Recipients of the Edgar Hetteen Memorial Award of Merit
Edgar Hetteen was one of the true pioneers of snowmobiling and this very prestigious special award by ISHOF honors those individuals or companies for their unique contributions to the sport. It is specially named for Edgar Hetteen for all his contributions to snowmobiling and given for special recognition for accomplishments and years of service in a variety of categories to those who follow the vision of Edgar Hetteen. This special award is sponsored by ISHOF Founder, Elmer Cone and Family and the Iron Dog Brigade.
John Dee - 2024 Award
Jacobsville, Michigan
Jacobsville, Michigan
John Dee
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John started his website, www.johndee.com in the mid 1990’s in order to share his profession as a meteorologist and passion for snowmobiling. He brought those two things together along with a compliment of his real life firsthand experiences. John never claimed that his forecasts were flawless, was always very humble and tried to only communicate what he thought would happen based on the current weather models. The forum portion of his website allowed him to share and allowed viewers to share as well, creating what would become known as the John Dee Family, a group of snowmobile enthusiasts and winter lovers in general. John’s website was so inviting it made visitors feel like they knew him through his website without actually meeting him. John always had a positive attitude and a warm smile on his face, always eager to give back. His annual Make A Wish “John Dee Ride-In” will be fondly remembered as it always focused on making wishes come true for kids who were fighting critical illnesses. John also served as President of the Keweenaw Snowmobile Club which was responsible for grooming the trails from Tapiola to Copper Harbor, the most miles maintained by a single club in Upper Michigan. He genuinely loved snowmobiling, tracking winter weather patterns and bringing snowmobilers together. John’s forecasts (favorable or not) were appreciated by local commerce as well. John brought nothing but positivity to snowmobiling, was a true ambassador of the sport and most deserving of the 2024 Edgar Hetteen Memorial Award of Merit.
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Alain & Denis Boivin - 2023 Award
Levis, Quebec |
Alain Boivin
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Denis Boivin
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Founders of AD Boivin Inc. For 25 years, these two brothers and their company paid little attention to the conventional and incremental improvements in snowmobile technologies. Starting out on their father’s farm working on mechanical systems, they gained an understanding of how things worked and together they engineered improvements on making them work better. In the early years, Alain and Denis applied their skills to the automotive and snowmobile industry. They built custom race cars and twin track oval racing snowmobiles converting them to trail friendly sleds. The brothers had a very innovative approach in everything they built, especially when it came to snowmobiles. In the 1990’s they strived to find new technical advances when it came to suspension designs. They built and marketed entirely new kits that vastly improved the performance of other manufacturers’ snowmobiles. Two of their rear suspension designs called the Expert and the Expert X were licensed to Bombardier/BRP in the late 90’s. They went on to design monoshock rear suspension designs patterned after ones used in motocross motorcycles. This same type of suspension design inspired them to build a complete snowmobile. From this technology came the Snow Hawk, the first real “snow bike” to enter the snowmobile industry. Since then, the brothers Boivin turned their attention toward developing track systems for ATVs and pick-up trucks. It was their drive to think differently and ignore conventional technologies. It pushed the other sled manufacturers to develop more and better features for their snowmobiles, which benefited the consumer. It is this kind of “out of the box” engineering that makes Alain and Denis Boivin most deserving of the International Snowmobile Hall of Fame’s 2023 Edgar Hetteen Memorial Award of Merit.
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Bill McFarlane - 2022 Award
Franconia, New Hampshire
Franconia, New Hampshire
Bill McFarlane
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Bill started snowmobiling in 1981 with Tug Hill, New York as his first destination on a Moto-Ski Mirage. Three years later he and his wife Juliedele made their first trip to the Saguenay Region in Quebec. That’s when they became the first American members of the Saguenay Snowmobile Club in which they have been active ever since. Bill and Juliedele's main residence is New Hampshire but spend most of the snowmobile riding season at the Delta Saguenay Hotel in Jonquiere. His personal love for snowmobiling coupled with his outgoing personality made him a champion of active promotion of this sport for more than 30 years. After he gets his own day of riding in, you will find “Saguenay Bill” in the lobby of the Delta Hotel sharing valuable trail riding information with any and all touring snowmobilers who stop in. Bill keeps up on the latest trail developments such as grooming updates, weather, restaurant recommendations, fuel and dealer locations. When he gets a break from personal contact with guests at the hotel, he is busy returning phone calls, answering emails and posting on social media, all in an effort to insure folks riding in the Saguenay Region have the safest and best snowmobile riding experience possible. In 2019 the Saguenay Snowmobile Club and local tourism group renamed a 65 kilometer trail the “Bill Trail” after “Saguenay Bill” for his contributions to the region. Bill’s in-depth knowledge and willingness to share makes him the ultimate ambassador of snowmobiling and most deserving of the 2022 Edgar Hetteen Memorial Award of Merit.
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Mickey Rupp - 2021 Award
Mansfield, Ohio |
Mickey Rupp
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Mickey Rupp started Rupp Manufacturing in 1959 with 8 employees in Mansfield, Ohio, building go-karts and mini-bikes. By 1964 Rupp Mfg. built about 50 prototype snowmobiles which turned into 500 “first year” sleds for the 1965 model year. Mickey felt confident he could improve on snowmobile designs that other manufacturers were currently using, with an emphasis on performance. This was to be done by making them more light weight employing aluminum tunnels and bulkheads. Also, he was one of first sled manufacturers that designed an aerodynamic down swept hood. This would give the machines a sportier look and allow the drivers to see better in front of them rather than the common boxy designs of the time. By 1969, Rupp Manufacturing had grown to over 400 employees producing models of the Rupp Sno-Sport snowmobiles as well as their go-karts and mini-bikes. In 1970, Mickey Rupp had taken Rupp Mfg. to 30 million dollars in sales, producing 35,000 snowmobiles. Mickey Rupp rode and tested all his own products along with his employees. He was always innovating and engineering new prototypes. RUPP is still a recognized name in the snowmobile industry today. Mickey Rupp’s performance driven sled designs pushed the other larger snowmobile manufacturers to build a more sporty recreational type snowmobile. This warrants Mickey Rupp the recipient of the 2021 Edgar Hetteen Memorial Award of Merit.
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James Lewis - 2020 Award
Springfield, Missouri |
James Lewis
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Jim graduated in 1958 from the engineering program at LeTourneau University in Longview, Texas. In 1962, he took a job with Dayco Corporation in Springfield as an applications engineer. In his career with Dayco, Jim shared the honor of having six U.S. patents, including an asymmetric belt transmission, which he helped Dayco patent. Then he was granted patents on design applications built for snowmobile testing and patents for the design of several types of snowmobile belts. By 1964, during his time with Dayco, Jim worked with Polaris Industries testing and evaluating variable speed drive belts on their snowmobiles and eventually in 1991 did the same with Bombardier. Jim was the first engineer to design "Top Cog" belts for snowmobiles which are today's standard on all snowmobiles. Jim retired from Dayco in 1992. Throughout his 30 years at Dayco, Jim worked with iconic snowmobile legends from Polaris and Arctic Cat such as Edgar Hetteen, Allen Hetteen, Bob Eastman, Leroy Lindblad, Larry Rugland, Roger Skime and Charlie Lofton. It is because of these distinguished accomplishments, we are awarding the 2020 Edgar Hetteen Memorial Award of Merit to James Lewis.
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Woody's - International Engineering & Manufacturing - Robert Musselman - 2019 Award
Hope, Michigan |
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Established in 1968 in the small town of Hope, MI by Jim Musselman and Woody Kozlow, International Engineering and Manufacturing, Inc. has grown to be known for one of their most popular products as simply Woody's. Using their metallurgy skills and knowledge, they soon developed a carbide runner followed shortly with a carbide tip stud for the racing side of snowmobiling. These two products set the standard for traction control that remains today. Now, under the 3rd generation of family ownership and leadership, the company has grown to 53 full-time employees. Their traction control products dominate both the racing and recreational needs of snowmobilers. Their quality products are produced and marketed with high integrity. Woody's can count over 25 US and Canadian patents. Attesting to their success is the fact that the people in leadership at Woody's are snowmobilers. They ride. They are recreationists. They have a passion for the sport and for producing quality products for their customers to enjoy with added safety. For these reasons, we are happy to award International Engineering and Manufacturing, Inc. and their famous trademarked products under the Woody's brand, the 2019 Edgar Hetteen Memorial Award of Merit.
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Bill Schumann - 2018 Award
Manitowish Waters, Wisconsin
Bill Schumann
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Few people, if any, can provide as long a list of accomplishments, offices held, programs founded, clubs developed, challenges conquered and awards received than Bill Schumann of Manitowish Waters, Wisconsin. His snowmobile journey started in Illinois where he helped to unite 90 snowmobile clubs into the Illinois Association of Snowmobile Clubs (IASC) which he served five terms as President. His many programs there included receiving $67,000 in grant monies for their trail system, a state trail map, assistance for club operation and maintenance costs of groomers and chairing the 1993 ISC in Illinois. In 1992, Bill was inducted into the Iron Dog Brigade and has served several officer capacities with that organization. In 1997, he was honored by induction into the IASC Hall of Fame. Bill's penchant for preserving the old sleds of the sport was evident when he became a charter member of the Antique Snowmobile Club of America (ASCOA) and served as its President in 1993. He coordinated the club's reenactment of the first Eagle River Derby race. Bill's honors continued when, in 1995, he was honored as the United States Snowmobiler of the Year, the ASCOA Distinguished Service Award and the Harry Knoll Award for outstanding service. Bill moved to Manitowish Waters in Northern Wisconsin in 1998 and quickly continued his involvement in organized snowmobiling becoming treasurer of the Association of Wisconsin Snowmobile Clubs (AWSC), then its President from 2008 to 2010. In 2016, his Manitowish Waters Snowmobile Club dedicated a major bridge crossing as the "Bill Schumann Bridge" with a plaque in his honor for all of his dedication to the sport of snowmobiling. He is a charter Director of the International Snowmobile Hall of Fame and has served as its President until a recent retirement. Bill Schumann's unselfish dedication to the sport of snowmobiling has brought him many honors and awards. He now adds another to that list as recipient of the Edgar Hetteen Memorial Award of Merit.
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Shelly Brandstrom - 2017 Award
Bovey, Minnesota
Shelly Brandstrom
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Elmer Cone may have founded ISHOF, but his daughter, Shelly, was the office manager and person behind the scenes that was as much, if not more so, the foundation and guiding hands that made the program a success. Shelly was instrumental in organizing the progress of the ISHOF, keeping all business records, locating funds, setting budgets, formulating a business plan, writing all promotional pieces and press releases, organizing the annual induction program, and all the other behind the scenes, but so very important, administrative details that have allowed ISHOF to achieve and sustain its goals; All this in addition to her duties as office manager of the family's construction business and a mom. She also volunteered at two local clubs and even helped her husband clear and groom their snowmobile trails. She may not have been on the front lines of ISHOF, but she was its center and foundation. For her untiring efforts to promote and build the ISHOF and her father's vision, Shelly Cone Brandstrom is the recipient of the inaugural Edgar Hetteen Memorial Award of Merit.
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