It was about a year ago that the TI99ers Hall of Fame was formally launched.  My innocent comment on the Yahoo list server about the need for a Hall of Fame prompted a few other TI99ers to say 'Why not?' A bit over 20 years had passed since Texas Instruments had decided to discontinue the production of its TI-99/4A Home Computer and devotees of this remarkable computer were still exchanging information and developing new equipment.  It was felt that many had contributed to this longevity and they should not be forgotten.  

In November 2003 a small organizing group started to work writing some governance rules and setting the groundwork for our web site.  More members were added to form a Board of Governors and a decision was made that the Board should nominate the initial inductees before the formal launching of the TI99HOF during March 2004.  The initial inductees were: Art Green, Lee Kitchens, MICROpendium, Beery Miller, Jim Peterson and Lou Phillips.  During the fall of 2004 Bill Gaskill and Tony McGovern were inducted and recently Charles Good and Cheryl Whitelaw were added.  

Our rules require that each inductee needs approval by over eighty percent of the votes cast by members of the Board of Governors and that a biography describing the accomplishments and contributions of each inductee should be posted on the web site.  Initially our rules required that this biography should be completed before a vote was taken.  A few months ago we changed our rules to allow a vote to be taken before the submission of a final biography but required that formal announcements not be made until the biography was finalized.  We had hoped that members of the TI99er community would prepare these biographies although members of the Board were and are still willing to give a hand.  For the most part this did not happen and as a result many deserving persons or organizations have not yet been recognized.  If you feel that you can help us by contributing details about a deserving nominee, please let us know.  There is always somebody willing to work with you to make a nomination and subsequent induction happen.  There are now ten inductees in the TI99HOF and by any conservative estimate there should be at least three times this number or even more inductees.  

This TI99HOF is provided as a service to members of the TI99er community.  Those who helped in providing this service during the past year and in some cases during the previous organizing period are: Jacques Groslouis, Chair, Tom Wills, Webmaster, Ron Reuter, Glenn Bernasek, Beery Miller, Dan Eicher, Tim Tesch, Peter Killick, Don O'Neil, Dallas Phillips and Chris Schneider.   I would like to thank each for their contribution and, in particular, to mention Tom for developing the web site and Glenn for preparing presentation certificates.  We are always looking for more members for the Board of Governors.  If you have an interest in helping, please let us know.  The pay is very, very low but the rewards are great.  

Respectfully submitted,

Jacques Groslouis
Chair 2004-2005, TI99HOF
March 7, 2005