ACF Nationals 2003: Carper Award

rsbhan <*no_reply_at_yahoogroups.com*> · Mon, 21 Apr 2003 19:47:19 -0000

At the tournament, the Academic Competition Federation presented this 
year's Gordon Carper Award, given to an individual for meritorious 
service to the game of quizbowl, to Eric Hillemann of Carleton 
College.  Eric was selected as this year's recipient by a panel 
of "quizbowl elders".  The recipient of the Carper Award is not 
necessarily affiliated with ACF.

On behalf of ACF, I'd like to congratulate Eric on this achievment.  
Eric joins the ranks of such illustrious recipients as Gordon Carper 
(the first recipient and namesake), Carol Guthrie, and Robert 
Meredith.

I would also like to take this opportunity to thank Charlie Steinhice 
of U. Tennessee-Chattanooga for running this year's selection 
procedure.  Charlie put together a summary of Eric's quizbowl career, 
which I've pasted below.

Congratulations once again to Eric Hillemann.

R. Bhan
Editor
ACF Nationals 2003

Eric Hillemann has been named the winner of the Dr. N. Gordon Carper 
Lifetime Achievement Award for 2003.  The Carper Award was 
established by the Academic Competition Federation (ACF) in 1999 to 
honor individuals "for meritorious services in sustaining and 
enriching collegiate academic competitions".  The award is presented 
annually to a member of the quizbowl community who exhibits the kind 
of dedication to and long-term support of academic competitions as 
exemplified by career of Dr. Carper.  The Carper Award, while 
sponsored by ACF, is not limited to individuals with ACF affiliations.

Eric has served as quizbowl coach since 1990 at Carleton College in 
Northfield, Minnesota, where he is the college's Archivist.  In the 
13 years he's coached there to date, Carleton has won 20 tournament 
titles and one national championship (the 1999 NAQT undergraduate 
title.)  They are among the few schools, and certainly the smallest, 
to qualify at least one Division I team for NAQT's Intercollegiate 
Championship Tournament in each of the tournament's seven years to 
date.  As coach, Mr. Hillemann has not only produced successful teams 
and developed good question writers, but also set a tone that 
perpetuates a team culture based on positive attitude and good 
sportsmanship foremost.

Eric's addiction to quizbowl began in graduate school at the 
University of Wisconsin in the 1980's, first as a player,  then as an 
assistant coach when Wisconsin won the College Bowl national 
championship in 1986.  Owing to his late introduction to the game, he 
played in just 2 purely collegiate tournaments, but has since played 
with considerable success in some three dozen open tournaments.  More 
pertinent to his selection for the Carper Award, however, is that he 
has served as tournament director for 36 tournaments and primary 
editor for over 20 tournament sets.  After a three-year stint as an 
ACUI regional coordinator for College Bowl in the mid-1990's, he has 
been heavily involved with NAQT (National Academic Quiz Tournaments), 
serving as Vice President for Development and Chief Editor.

Eric's quizbowl distinctions include his status as the only person to
have moderated national championship finals in each of the three major
academic formats (NAQT, ACF, and College Bowl), and as one of only a
handful of people to have won an open team tournament while playing
solo.  He has contributed a number of innovations to the game in
coaching (such as his infamous 500-question diagnostic tests, and his
frequency-of-mention of titles databases) and in tournament formats 
(he invented both the "Deep Bench" style team tournament, and what is 
now known as the Hillemann-style singles tournament.)  He has hosted 
five years of the Carleton Undergraduate Tournament, with a format 
designed to attract new or less active programs by restricting the 
size of teams with more experienced players.  He is most proud, 
however, of being the "father" of two innovations pioneered by NAQT:  
the undergraduate national title, and "Division II" competition for 
less-experienced players.

Eric has also been a "Jeopardy!" champion and a successful "Who Wants 
to Be a Millionaire" phone-a-friend lifeline, having helped his friend
Kevin Olmstead toward a $2.18 million payoff, the largest prize in TV 
game show history.

Mr. Hillemann becomes the fourth winner of the Carper Award.  The 
first honoree (1999) was the namesake of the award, Dr. N. Gordon 
Carper of Berry College.  The 2000 honoree was Dr. Carol Guthrie of 
the University of Tennessee; the 2001 honoree was Dr. Robert Meredith 
of the Georgia Institute of Technology.  (The award was not presented 
in 2002.)  We congratulate Eric on his selection.