Operating Procedures

Revised 2020

Categories

1. Athlete Modern – competed within last 20 years

          1. Must be retired from highest level of competition for at least 5 years.
          2. If the individual continues to enter “recreational or fun” events after retirement, this should not be considered against their time of retirement. The determination of what is “recreational or fun” is a Board decision.
          3. The effective date for determining the end of the 5-year waiting period is the date of the induction ceremony each year.
          4. A candidate who has been retired from competition, as determined by the Board of Directors, for 5 or more years on the date of the induction ceremony is eligible to be inducted that year.

2. Athlete-Legend – competed 21 or more years ago, or;

          1. Once an athlete who is still competing reaches the age of 50, he/she becomes eligible to be nominated for consideration in the Athlete – Legend category.

3. BUILDER – COACH, OFFICIAL, ADMINISTRATOR, REPORTER, SUPPORTER, OR FOUNDER

          1. For an individual to be considered as a Builder, they must have spent a significant amount of their “building time” in Chatham. The determination of what is “significant amount of building time” is a board decision.
          2. For an individual to be considered as a Builder, who has not had significant building time in Chatham but has achieved success at a higher level outside of Chatham, that individual may be considered for induction if his/her formative years of building were in Chatham. The determination of what is “building time in formative years” is a board decision.

4. Team – Chatham-based team that has excelled at a provincial level or higher

          1. If considering a team for induction for a period of more than one year, 90 percent of the original members must have participated on that team each year being considered.

Eligibility Criteria

    1. Anyone who has distinguished themselves in one of the 4 categories above is eligible provided they are identified with Chatham.
    2. An individual can only be nominated in one category in any one year.
    3. Once a candidate is inducted in one category, they cannot be inducted in a second category.
    4. Members of the Board of Directors or any of its subcommittees are eligible for election as Honoured Members.
    5. If, when the Nomination Committee is reviewing new nominations using the Evaluation Guideline, an individual or team does not meet a minimum standard of 25 points, that nomination will not be accepted for consideration. The committee chairman shall inform the nominator who has the right to revise the nomination and resubmit it at a later time.
    6. There is a maximum of one inductee in each category in a given year unless there is a tie for the most votes in a category, in which case all tied candidates will be inducted.

Nominations

    1. All completed nomination forms and supporting documentation must be in the hands of the Chairman of the Nomination Committee no later than May 1st of the year of induction. All nominations must be on the approved form.
    2. All properly endorsed nominations which are unsuccessful shall automatically be resubmitted by the chairman of the Nominating Committee over a three-year period.
    3. All Nominations will be tracked by points starting in 2019 for a period of three years. If after 3 years, the nomination has not received a minimum of 6 points, it will be removed from the nomination process.
    4. If unsuccessful, the nominator will be contacted and may submit an updated nomination for the candidate at any time by showing highlighted changes to the nomination.

Election

    1. Following the June meeting, a ballot, along with the candidates’ nomination packages, shall be sent to each member of the Selection Committee who will review the information and choose on the ballot his/her top three candidates.
    2. By July 1st, all ballots must be returned to the Chairman of the Selection Committee.
    3. The Board and at least one member of the Selection Committee shall summarize all returned ballots and the candidate with the highest score in each category is eligible to be inducted into the Chatham Sports Hall of Fame. If a tie for highest score occurs in the voting, all tied candidates will be eligible for induction. 
    4. By July 15th, the Chairman of the Board of Directors shall inform the new inductees and then announce the names to the media.

Directors’ Choice / Outstanding Achievement

In addition to the 4 elected inductees, the Board of Directors may select up to 2 “Directors’ Choice” inductees each year:

1. The Board of Directors recognizes that the nominee/team who competed a long time ago or competed in a relatively low-profile sport are at a disadvantage when it comes to the election process. Directors’ Choice inductees would be selected under the following conditions:

      1. they must meet our minimum qualifications for consideration for induction,
      2. they must have gone through the normal nomination process, and
      3. they must have appeared on the ballot at least once.

2. The Board of Directors also recognizes that some individuals/teams have had outstanding careers and should receive automatic induction into the Hall. When reviewing new nominations using the Evaluation Guidelines, if all Nomination Committee members:

      1. score the nominated individual with 40 points or higher or
      2. score the nominated team with 35 points or higher, the nominee/team would be recommended to the Board as a Directors’ Choice for Outstanding Achievement and would not need to go through the voting process.

3. In both cases, these individuals or teams will be inducted along with the elected inductees and will enjoy all the rights and privileges of the other Honoured Members/Teams.

Induction

In late September, the banquet and induction ceremonies shall take place at the John D. Bradley Convention Centre. When Honoured Members are inducted into the Chatham Sports Hall of Fame, they will be presented with an appropriate insignia of membership. Their portrait, a second, smaller picture, and a summary of their achievements shall be framed and hung in the Hall of Fame at Memorial Arena. At the induction ceremony, a thank-you card and memory stick of the inductee’s video presentation will be presented to each inductee.

Publication of Election

Only the Chairman of the Board of Directors or designate shall release nomination or election results for general publication. In all these proceedings, the actions of the Nomination and Selection Committees and the Board of Directors are confidential and no member of these groups shall divulge the results or other particulars of the balloting and/or selection in advance of the official release, nor shall they disclose the vote of any member at any time.