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In 1986 the Hall of Fame was founded under the name of United States Hall of Fame. The idea came from Elmer William Cone. He devoted much of his time since the middle 60's toward the building of snowmobile trails and preservation of other recreational resources. In 1978, Elmer was chairman of a committee, that formed the Itasca County Park and Recreation Department, again his thoughts were to enhance and protect the future of our recreational resources. Along the way, he found that there were numerous citizens like himself, that devoted much of their time to help as volunteers. It takes a lot of dedicated time to plan, map out, and engineer projects they believed in. When there were done with this, they had to present it to the government officials and the public. They would run into problems, like someone does not want it, or where does the funds come from to develop, or sustain the projects. But what was so rewarding, was they would not give up, it was something they believed in. They would find a way around problems to accomplish their goal.
One of the true stories of volunteerism is of snowmobile clubs and their membership, throughout the United States, Canada and internationally. The Hall of Fame was formed to recognize these volunteers and others. Without these volunteers, we would not have snowmobiling as we see it today.
Elmer recruited volunteers to help achieve the goal of the Hall of Fame. He first talked to Todd Driscoll, Paul Vanderlinde, and Les Ollila because they worked with him on several recreational committees. They felt this would be a positive step to recognize these volunteers and others whom have devoted so much of their time to the development of trails, machines, organizations that have helped snowmobiling. A volunteer attorney, also Elmer’s corporate attorney, helped set up the organization, Mr. John Weber. Volunteers were needed to serve on the board, and he enlisted Paul Vanderlinde, Les Ollila, Richard Beckner, Clem Lehrer, Allen Butterfield, whom were all snowmobile enthusiasts, and John Roessler.
From 1986 to 1988 the founding board, along with cofounder Todd Driscoll, worked out details, as how to present this to the snowmobilers. Also, at this time we agreed to change the name to International Snowmobile Hall of Fame (ISHOF).
During the fall of 1988 a committee was formed of board members and local citizens to review our direction. During the summer of 1989, more positive steps were being taken and in the fall we recruited other interested volunteers to serve on a committee. We set a goal for January 20, 1990 for our inaugural event, during the same time as Vinterslass, a wintertime event in Grand Rapids, Minnesota. We then proceeded to select inaugural inductees, the board members selected: Edgar Hetteen, Inventor; Ralph Plaisted, Explorer; C.J. Ramstad, Journalist.
Our next step was to design an award, our first award design was given out to our inductees incomplete, because the final design was not complete. Todd Driscoll was handling the awards, Todd informed us that Ben McKnight, of Sharper Images, said he could not perfect the awards, as we wanted them. Time was short, so Todd and Elmer discussed the awards, and decided to take a flat chunk of "ice" and break it into pieces, and what ever the pieces looked like that is what the award should look like. From that description, the award was made and they look great.
During this time Mike, Mary, and Michelle Ives, worked hard at getting the banquet and other parts together along with the Sawmill Inn personnel. The Itasca County VCB employees and Frank Allen, VCB Chairman, also assisted in working on organizing the event. The Grand Rapids Chamber of Commerce was very instrumental in helping organize, keeping account of tickets, and information to the public. The Grand Rapids Chamber of Commerce President, Bill Kirwin was our Emcee for the evening.
The Grand Rapids Vinterslass Employees and Volunteer Committee, also worked at organizing the two events together. Also, tied into the event was the Minnesota North Star Games torch run by snowmobiles, sponsored by McDonald’s fast food restaurant chain.
January 20, 1990 our inaugural event turned out to be a great success, a small biography of each inductee along with their picture, a list of sponsors and the program schedule identifying the Board of Directors was incorporated on a small pamphlet that was passed out at the ceremony.
We then started to plan for the 1991 inauguration, the date of March 2, 1991 was set for our second inauguration. A policy format was set up for nominees, and goals were set for ISHOF. The list of goals was: Policy format for inductees; provide a souvenir magazine; provide a slate of activities; have ISHOF awards produced; advertising; provide budget costs and acquire funding for the 1991 budget.
We contacted Kathy Ahern of ISIA, they worked with us by providing the names and addresses of all organizations and news outlets on file with them. Letters were sent out to all of the Snowmobile organizations, requesting they present to ISHOF a nominee for consideration as an inductee. The Board of Directors set a limit of five inductees for the induction for 1991. A selection committee of ten members from around the United States and Canada was organized to review and rate the nominee resumes, if we received more than five. Our dead line for receiving the nominees resumes was November 15, 1990.
International Snowmobile Hall of Fame presented information at the International Snowmobile Congress in June of 1990 about the Hall of Fame, its event, and purpose. This has become an annual presentation along with providing news releases and other information to the public. In 1998, the Illinois State Snowmobile Association donated a booth to help make our presentation at various events more attractive.
The Board of Directors met monthly until the first of October 1990, then every two weeks to review progress, Shelly Brandstrom, was very instrumental in organizing the progress of ISHOF, keeping records, and contacting all organizations. Her employer allowed the use of their office equipment, computers, copier, fax machine, and other office equipment, at no cost except for stamps, paper, etc. In 1991, Shelly Brandstrom was appointed to the position of Executive Secretary to the Board of Directors of ISHOF.
Elmer worked at locating funds for our budget. Shelly, Elmer and wife, Margaret, Jay Miner, and Northprint International personnel, worked at preparing a souvenir brochure representing the1990 and 1991 inductees, including the induction program, Board of Directors, and advertisements.
This souvenir brochure was revised in 1992 so each inductee had their own page, with the advertisers listed in the back. It continued in this format until the year 2000. The new format has each year’s inductees on one page with a condensed history, the new inductees still will have a full page devoted to themselves.
Throughout the years the Board of Directors has researched the feasibility of providing a "home" for the Hall of Fame. They have had many idea’s, however, if the number one priority wasn’t met, they would not follow through. This number one priority was sustainability.
A temporary "home" was found. The Swampsiders Snowmobile Club volunteered to allow the International Snowmobile Hall of Fame to display the portraits of the Members in their clubhouse. They recently have built an addition onto their clubhouse for a small museum displaying snowmobiles for the past and other snowmobile memorabilia. For more information on the hours and location of the Swampsiders Clubhouse please contact the International Snowmobile Hall of Fame.
In February 2000, the International Snowmobile Hall Of Fame brought the organization to the Internet. This site can be viewed at the following address;
This site including all pages is the property of the INTERNATIONAL SNOWMOBILE HALL OF FAME (ISHOF). Any material contained herein is protected under copyright laws. No material may be copied or reproduced in any manner without the express written consent of ISHOF.Copyright © 2000 International Snowmobile Hall of Fame (ISHOF)