Year by Year History of the AEMA1973The very first documented original meeting was June 1973, in a meeting held at Atlanta, Georgia, in cooperation with the Kendall Sports Division, it was decided that an association should be formed for equipment managers throughout the United States and Canada. To “start the ball rolling” a committee was formed. This Committee named the organization The National Equipment Men’s Association. The Chairman of the committee to form the AEMA was Charles “Skip” Vosler. Of Ohio University where he was both Athletic Trainer and Director of Equipment Skip’s committee consisting of members Bill Jarvis of Ashland College; John Bozick of Ohio State University; Harry Yalacki of University of Washington; Robert Kluseman of UCLA; Tom Burton of Clemson University and Stubby Eason of the Minnesota Vikings. Bill Jarvis is the only current AEMA member from this committee and now works at Northwestern University 1974Membership started with 25 members. Out of the 25 original members we still have 5 are still active today.
Harry Yalocki was named the first Executive Director, his term was from 1974-1975 Tom Burton was named the first President from 1974-1976. We all think of Glenn Sharp as the first President. Well he certainly was the very first Elected President. Tom was named the President by the Executive Director to a two-year team. Helen Sharp was our first and longest standing Administrative Assistant of the AEMA. The job, which was first called “National Registration Chairman”. Helen started the office with her husband Glenn, in 1974 and continued in that job until here retirement in 1994. In 1982 the job title was changed to Administrative Aide. Helen did all of the organizing and paperwork for 15 of her 20 years in the office with out the help of a computer. The first National organizational meeting “Convention” was held in 1974 in Kansas City where the name Athletic Equipment Managers Association was born. The first formal Executive Board was founded at this meeting. The first National Membership chairman was Jon Falk he was in that position from 1974-1977 when he gave the position up to take the position of Associate Executive director. Membership annual fees were set at $15.00 for an active member, and $5.00 for a student member. District Dues were separate from National a $5.00 fee was also sent into the District for District dues. A member could not belong to the district without belonging to the National organization.
19751975 was the second year an AEMA Convention was held and 85 people total attended including members, wives and visitors and exhibitors, we sold 25 booths to 22 exhibitors. Helen Sharp with the approval and input of the board of directors wrote the by-laws and the policies and procedures. 1976Membership grew to 27 members Charles Vosler went from the head of the Committee to form the AEMA to being named the Executive Director. He remained in that position for one year. The first Newsletter was published September 1976 it was called “Behind the Cage” and was published by Cramer Products. 1977Membership grew to 38 members.
Billy Pickard was named Executive Director. Billy remained in that position for 5 years. Frank Marchese was named the President for a two-year term 1977-1979 Jon Falk was named Associate Executive Director Starting in 1977 the AEMA financial reports were now being audited by an outside auditor. This was the first year to pay registration fees prior to registration to the convention. Registration fee was $5.00
1978The Equipment Manager of the year award was given out for the first time to Glenn Sharp. Jim Howard from East Tennessee State University designed the first logo. The First convention Schedule Program was printed in a 1978 by Helen Sharp and consisted of a Board meeting, a district and Welcome meetings. 3 workshops, and a banquet. By 1993 the program was home of 12 workshops. Today we have 18 workshops. In 1980 Bike/AHI started printing the Convention schedule. In 1994 Schedule printing was still sponsored by Bike/AHI however their name was then changed to Schutt, and Schutt continues to this day to print our Convention Program Schedule. This was the first year for membership cards for the association. These cards were made out in the National office and given to the district directors to hand out at convention. Cathy Dachtera was the first female member of the AEMA. She joined and was immediately voted in a district #1 director. She only remained a member for one year. The next time the AEMA would see a female member was in 1983 when both Sharon Corbett and Mabel Jones joined, both members stayed active for their entire careers, and are now retired members. The longest standing female member still active is Mary O’Leary who joined in 1984. Today the association has 94 female members. At the 1978 convention recreation was beginning to be added to the Convention program, the AEMA saw a tour of the Kansas City Chiefs Arrowhead stadium. 1979The Equipment Manager of the year award was given to Bobby Yarborough Glenn Sharp was elected the President in the very 1st balloted election Glenn remained President for two 2-year terms, which was the maximum a President could run at that time. Bike Athletic Advisory board added 6 equipment managers seats May 23,1979. These members were Jon Phillips, Glenn Sharp, Bud Fernandez, John Daggett, Gene Sprague, and Whitey Zimmerman. 1980The Equipment Manager of the year award was given to John Phillips NOCSAE first accepted the AEMA application for an equipment manager seat on the board July 17th 1980 Billy Pickard resigned as Executive Director due to a change in his duties at Texas A&M. He feared he would not be in the position to donate the proper time needed to do the job. There was discussion at the opening board meeting to start a Policies and Procedures Manual, to this day this has not been done. We do have a policies and procedures, however, I think it would be a great idea to form a committee to go over the policies and procedures to make a manual. The board of Directors decided that we must book hotels at least 3 years in advance to have a better shot at finding hotels that will hold us. 1981The Equipment Manager of the year award was given to Billy Pickard The price of registration to the Convention went up to $10.00 1982The Equipment Manager of the year award was given to John Daggett John Phillips was named Executive Director. John remained in that position for 4 years. The first golf tournament was hosted. Cost of the golf outing was $11.00 Bill Kelly attended the first NOCSAE meeting in January.
1983The Equipment Manager of the year award was given to Booker Kilgore. This is the first time a high school manger received this award. Bill Kelly was Elected President for two terms running from1983-1988. During his time the term for the President went from 2 to 3 years per term. Bill is now retired from Vanderbilt. Jim Roberts held a workshop to get out a feel for Certification. His goals were to find out the
It was surmised that Certification, for the AEMA means Education—Knowledge of our field Verification—Competency of knowledge Commitment—To set codes and a recognition by diploma Security –Knowledge that we have done the best that we know how 1984Was the 10-year anniversary of the AEMA the membership grew to hit the 100-member mark The Equipment Manager of the year award was given to Norm Perez It was decided that lists of members attending convention would be distributed to all exhibitors who purchased a booth space at convention. It was suggested by the board that all districts should have at least one district meeting per year. 1985The Equipment Manager of the year award was given to Jim Roberts. This was the first year that the Equipment manager of the year was voted on by the entire membership at the General Meeting, the award had previously been selected by the board of directors. The Title of the newsletter would change from “Behind the Cage” to “The Scoreboard” in November of 1985 with permission from district #5 who changed their name from The Scoreboard to The Original Scoreboard. Russell Athletics sponsored the Scoreboard The Hottest time at convention was in St. Louis at the 11th Annual Convention when the hotel caught on fire in the early morning hours of June 27th the first day of Convention, with a few changes in rooms the convention went forward. There were two very important workshops given. One was designed to initiate a Certification Program. It was decided that the AEMA needed to write a manual and set up an exam and continuing education program. The second was to set up a Code of Ethics. That same code exists today 1986The Equipment Manager of the year award was given Michael Arellano Security Guards were hired for the first time for the Exhibits. Refund checks were sent out to members who had paid for the luncheon, due to the fire in 1985 there was no luncheon. Dues were raised from $15.00 to $25.00 1987The Equipment Manager of the year award was given to Bill Kelly Jon Falk a charter member of this association was named Executive Director. Jon still remains in that office today after close to 20 years of service in that office. The AEMA office purchased its first computer it was a 512K mackintosh with an ImageWriter II dot matrix printer. The computer had the capacity to hold about the same amount of data as 3 or 4 pictures do today. Everything had to be done on floppy disks. But it did make a great word processor. 1988
Membership hit the 200-member mark The Equipment Manager of the year award was given to Don Lacrosse Ken Hart was Elected President for two 3-year terms from 1988-1994. Ken is a 29-year member who has been very active for his entire tenure serving on many committee and board positions. Ken started his career in Equipment Management as a Student Equipment Manager for Glenn Sharp. 1989Membership hit 300-member mark The Equipment Manager of the year award was given to Gary Boevers The National and District dues for the first time were combined into one payment to the National office. The cost was raised to $35.00 with $30.00 going to the national office and $5.00 going to the district. A national questionnaire was sent to all members concerning the financial support of Certification. The Association saw the birth of the resource center. The resource center contained 13 Videos. The golf outing could not be played because heavy rains caused the course to flood. All of the prizes for the golf outing were used as door prizes handed out at the exhibit hall. 1990The Equipment Manager of the year award was given to Jeff Boss. The title of Equipment Manager of the year, was changed to the Glenn Sharp Award 1991Membership hit 400
The Glenn Sharp Award was given to Mary O’Leary Certification first became a reality in 1991 with Jim Roberts the Chairperson of the Steering Committee. (CSC) Jim Appointed Jeff Boss as the Chairperson of the Continuing Education Committee his other committee members were in alphabetical order. Mike Davidson, Mike Hill, David Littlejohn, Mary O’Leary and Dale Strauf . Jeff’s committee consisted of 10 district CEC representatives. Three of those original District Representatives are still in office today they are Ron Wessel, Greg Payne and Alan Ansell The first three years of certification members were able to “Grandfather” upon meeting the requirements needed which were a member needed to be 21 years of age, have a High School diploma, and have 10 years documented experience as an equipment manager. It may all sound to you that from this quick introduction of Certification. That everything was done quickly and easily, it certainly was not. This Committee would spend countless hours upon hours, and days and days at a time in meetings. Setting up guidelines and structure for all of the parts of the program such as the Manual, the eligibility requirements for taking the certification exam, they set up the entire structure of the continuing education system. Jeff Boss and his original Continuing Education Committee started by setting the standards for earning and reporting CEU’s. It has taken many years and many people to get to the standards we appreciate today. To this day at every convention the Continuing Education Committee meeting discussion is mostly on how best to maintain and improve CEU reporting and requirements. 1992The Glenn Sharp Award was given to Dale Strauf The first Certification manual was printed and ready for purchase in the fall of 1992. Contributing authors to this manual were Gary Boevers, Jeff Boss, Charles Craig, Mike Davidson, Robert Jones, Dominic Morelli, Mary O’ Leary, Jim Roberts, Sally Ross, Ron Salvemini, Terry Schlatter and Dale Strauf. The original manual was owned and printed by Health Care Forum. Al Oldenburg and Wilson Sporting goods donated $10,000.00 toward our first manual. Jim Roberts was the first member to be Grandfathered and Certified. The first Certification Exam was given in 1992. Terry Schlatter, Tex Ritter and Mary O’Leary wrote all of the first test questions. Russell Athletics contacted the AEMA with an offer of $1500.00 for a Scholarship program to offer 3 $500 scholarships to student managers. In 1993 Sphem offered to match the offer with an additional $1500.00. We still today give out 6 scholarships to deserving managers. Dale Strauf the chairperson of this committee is currently working with another prospective donor for another $1000 worth of annual awards.
1993The Glenn Sharp Award was given to Ken Hart In 1993 after much discussion on the policy for The Core Requirements (eligibility) of the Certification Exam a survey was sent to all AEMA members. As a result of that survey, the core requirement was changed - from an educational requirement of a 4-year college degree, to include High School Degree, with 5 years paid employment as an Equipment Management. OR 4 Year College degree, and 2 years paid employment as an Equipment Management. OR 1,800 Hours Student Athletic Equipment Management experienced and a 4-year college degree. These requirements remain in effect today. The “Journal” was introduced by Jeff Boss in 1993 and was named the Monograph program. The program was to cost $75.00 per year. The program was later named the AEMA Journal and was first distributed in 1995 at no cost to the member. Adams USA helped us by picking up a large portion of the cost of the Journal. Still today, the only fee associated with the Journal is a $5.00 fee to order back issues. This fee covers postage and coping of the Journal. This was the first year that District Directors were asked to put in a report to the President on their activities for the year. 1994The Glenn Sharp Award was given to Terry Schlatter Terry Schlatter was Elected President to two three-year terms from 1994-2000. Terry is a 26-year member who has been very active for his entire tenure serving on many committee and board positions. Mary O’Leary officially took over the job as Administrative Assistant, however she worked with Helen for several years prior to taking over the duties of the Office on her own. As a retirement gift and a thank you for years of service, the AEMA sent Glenn and Helen on a Cruise. The Association had its first Ethic violation-we had a member try to obtain a job as a Certified Equipment manager, when in fact he was not certified. Received a three suspension from membership. Steve Songy of the New York Giants formed the Internet committee for the first time. 1995The Glenn Sharp Award was given to Mike Hill The AEMA started a job placement service, where a member could send a wanted ad at the National Office. The first issue of the AEMA Journal was mailed. Each Journal had an exam in the back of it. With a score of 70% or better with the test in the Journal you can earn .5 CEU’s A ballot was sent to the membership to buy out our manual from Health Care Forum for $5000.00. The vote came back 193 in favors, 13 against the buyout. The Fiscal year for the AEMA changed to February 1- January 31. Membership year would remain June 1- May 31. The resource center started putting a price to for service, making copies of VHS tapes for the membership for a cost of $5.00 each for the US and $8.00 each for Canada. Prior to the fee you could obtain a video by sending in a blank tape. The Certification Exam committee asked members to write test questions. 12 questions were worth .5 CEU’s
1996The Glenn Sharp Award was given to Alan Ansell Specifics were set for the Retired Emeritus membership status. A member needed have proof of the age of 55, and a letter of retirement sent to the National office prior to receiving free Retirement benefits. Steve Songe set up first Home Page on the Internet. 1997Membership hit 500 The Equipment Manager of the year award was given to Mike Searles. Bar codes were first put on Badges to scan at workshops. 1998The Glenn Sharp Award was given to Steve Bartel Will Rodecap formed the Curriculum Development Committee. The purpose was to develop a Masters degree program in Equipment Management. In 1998 the job of office manager was made a full time position and a National search was done. Mary O’Leary was a final candidate but elected not to give up her Miami of Ohio job. Jennifer Jalet was hired. . Unfortunately Jennifer did not work out and only had the job for only 6 months and left with the office on very un-solid ground. George Fern Co. started doing our Exhibitor Contracts 25 year Jostens offered commemorative watches for sale to the AEMA for the cost of $115.00
19991999 was the 25th Anniversary of the AEMA with the anniversary the membership took its largest jump and skipped over the 600 mark to the 700 mark. The Glenn Sharp Award was given to Dorothy Cutting In January of 1999 I was made Interim Office Manager. Jon Falk called the office of the President Dale Strauf looking for assistance in replacing Jennifer. I asked if I could help and here I am. With the assistance of Dale Strauf and a co-worker Cassie Cortright. From Cornell, and Jon Falk and Suzette Madej of Ann Arbor. And my daily calls to Mary O’Leary we managed to get the AEMA back up and running smoothly. Suzette Madej was named interim Treasure of the AEMA. She double checks all transactions, works with Jon and the Accountant, does all bank transactions and helps with the vendor Contracts. First advertising for the Scoreboard “Newsletter” sold ads were for Business cards. This is still in effect today. Began use of a two-part Invoice. For the first time we no longer have separate forms for convention registration and dues payment. Member numbers for use in CEU tabulation replaced Social Security numbers. AEMA saw their first look at the AEMA Web site and discussion group started by Don Barnes. We had just a Home page prior to this. Adams USA started sponsoring the Awards Luncheon 2000
The Glenn Sharp Award was given to Dino Dennis On October 1st of 2000 we lost the father of our organization. Glenn Sharp also known as Sharpy passed away. Glenn was a friend and a teacher to all Equipment managers, and I truly feel sorry for some of you who have joined after October 1, 2000 that never had the chance to meet him. Dale Strauf was Elected President for two, three year terms 2000-2006 He will be turning over his duties here in Buffalo at our closing board meeting. Dale is a 28-year member who has served on the board of Directors in several capacities for 23 years. Kelly Jones took over as CEC, CSC Chairperson. The new Role Delineation was written. Al Ansel set up a meeting with Castle and 12 certified members at Bisop’s University in Canada, where they spent 3 days working together to come up with the Role Delineation for a new manual. 2001The Glenn Sharp Award was given to Jon Falk I took over full time position of Office Manager and Suzette Madej took over full time position of Treasurer. National Office is now located at 460 Hunt Hill Rd, Freeville, NY National Office took over all tabulations of CEU’s Resource Center moved to the National Office Introduction of the Booker Kilgore Award Price of Videos for the resource center went to $15.00 periodicals $5.00 Exhibitors were given option of purchasing mailing labels of AEMA members for $2.00 per sheet. The Association saw its second Ethics violation was for a District Director who used the entire districts account for personal use. The penalty was he was permanently removed from Membership of the AEMA Dues were raised from $60.00 to $75.00 with $10.00 going to the district. 2002Membership went over 800 The Glenn Sharp Award was given to Andy Dixon Site presentations were done at General Meeting with membership voting on Site Selection for two cities at one time first place winner would get choice of two years; second place vote would get other year After asking the members to send in new logo designs, the original logo was redefined and updated and put on CD for future use. Tier Perks for AEMA Contributors were developedContribution - $700.00 Contribution - $2500.00 Contribution - $5000.00 Contribution - $10000.00 Glenn Sharp Wall of fame was unveiled at the General Meeting. Wall will be shipped to each convention to be put in a booth. Wall has pictures of all Glenn Sharp Award winners. A ballot was sent out to the membership and It was determined that the Manual upgrade would be done by Momentum Media
2003The Glenn Sharp Award was given to Dan Siermine Hall of Fame later named Life Time Achievement Award was unveiled at Convention. This is the second half of the Glenn Sharp wall. The first inductees were Glenn and Helen Sharp Helen Sharp attended and spoke to the membership AEMA started using Bulk mail for all mailings large enough to send that way Exhibitor rates and booth size increased. Rates went from $600.00 to $750.00 and Booth size when from 8’x10’ to 10’x10’ The AEMA lost Jeff Boss to cancer. If Glenn was the father of the AEMA then Jeff was the father of Certification. We can’t however forget Jim Roberts who was the initial Father of Certification. Jeff’s passing was a terrible loss to the AEMA
2004The Glenn Sharp Award was given to Mike Royster Jeff Boss was the only inductee to the Life Time Achievement Wall The new manual was finished and copies sent to the Board of directors. It officially went on sale at Convention. Cost was to be $35.00 at convention an additional $6.00 would be added for shipping Al Ansell put together a committee to write new test question for the new test from the new manual. The Exam fee was raised by $35.00 to include the manual to $160.00 by April 1 and $235.00 with late fee prior to May 1. If the member purchased the new manual prior to applying for the test the $35.00 would come back off the price CSC Chairperson was added as a seat on the board of Directors 2005The Glenn Sharp Award was given to Kelly Jones Jon Falk and Dale Strauf were inductees to the Life Time Achievement Wall 2005 saw the first new member meet and greet reception New exam was given from the new manual with a record 74 members taking the exam. In the board meeting of 2005 we decided that all board members and Committee members must report on their activities prior to receiving any CEU’s for that activity. 2006
The Glenn Sharp Award was given to John “Stony” Stone This year sees the first convention in District #1 I am sure by now you have all heard that Jon Falk was severely injured in the Iowa Michigan game in October. Jon required major surgery and could not even put weight on it until February. He has spent countless hours rehabbing his leg. Mike Royster has been elected President and Arnie Wilhoite is the new Vice President- With the election of the new President we see the term go from 3 to 4 years Al Ansell and his committee once again traveled to North Carolina and completed additional Test questions for the exam. We say another record number of applicants for the exam with 75. Jerry Fife took over the Web site and the discussion group We were forced to replace longtime videographers Ken and Jessie Hardesty. Ken and Jessie lost their home, all of their belonging and equipment in Hurricane Katrina. To say we have come a long way in these 32 years would be an understatement. The credit goes to all of the hard working members of this great association To put it in the words of a great member of the AEMA, Jeff Boss, there is no finish line. 2007
The Glenn Shape Winner was Tex Ritter of Ball State University Jerry Fife did a presentation on a new web site through ACS Dale Strauf retired and stepped down from the Associate Director seat and Dan Siermine was voted into that position by the board of directors. Mary O’Leary was given the Life Time Achievement award. 2008The Glenn Shape Winner was Meli Resendiz from Northwestern University ACS Gave presentation on the web site and board decided that we would go with the new web site. The Life Time Achievement award was presented to Billy Pickard and Chick Napaliano The Booker Kilgore award was given to Art Rosales. Presidential Committee was formed to submit candidates for the 2010 election. AEMA Journal is now on line instead of being mailed. 2009The Glenn Shape Winner was Lynn Williams University of Louisiana @ Lafayette. The Life Time Achievement award was presented to Gary Barfield from Russell. Three candidates were decided for the Presidential election. They are Meli Resnediz, Mike Royster, and Dan Siermine. The AEMA launched a new web site in November of 2009 History of AdministrationPast and Present Officers on the Board of Directors for the AEMAPast Executive Directors and dates of term
Past Associate Executive Directors and dates of term
Emeritus from 1987 until his death in October 2000
Past National Treasurer
Past Presidents and dates of term
Past Vice Presidents and dates of term
District DirectorsDistrict #1
District #2
District #3
District #4
District #5
District #6
District #7
District #8
District #9
District #10
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