NMASA: Still no HoF nominations

Time is running out for local sports federations wanting to submit nominations for the CNMI Sports Hall of Fame.

With only one day left before the Northern Marianas Amateur Sports Association holds its first monthly meeting for 2009, NMASA president Michael White said no nominations have been submitted.

Selection for the 2009 inductee to the CNMI Sports Hall of Fame is supposed to be made in tomorrow’s NMASA meeting.

But with no nominations yet with only a day left before the selection, it seemed no new member of the CNMI Hall of Fame will be inducted early this year at the NMASA Awards Banquet.

For sports federations that will still submit nominations, these should be made in writing discussing briefly the nominee’s achievements and other valuable information worthy of naming him to the elite group.

Nominees can be athletes, coaches, administrators, or officials who are U.S. citizens or have achieved distinction as a CNMI representative. He/she must also have resided in the Commonwealth for a minimum of 10 years and is in the 35-and-above age group. Coaches and administrators must have been active in their respective sports for 15 years or more.

White in an earlier email to the Saipan Tribune said “it is important for the CNMI sporting community to recognize those among us who have excelled in sports. As the ‘best of the best’, members of the CNMI Sports Hall of Fame serve as examples to all who participate in sports, and as role models to our youth and to those who will come after them.”

The recent inductee to the CNMI Sports Hall of Fame was pitcher Tony Benavente.

Benavente held a 61-17 record in the Saipan Major League for 18 years. He is SML’s lifetime career leader in strikeouts with 816.

Benavente won his first most valuable player award in 1982 after lifting the Hafa Adai Express to the league’s first championship. His second MVP award came in 1986 and he later won the Finals MVP in 1993 and 1994. In 1995, he took the MVP honors in the Mobil Games and led CNMI to its first-ever regional baseball championship.

Meanwhile, tomorrow’s NMASA meeting is set for 7pm at the conference room of the Gilbert C. Ada Gymnasium.

Agenda include the selection of Athletes and Student Athletes of the Month and updates about the Mini South Pacific Games in the Cook Islands this year and the Micronesian Games in Palau in 2010.