The Annual Christmas Banquet for 1997 was once again held at the White Rock room of the Holiday Inn in Richardson, Texas on December 13th. Over sixty members and guests enjoyed the evening dinner party which included an awards presentation and the swearing in of officers, followed by a night of dancing and entertainment. Each arriving couple received a pair of embossed license plate frames at the door for their tow vehicles and trailers. Additional Door prizes were drawn throughout the evening.
Following the Prime Rib and Chicken dinner, Commodore Dave Taylor kicked off the awards banquet by first having Al Barboza, Racing Director, present trophies for the Spring, Summer and Fall Series of races. Juanelle Barboza again did a wonderful job of selecting trophies that were original works of art consisting of modern wood sculptures for the top third places in the Spring and Fall. All participants in the Summer Series received a wood desk display with their names and finishing position engraved on it. The excitement was building in anticipation to learn who this year's Club Champion would be. To wrap up the official racing awards, Marshall McKenzie was awarded the traveling Commodore's Cup as the 1997 Club Champion based on total points from the combined racing series. Congratulations Marshall for regaining the right to display this prestigious silver bowl for the coming year! See the 1997 Race Results for the order of finish and the many trophies which were presented.
Larry Featherston next presented a special award to Les Liggett. This Turtle Crossing warning sign and stuffed turtle will assure that Les never forgets one of his finer moments when he turtled Willy Deally just short of the finish line and in front of hundreds of witnesses in the prestigious LakeFest Regatta. He has plenty of newspaper pictures and articles as well to remind him of the occassion in which he proceeded to spend the evening recovering and bailing out his boat, only to take a first-place finish in one of the next day's races!
Steve Hanes presented the annual Sportsmanship Award to Dave Taylor. This traveling trophy is passed on each year to honor the person chosen as the best representative of good sportsmanship throughout the year. Past honorees whose names appear on this award since the tradition began in 1987 can be found on the Sportsmanship Award page.
Dave next had each of the outgoing 1997 Officers and Directors come forward to receive an engraved wooden post-it note holder as an award for their service to the club. Thank you Dave for a beautiful reminder that I will display and use proudly at my office desk! Dave Taylor was then presented a framed, wood-inlaid portrait of a sailboat as a gift of thanks from the outgoing board. You would have to see this to appreciate the intricate work of cutting and placing the many fine pieces of wood from throughout the world, each chosen for its color and texture to make up the boat, spars, sails, water, sky and clouds in the picture. Dave's last official duty was the swearing in of our 1998 Commodore, Ray Pryor, before turning the program over to him.
Ray introduced the 1998 Officers and Board members who each pledged to uphold the Bylaws and execute the duties of their offices for the coming year. The official program ended with the drawing for our monthly cash door prize. Congratulations, not only to all the awardees, but to all members who participated in filling this past year with many fun, fair, and competitive activities!
The remainder of the evening comprised of several hours of dancing, refreshments, and the sharing of memories to wrap up another exciting year and set the stage for new adventures in 1998! Many reminders of those memories were throughout the room as artist, and past member, Tom Johnson was again present with his original marine watercolors, prints and sketches for display and sale. Much of the artwork included Tom's original paintings of past V/MYC events.
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