PROBE Barbershop

PROBE 2000 Outstanding Achievement Awards

What are achievement awards? These are not part of the PROBE competitions, but are a reincarnation of the former International PR awards. They are recognition of special efforts which go "beyond the call" to be of service to barbershoppers, or which promote barbershop singing in a good light to large numbers of people. They range from behind the scenes work by individuals to national television appearances by several groups. How many of the following do YOU recognize?
Acoustix (Todd Wilson, Rick Middaugh, Jason January, Joel T Rutherford) for performing on ABCs Millennium 2000 Broadcast New Year's Eve seen in 63 countries and by an estimated 175 million people world-wide.
Steve Denino creator of HARMONIZE.COM, the first free web host (that we know of) allowing chapters, quartets and barbershop organizations, including PROBE, to get "on-line". HARMONIZE.COM now supports over 300 Barbershop web sites.
Jack Wilcox for coordinating and promoting the Mason City, Iowa "Music Man Chorus" performance for the dedication of the Meredith Willson's Music Man Square Celebration June 2-4, 2000
The Dapper Dans of Disneyland [Shelby Grimm, Tim Reeder, Jim Campbell, Bill Lewis] and Disney World [Neel Tyree, Keith Hopkins, Paul Hesson, Joe Hudgins, Aaron Stratton, Buddy Seeberg, Dan Bullock, Steve Culpepper] for continuing to perform for hundreds of thousands of people each year and professionally promoting the barbershop style.
Jim Nugent of the Greater Ozarks Chapter who coordinated his chapter's distributing hundreds of the "et America Singing ... Again" songbooks during the fall of 1999. The books went to over 60 schools in Northwest Arkansas influencing over 23,000 children and their parents.
Metropolis (James Sabina, Bob Hartley, Mike McGee, Brian Philbin) December 16, 1999 appearance on NBC-TV program, Diagnosis Murder, with Dick Van Dyke.
The Singing Buckeyes,
The Ritz, Metropolis
and Greg Lyne
(over 120 barbershoppers) for their landmark tour of Russia and performance at the St. Petersburg Conservatory of Music in July of 1999.
Dan Daily for serving as the Society's HARMONIZER editor for 10 years.
Masters of Harmony for their entertaining appearance on the 1999 Jerry Lewis Muscular Dystrophy Labor Day Telethon for 95 million people.
Riptide (Eric King, Tim Reynolds, Richard Lewellen, Jeff Selano) for an outstanding appearance on "CBS Saturday Morning" on October 9, 1999.
The Gas House Gang (Kipp Buckner, Rich Knight, Jim Henry, Rob Henry) for a great performance on NBC's Today Show that aired Saturday, Feb. 19th,. 2000.
Phil Byrd and Janet Shapiro of Brandenburg Productions, for the sensitive story-telling and excellent production values of CAN'T STOP SINGING, a PBS Special that aired nationally in August 1999.
Dean Snyder [posthumously] SPEBSQSA Historian Emeritus, for a lifelong effort of thinking, writing, and proselytizing the barbershop style.
Ruth Blazina-Joyce retired as curator archivist after 11 years of service. Ruth's responses to hundreds of research requests encouraged a public understanding of barbershop harmony based in historical fact rather than hearsay and conjecture.
Charlie McCann of Nashville, for pitching and delivering a wonderful Associated Press news feature distributed nationally.
Dick Taylor and Dave Stadtmauer of the Hunterdon Harmonizers of the Mid-Atlantic District for developing and hosting the Applause Radio Show, a weekly three hour broadcast of a cappella four-part harmony on station WDVR-FM 89.7 Sergeantsville, NJ and heard live on the internet world-wide.
David Bowen the father of the HARMONET, the barbershop mailing list he started in 1991 which now receives posts from barbershoppers throughout the US, Canada, UK, NZ, Australia, Germany, the Netherlands, Sweden, Saudi Arabia and South Africa with over 2600 subscribers.