The Ultimate Hall of Fame and USA Ultimate, the national governing body for the sport of ultimate in the United States, are excited to welcome seven new Hall of Famers in the Class of 2020.
The 2020 Class includes women’s division inductees VY Chow, Jody Dozono and Vivian Zayas. These new inductees are joined by the open division inductees Andy Crews, Mike Grant, Bob Lobel and Damien Scott. There were no contributor candidates this year.
“We are excited to welcome the newest members of the Ultimate Hall of Fame,” said Dr. Tom Crawford, USA Ultimate Chief Executive Officer. “We are inspired by the phenomenal accomplishments and competitive excellence of the inductees and are proud to recognize these seven new members of the Hall of Fame. We look forward to honoring them, in partnership with the Ultimate Hall of Fame organization, at the next Hall of Fame Induction ceremony to take place during the 2023 National Championships.”
The 2020 inductees were selected by the current Ultimate Hall of Fame voting members from a final slate of 16 player candidates announced in August. The candidates included in the Call to the Community were chosen by the Hall of Fame Vetting Committee from an accomplished pool of athletes through a review of peer voting results and written applications solicited by the committee.
To be inducted into the Ultimate Hall of Fame, potential candidates must complete three steps. The first stage involves “peer voting,” where potential candidates are reviewed and ranked by a group of players or contributors from their own playing era. For this year, the playing era time frame was 2000 to 2007. The second stage involves winnowing the field to a slate of up to 16 player candidates through a review of the peer voting results and written applications solicited by the 10-person Vetting Committee. The slate of 16 was announced in the Call to the Community, which requested input from the ultimate community at-large. The final stage involves two rounds of voting for the player candidates by the full voting committee, comprised of the Vetting Committee and the player and contributor members of the Ultimate Hall of Fame. Since 2018, voting has been segmented by division for player candidates, with women’s division Hall of Fame members voting on women’s division player candidates and open members voting on open player candidates. When contributor candidates are on the ballot, all Hall of Fame members cast votes for the contributor candidates. Inductees in all categories must receive an affirmative vote by at least two-thirds of the voters to be selected.
“I continue to be proud of the efforts of the ultimate community and Hall of Fame members as we strive to improve the selection process. We had an excellent class of nominees this year, all worthy of consideration,” said Hall of Fame Committee Chair Suzanne Fields. “We are so pleased to welcome these seven new members into the Ultimate Hall of Fame.”
The Class of 2020 is the 17th class inducted into the Ultimate Hall of Fame, which was established in 2004 to honor exceptional ultimate players and contributors whose accomplishments are worthy of recognition and merit acknowledgement by their peers. The 2020 Class will be officially inducted into the Ultimate Hall of Fame during a ceremony at the 2023 National Championships where we will honor the 2019 through 2023 inductees.
Learn more about this years class:
Class of 2020
The Vetting Committee includes:
- Suzanne Fields (Chair, Hall of Fame Vetting Committee) – Hall of Fame Inaugural Class of ‘04
- Keay Nakae (Open Peer Co-Chair) – Hall of Fame Class of ‘12
- Steve Dugan (Open Peer Co-Chair – Hall of Fame Class of ‘17
- Pam Kraus (Women’s Division Peer Chair) – Hall of Fame Class of ‘17
- Dominique Fontenette – Hall of Fame Class of ‘18
- Chris O’Cleary – Hall of Fame Class of ‘13
- Bill Rodriguez – Hall of Fame Class of ‘15
- Robert “Nob” Rauch (Contributor Peer Chair) – Hall of Fame Class of ‘06
- Steve Mooney (USA Ultimate Board Liaison) – Hall of Fame Class of ‘06
- Pat King – President, Ultimate Hall of Fame Board of Directors – Hall of Fame Class of ‘09