![]() Halsey said that Ken “was very important because he moved me from good idea into action.” Ed, in full support of the plan, helped Halsey execute the strategic vision of the idea. du Moulin, who was the manager of Dennis Conner’s 12-Metre era Cup campaigns. ![]() Halsey recalls that he was encouraged by two friends, Ken Dooley, who was then working for the Museum, and Edward I. Throughout the 1980s, Halsey revisited the concept but it was not until late 1991 or early 1992 that it finally took traction. Nothing came of fulfilling that idea until after the New York Yacht Club lost the Cup in 1983. “So the thought of all of us was, ‘There ought to be some kind of an organization that bridge the gaps between each of the contests’.” And one of the topics that arose frequently was, it was great that the America’s Cup had been restored in 12-Metre boats, but it only happened every three or four years, and in between, there was nothing. “So we, in those cold afternoon or evenings, we would huddle in the cockpit and talk about all kinds of things, what we all wanted to do after we got through sailing and what it meant to be there. And we would have to tow the yacht back in. He reflects, “In those many years when I raced on America’s Cup defenders, 12-Metre boats at Newport, we would often end up-after either a practice race or an America’s Cup race-many miles off of Newport. Halsey is often asked how it got started and why. Herreshoff and, himself, a three-time Cup winner during the 12-Metre Era, was the founder of the Hall of Fame. Halsey Herreshoff, the grandson of the legendary designer Nathanael G. I think I have the distinction of being the only sailor that ever put the America’s Cup in jail!” And I said to the state policemen, ‘What are we going to do with this for the night? Because I don’t want anything to happen to the Cup.’ So I said, ‘Is it possible, could we put it in one of your jail cells, maybe?’ They replied, ‘Sure, that’s a good idea.’ So we opened up a jail cell and put the America’s Cup in it and locked the door for the night. Halsey recalls, “So late in the evening, the Connecticut police conveyed the Cup to the our state police and myself. Halsey Herreshoff managed to have the Rhode Island State Police beg the Connecticut State Police to escort the priceless trophy from Hartford via the roads to Rhode Island. Instead the plane was forced to land in Hartford, Connecticut. The Cup was flown in from San Diego (the San Diego Yacht Club being the holder of the Cup at that time).īut due to a blizzard, the plane couldn’t land at its original destination, Providence. On display in the house’s Gold Room that night was the object that all the inductees of the Hall of Fame have devoted a significant portion of their lives in pursuit: the America’s Cup, the Holy Grail of yachting. The Governor of Rhode Island and the Mayor of Newport voiced their enthusiasm for it as well. That historic evening featured remarks in support of the Hall of Fame by America’s Cup veterans Rod Stephens, Elizabeth Morss Hovey, Ted Hood, and Bill Koch. On the snowy evening of December 13, 1992, at Marble House in Newport, Halsey Herreshoff, the president of the Herreshoff Marine Museum, announced the establishment of the America’s Cup Hall of Fame and the names of the eighteen charter inductees to nearly 500 guests. In this report by Steven Tsuchiya, Chairman of the America’s Cup Hall of Fame Selection Committee, he details how this organization got its start: Enshrining significant contributors in a Hall of Fame institution helps to preserve the history of sport.
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