help do backgrounds research on records of deserving nominees. Jerry Dartez was selected as the first Director at the meeting in Little Rock in 1973.
(Note: Jerry has left no stones unturned in seeking information and checking records of all the nominees to be bought before the meeting in Houston in 1974. His task is not a pleasant one; he has helped “get things caught up with”.)
