Spirit of the Award: The Marshall Croft Sportsmanship Award is an annual award that recognizes an individual or individuals for exhibiting outstanding peer supportive qualities in the model yachting community. This encompasses the practice of good sportsmanship, judicious sailing, assistance to the recipient’s comrades, and/or exceptional contributions to the well being of the sport of vintage pond boats during the US Vintage Model Yacht Group National Regatta or over an extended period of time.
Marshall Croft: Marshall Croft was an active pond yacht sailor and builder. He was actively involved in the sport beginning in the early 1930s. Professionally he was the caretaker and gardener for an estate in Worcester, MA. In 1999, he and his wife contacted Thom McLaughlin with an interest in donating a trophy for Good Sportsmanship to be awarded perpetually at the National Regatta for the US VMYG. At the time Marshall and his wife were living in a 1960s era trailer park in Indian Rocks Beach, FL. Their small red trailer was a humble and comfortable home for two containing the display of many large silver trophies for sportsmanship given to Marshal during his sailing endeavors. While he no longer owned any of the boats he built, which included a number of John Black Cheerio designs, his life and stories were rich with the shared experiences of sailing and simple pleasures.
Guidelines:
- The Marshall Croft Sportsmanship Award Trophy is a Perpetual Trophy given out annually. The award of the trophy is to be decided by the Race Director or a representative committee during the Annual US VMYG National Regatta.
- It is the responsibility of the National Regatta Host Committee to engrave the trophy and ensure that the person receiving the award is in possession of the engraved trophy in a timely fashion for the recipient’s enjoyment during the year of award.
- It is suggested that mailing of the engraved trophy be accomplished by a US Post Office flat rate box. The recipient will receive advanced reimbursement from the host committee to mail the trophy to the next year’s National Regatta host committee, where it can be awarded again, and the cycle of engraving, and mailing will begin anew.
- It is the recipient’s responsibility to insure that the award trophy arrives at the next years host committee in an appropriate time frame.
Questions or further elaboration concerning the award should be addressed to:
John Snow – jsnowj@comcast.net, or
Thom McLaughlin – thom@sublimeboatworks.com
Please note: When the US VMYG has two regattas in one year, a second sportsmanship award may be awarded.
The Marshall Croft Award Winners
| 2000 – Marblehead, MA | Earl Boebert, Jim Dolan, Ben Martin, and John Snow* |
|---|---|
| 2001 – Tampa, FL | Earl Boebert |
| 2002 – Spring Lake, NJ | Dale Wenniger |
| 2003 – Detroit, MI | Alan Suydam |
| 2004 – Newport News, VA | John Atwood |
| 2005 – Solomons, MD | Parker McClellan |
| 2006 – Solomons, MD | Dave Querin |
| 2007 – Marblehead, MA | Earl Boebert |
| 2008 – Spring Lake, NJ | Thom McLaughlin |
| 2009 – Solomons, MD | Thomas Younger |
| 2010 – Mystic, CT | Andrew Charters |
| 2011 – Spring Lake, NJ | Harry and Alice Mote |
| 2012 – Marblehead, MA | Graham Reeves |
| 2013 – Spring Lake, NJ | Domenick Bonanno |
| 2014 – Downingtown, PA | Thom McLaughlin |
| 2015 – Marblehead, MA | Biff Martin |
| 2016 – Spring Lake, NJ | |
| 2016 – Downingtown, PA | |
| 2017 – Marblehead, MA | |
| 2017 – Spring Lake, NJ | |
| 2018 – Marblehead, MA | John Stoudt |
| 2019 – Honey Brook, PA | David S. Brawner (posthumously) |
| 2020 – No event (Covid) | |
| 2021 – Honey Brook, PA | John Henderson |
| 2022 – Honey Brook, PA | Ken Young |
| 2023 – Honey Brook, PA | Chuck Lage |
| 2024 – Vernon Lakes, IL | Jeffrey Beck |