congrats to:
anthony francomacaro
for winning
the nfl grand national title in
original oratory
antny's the nicest guy in the world, a credit to his
amazing parents!
congrats to the team for winning a school of
excellence award in speech (awarded maybe to 12
schools there out of many hundreds)
oh, and my national hall of fame induction was
realllly nice
i was honored at a dinner only for all hall of famers
and their guests and in front of the entire assembly
it was great having jc and ryan a there with me
and it was an honor being inducted with:
--lydia esslinger of syosset, an old nyc friend ,(been
coaching for years, worked at the first summer camp in
georgetown, and brought many into national finals--the
best dressed and the youngest looking coach ever--over
the age of 55!)
--pam cady of apple valley (she advances someone into
oo finals every year and she is also on the national a
board-- a sweetheart of a lady and a gem of a
professional and coach)
-- mel olson from ax/mn (hilarious guy who is
brilliant and who ran nfl nats in phoenix in 99)
-- betty whitlock, a newer friend and the oldest
inductee who is the great dame of student congress
who gave life to forensics in the state of mississippi
Re:Franco--
he rocked the final round!
he won a 5000.00 scholarship and a 1000.00 scholarship
and a 500.00 trophy--a real beauty
he also has an even bigger fan club and following than
he did after he won oratory at ncfl nationals in
houston and before that after capturing the title at
emory in atlanta
this is the first hgp main event champ we have ever
had;
we have had a champ in prose at nfl nats and a slew of
second place finishers and other finalists, but never
a main event first
we regret that jb could not be in attendance
but we sent our daily hugs/congrats out to italy via
text messages
all other results are on nflonline.org
--including ranks
main events
kevin frawley and eric leist--quarter finalists in duo
(each event had about 225)
sam rezaeian-octofinalist in drama
mike dahlgren and rob baldassarre--octos in duo
supplementary events
sam placed top 30 in poetry (out of 350)
dahlgren placed top 30 also in prose (out of 350)
rob baldassarre--made a few cuts in extemp commentary
(without having the required files with him--bravo!)
in the 70s, john rodden was 3rd in oo at nfl--maybe
74
and maybe we had another finlaist --jb can fill this
in
our oo history at nfl nats:
chris dlutowski--semis in oo in 84
rich johnson--4th in oo in 86
peter naccarato--1/4 finalist in 87. 88
chris white--1/4 finalist in 89
chris white--2nd in oo in 90
matt costello--4th in oo in 91
joe jones--4th in oo in 95
joe jones--5th in oo in 96
steve buettler--semis in oo in 98
steve buettler--2nd in oo in 99
franco--5th in oo in 2006
franco--1st in oo in 2007
cindy rich--6th in oo in 85 (tf co-coached this naz
gal)
maybe i have forgotten a few
and surely we still regret tom mcsorley, a would have
been national finalist, who was not advanced to the
tourney
congrats jb and to all helping hands