In its 35-year history, the Show Jumping Hall of Fame has never had a dinner to induct those being honored. Last night, that changed forever, as 180 people packed a dining room at the Wanderers Club in Wellington, Fla., to salute not only those being installed this year, but also many of the stars who have joined the Hall’s ranks over the decades.
“It was such a wonderful idea and so well received,” commented Melanie Smith Taylor, a 1984 Olympic gold medalist and longtime Hall member.
“The electricity in the room was incredible,” said Hall of Fame Executive Director Marty Bauman.
“This was truly one of the most moving nights I have experienced in my 50 years on the show jumping circuit,” noted Show Jumping Hall of Fame chairman Peter Doubleday.
“Seeing so many of our sport’s legends together was a thrill and the inductees’ acceptance speeches were very emotional. It was a night that I know most of us will never forget.”
The dinner’s success means it will be repeated on the same weekend every year, the night after the show jumping Nations Cup. The new tradition also includes the addition of blue jackets given to Hall members (think of the green jackets received by winners of the Masters golf tournament at the Augusta National club.) The jackets were paid for with contributions from Peter and course designer Steve Stephens, both members of the Hall.
Inducted this year were Beezie Madden and the late Mason Phelps. Although Beezie, an Olympic and world championships multi medalist is still competing, the Hall allows those over the age of 55 who remain active in the sport to be honored, because so many people stay involved through middle age and beyond.
Beezie Madden gets her Hall of Fame jacket from the organization’s chairman, Peter Doubleday. (Kind Media photo)
A case in point about why that’s important involves Mason, who died suddenly last spring at age 72. The irrepressible former National Horse Show president and founder of the Phelps Sports public relations agency would have gotten such a kick out of joining the hall in person.
Marty, his close friend, spoke about Mason’s contributions. He noted that Mason was the person who brought him into the sport, and as a result played a major role in both his career and his life.
Here are Marty’s remarks, which were straight from the heart:
“It is my belief that everyone wants to be loved – especially by those we love. And everyone wants to be appreciated – especially by those we care about. This was very much the case with Mason.
“And there was no one he loved more than his many friends in the horse show world and nothing he cared about as much as the horse show world to which he devoted his life, doing everything he could to try to help it and make it better.
“There were really two keys to Mason’s success. One is that he thought big. Real big! Like having four future Hall of Famers make a grand entrance into one of his Denim & Diamonds benefits riding on the back of an elephant.
Mason Phelps at the Kentucky Horse Park, a destination that was a bold choice for the National Horse Show when he decided the show should move there. (Photo © by Nancy Jaffer)
“The other key was that once Mason decided to do something, he gave it everything he had, putting his entire being into it and spending every waking moment doing everything he could to ensure its success; whether it was his American (later International) Jumping Derby, which to this day remains unrivaled as the most spectacular horse show our sport has ever seen; or his Denim & Diamonds benefits which were the Party of the Year every year and which raised millions of dollars for the U.S Equestrian Team and other charities.
“Or Phelps Media Group, which he built into the biggest public relations agency in equestrian sports, or re-establishing the significance and grandeur of the National Horse Show.
“Being elected to the Show Jumping Hall of Fame would mean everything to Mason because it would say to him that the people he loved so dearly, love him too. And that what he accomplished in his life truly did make the horse show world better.”
Hall induction used to take place at the American Invitational, at one time the country’s signature show jumping event. When it was no longer held, the ceremony moved to the Devon Horse Show, but it was cancelled for the last two years due to Covid.
So the dinner, which listed Lauracea as a sponsor, not only inducted Beezie and Mason from the class of 2021, it also paid tribute to McLain Ward’s late mount, Sapphire, and Margie Goldstein Engle.
Margie Engle tells her joke (she is known for her jokes) as Hall Chairman Peter Doubleday looks on. (Kind Media photo)
They had missed out on their moment in the sun as members of the class of 2020. Margie took the microphone to tell a joke, something for which she is known, but asked Peter to read her acceptance speech. He does have that announcer’s voice, after all.
In the speech she wrote, Margie notes her admiration for the Hall members who are “giants in our industry.
These are horsemen and horses that we have learned from and continue to do so as we gain insights into how they had achieved success in our industry from watching how they train and how they perform.”
Sapphire’s owner Tom Grossman and her rider, McLain Ward. (Kind Media photo)
Citing the love of horses enjoyed by everyone in the dining room, she noted that has offered an opportunity to “learn some of life’s lessons of patience, kindness, faithfulness, perseverance and responsibility. The passion that we all share for them is what brings us all together.”
She thanked all those who have helped her, including her husband, Steve Engle, and also mentioned the late Dr. John Steele, a 2008 inductee, believing “he is looking down with a tear in his eye and a smile on his face as he sees Beezie and I sharing this honor.”
Marty said since the Hall was established, having a dinner had been mentioned, but it never worked out until now.
“Things happen when the time is right” he observed, and this obviously was the right time.
Melanie mentioned that in the future, she would like to see more of the young riders attend.
“They need to learn the history of the sport,” she explained.
“The awards are not just for the riders and horses, but also the people who started the organizations, who started the circuits. The course designers, the announcers, the stewards, the people who have been so influential in every aspect. It’s not just the people who are still alive, but you learn about the Gene Misches and other people who are no longer with us who made the sport what it is today.”
Laura Kraut, another show jumping multi-medalist who just won the USET Foundation’s Whitney Stone Cup for her contributions to the sport, said she originally came to the dinner just because of who the inductees were this year. But now it’s on her calendar for good.
“I will never miss this,” she vowed.
Here’s the key to who’s who in the feature photo. Front row: Beezie Madden, Karen Golding, Margie Goldstein Engle, Melanie Smith Taylor. Back row: Peter Doubleday, David Distler, Anne Kursinski, Steve Stephens, Leslie Burr Howard, Norman Dello Joio, Robert Ridland, Michael Matz.
