Ruch New Chairman of Sporting Goods Industry Hall of Fame Committee

June 2006
For Immediate Release

MOUNT PROSPECT, IL – Randy Ruch, CEO of Schuylkill Valley Sports in Pottstown, Pa., has been elected Chairman of the Sporting Goods Industry Hall of Fame Committee. He succeeds Mickey Newsome, Chairman & CEO of Hibbett Sporting Goods, Birmingham, Ala., who had been chairman of the Hall of Fame Committee since 1998.

Ruch has been a member of the Hall of Fame Committee for five years and just completed his second three-year term on the National Sporting Goods Association (NSGA) Board of Directors.

Serving with Ruch in a leadership capacity on the Committee as Vice Chairman is Ron Menconi, Vice President of G.I. Joe’s, Wilsonville, Ore. Menconi also has served as Chairman of the NSGA Board of Directors.

Ruch announced the names of five sporting goods industry veterans who have been appointed to three-year terms on the Hall of Fame Committee. They are Jim Chandley, Nation’s Best Sports; Jim Hoff, Asics Tiger Corp.; Ralph Parks, retired retailer and now a consultant; Robert Parish, Rawlings Sporting Goods Co.; and Jim Tompkins, New Balance Athletic Shoe, Inc.

They join the current members of the Committee: Bob Carr, Sporting Goods Business/Inside Sporting Goods; Jim Corbett, Fruit of the Loom; Bob Dickman, Kesslers Team Sports; Denny Feldmann, Dick’s Sporting Goods; Lois Halinton, Sporting Goods Agents Association; Kep Harding, Kep Harding’s Sport Shops, Inc.; Tim Maloney, Tim Maloney Sales, Inc.; Davis Nees, Fitness Resource; Gary Niland, Gary Niland and Associates; Julie Nimmons, Schutt Sports; David Pfeiffer, retired from Tuffy Brooks Sports; Rusty Saunders, SportsOneSource LLC; Jack Schlicht, retired from Milwaukee Sporting Goods; and Burt Steinberg, American Rod & Gun.

The Hall of Fame Committee meets annually prior to the NSGA Management Conference & Team Dealer Summit to evaluate nominations and elect members to be inducted the following year. The official announcement of the winners is made in the Fall.

For information on the Sporting Goods Industry Hall of Fame or to obtain a nomination form, please contact Committee Secretary Paul Prince at NSGA, (847) 296-6742, Ext. 132, or e-mail: pprince@nsga.org.

Founded in 1929, NSGA’s mission is to help all members profit in a competitive marketplace. The Association organizes and hosts the annual NSGA Management Conference & Team Dealer Summit, the sporting goods industry’s premier educational and networking event (Next: May 20-23, 2007, at the Hyatt Regency Coconut Point Resort & Spa, Bonita Springs, Fla.).

For more information on NSGA member services, visit the Association home page (www.nsga.org); call Rhonda Onuszko at NSGA, (847) 296-6742, Ext. 130; e-mail: ronuszko@nsga.org; or fax (847) 391-9827.