H.O.F.

Imagine a place where every “Electric Football” board ever made was on display, complete with original teams and accessories in ‘pristine’ condition, from every manufacturer. As you explore further, you encounter photos and mementos associated with the greatest miniature football coaches ever to play the best and beat the best while maintaining the highest standards of sportsmanship and dedication to the advancement of the miniature football hobby. Then you enter the archive where every tournament and league champion is listed by date and venue along with individual league records. This is the vision for the virtual Miniature Football Coaches Association Hall of Fame, made not of bricks but rather of bits. Millions of them in order to house, preserve, protect, honor and display the greatest names, photos, records and equipment associated with the “Electric Football” hobby.  The MFCA HOF has been established to honor those who contributed to it, excelled at it, and to those who continue to maintain and preserve it as hobbyists.

The Enshrinement Process:

The MFCA HOF has three categories for enshrinement to recognize and honor those with various talents that allow them to achieve greatness within the hobby. Each category has its own criteria to scrutinize HOF nominations in order to make the best decisions and recommendations for HOF status.  The categories are; Contributor, Coach and Hobbyist.

The category for Contributor would be for those innovators, leaders, founders and manufacturers that have either consistently contributed to the hobby or made a significant contribution that has a lasting effect. They consistently give of their own resources in time and money which benefit the hobby as a whole. They are true innovators, promoters and leaders within the hobby.  They provide new products that make the game more enjoyable and competitive; they promote leagues and tournaments, they show innovation through playing styles and rule-sets and are devoted to the hobby on a consistent basis.

The Coaching category is defined as one who exhibits excellent gamesmanship, skill, sportsmanship and has won or succeeded at many tournament events to include league play over a 5-10 year span and lends advice to fellow competitors.  They are skilled at strategy, tweaking, passing and play-making. They always show exemplary sportsmanship under any condition and situation and are always willing to teach others within the hobby, they are both unselfish and committed to the hobby.

The criteria for the Hobbyist, is one who exhibits a positive influence on the hobby, unselfish with game knowledge, paints, collects,  promotes, contributes, plays in leagues, and/or tournaments, on a consistent basis, to include solitaire play. They never really stopped playing, they continued to play, collect, protect and preserve the hobby until they were part of the main stream again.  Note:  Once in the HOF you can never be considered for another category.

Nomination Process

Any MFCA member can nominate anyone connected with the hobby, either currently or from the past.  Nominations can be accepted at anytime from 1 January to 31 December to be considered for induction the following August.  Inductions will take place the weekend as the Pro Football HOF each year provided that valid nominations are submitted, recommended for the final ballot and are approved for induction.  The nomination must be accompanied by a written justification with examples showing how the nominee meets the stated criteria for a given category.  The nomination must have merit based on the published criteria, to be considered. The list of nominees will remain unpublished to the general EF population during the review period. Using the nomination write-up and other sources, the HOF Committee will then determine if the nominee should be placed on the final selection ballot. This will take additional research to reach a final decision. It will be necessary for the four current committee members to conduct interviews, in confidence with as many people connected with the nominee as possible in order to obtain a 360 degree view of the individual. Once a case can be made for any nomination, that name will go onto a nomination list for consideration for placement on the final ballot. Next, the Committee along with each of the MFCA regional reps will determine the final list of nominees to be placed on the final selection ballot by reviewing each nominee on a case by case basis.  The ballot will contain no more than five names in any one category. Then the ballot will go to a voting process where the final decision will be made to determine that year’s class on inductees.

The HOF Ballot and Final Selection Process

The ballot will contain the names of those nominations deemed worthy based on the criteria.  The ballot may contain one name per category or multiple names per category but no more than five.  Next, the HOF Committee along with the regional reps will select Contributors, Hobbyists and Coaches worthy of HOF Status using a voting process.  Any nomination placed on the ballot that is not selected for HOF status will automatically be added to the final selection ballot the following year.

In conclusion

The HOF nomination and selection process defined herein closely resembles the same process used by the Pro Football HOF to determine the best connected with professional football.  The HOF committee is excited to bring to you the MFCA HOF, complete with records, displays and honored members.

Nominate a MFCA Hall of Famer here

Future nominations may be submitted to the HOF Committee Members by any MFCA Member by using the accompanying online ballot. Go To Ballot