A Short History of the Ely Extended Family NCAA Basketball Challenge!
Long, long ago, in the late 1980s, before the computer age, Ely family members were clipping out brackets from newspapers and MAILING them (envelope, stamp, etc) to Joe. He "carefully" kept score and telephoned the results to Auburn. Then on our weekly phone calls to Grandma and Grandpa we were all told the result. Joe and his branch of the family always won! We did not have the results certified but they do stand.
About 1996 Joe began an intensive search for a proper trophy for the game. At a school auction he eyed the perfect thing, a framed photo of Carol Burnett. What could be better? So Joe forked over the cash and donated it to the cause. Thanks, Joe!
And thus began the official alliance of the family with Carol Burnett.
The winner each year is obligated to keep Carol safe for a year and to mail it to the next winner in a timely fashion. Failure to do so results in a suspension for the first round of the following year's competition. So far the system has worked quite well.
The back of the photo has the names of winners engraved with Bic Ball Point Ink:
Long, long ago, in the late 1980s, before the computer age, Ely family members were clipping out brackets from newspapers and MAILING them (envelope, stamp, etc) to Joe. He "carefully" kept score and telephoned the results to Auburn. Then on our weekly phone calls to Grandma and Grandpa we were all told the result. Joe and his branch of the family always won! We did not have the results certified but they do stand.
About 1996 Joe began an intensive search for a proper trophy for the game. At a school auction he eyed the perfect thing, a framed photo of Carol Burnett. What could be better? So Joe forked over the cash and donated it to the cause. Thanks, Joe!And thus began the official alliance of the family with Carol Burnett.
The winner each year is obligated to keep Carol safe for a year and to mail it to the next winner in a timely fashion. Failure to do so results in a suspension for the first round of the following year's competition. So far the system has worked quite well.
The back of the photo has the names of winners engraved with Bic Ball Point Ink:
- 1996 Gretchen
- 1997 David Eichstadt (the first person to submit an entry electronically)
- 1998 Matt
- 1999 Joe
- 2000 Grandma Marge Ely
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| Award Ceremony at Joe's House in Indiana |
- 2001 John C. Dean (all electronic management with ESPN)
- 2002 Susan Ely
- 2003 Karen
- 2004 David T. Ely (submitted from Korea)
- 2005 Karla Dean
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| Fun with photoshop for the winner |
- 2006 Makenna Eichstadt ( youngest winner to date)
- 2007 Amy Waun
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| Award Ceremony with Makenna presenting to Amy 2007 |
- 2008 Karla Dean
- 2009 Joe Ely
- 2010 Chris Dean
- 2011 Sammy S. Ely
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| Every dog has his day! Congrats to Sammy! |
Dear Sammy Ely even made the newspaper with his win in 2011.
2012 Allison Dean
In 2012 the family was split into two camps... those for Kansas (and had KU won the winner would have been Kate) and those for the national favorite Kentucky. Allie carefully considered all the data, ran it though the predictor app on her phone (maybe) and went with Kentucky. And, as they say, the rest is history.
2013 Amy Waun
2014 Michael Andersen
2015 Nick Estrada (guest of Allison Dean)
2016 Allie Dean
2017 Anne Ely Kenlon
2018 David Ely
2012 Allison Dean
In 2012 the family was split into two camps... those for Kansas (and had KU won the winner would have been Kate) and those for the national favorite Kentucky. Allie carefully considered all the data, ran it though the predictor app on her phone (maybe) and went with Kentucky. And, as they say, the rest is history.
2013 Amy Waun
2014 Michael Andersen
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| Michael accepting Carol from Amy (Minneapolis June 27, 2014. |
2015 Nick Estrada (guest of Allison Dean)
2016 Allie Dean
2017 Anne Ely Kenlon
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| Anne accepting the 2017 award at Matt and Stephanie's rehearsal dinner, April 21, 2017. |
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| Throughout 2018 David Ely kept Carol safely in their home allowing her to view his prized Lego version of Wrigley Field. David also won in 2004 when he was stationed in Korea. |
2019 Andrew Eichstadt
Andrew is a first time winner in his 30th year of playing. By picking the state of his birth, Virginia, he was able to rise to the top.
3 comments:
My favorite moment actually occured in 2001 when we gathered for Mom's funeral. She had won Carol the year before and had her proudly displayed on a bookcase in the basement of their condo.
As family gathered for those few days, I was talking with Mom's sister Helen, a very funny and at times blunt lady. The photo of Carol caught her eye and she shifted the conversation, saying to me "What the hell is Carol Burnett's photo doing there?"
It was great fun to tell Helen the story. Not so sure Helen thought it was all that good, but I sure did.
The traveling trophy is just a fun thing and the long-term family enjoyment of Carol Burnett just makes it nicer.
Happy picking!!
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My memories, although not always pleasant, are mostly about how difficult it is for me, almost every year, to be successful with the ESPN website electronic picks system. Each year Karen seems to have to rescue me from disaster. And, once again this year I had problems, so our son John had to bail me out. Thanks, John. Now all I have to do is find someone who can tell me how to remove one of the two names which I seem to have registered there for 2011. Mother just might get a kick out of all my electronic woes!! And everyone can have a good laugh that even the dogs and cats do better than I do!!! Right???
My favorite part is the transgenerational chatter which it generates every year. That and the memory of how truly thrilled Mother was to receive the trophy in 2000. It is a grace note on the whole thing.
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