Barbershopper of the Year

The highest honour ever accorded to a member of the Northland Chorus is to be awarded the Barbershopper of the Year trophy, a work hand-crafted by now-deceased chorus member Ross Christie.  It is awarded annually in memory of the late Eugene Haines, a long time chapter member and chorus director.  It recognizes, in the words of 2015 BOTY Al Murray: 

" dedication to our chorus and craft, not just this past year but more importantly for all the years he has been with us. In other words, true dedication."  

The chorus nominates candidates for this award and the final selection is made by a committee comprised of the Chapter President and the past two BOTY recipients.  The criteria which guides their selection and the current nomination form are available at the links below.

 

The 2024 Barbershopper of the Year
 

 

PAULI VALLI

Incoming 2024 Barbershopper of the Year Pauli Valli (left) with Folgo Della Vedova - Chapter President (right). June 10, 2024

 

 President Folgo (left) and 2024 BOTY: Pauli Valli

                                                                                                    

  President Folgo (left) with 2024 BOTY Pauli (centre)
and co-winner of the 2019 BOTY Dan Lance

The text of the speech made by outgoing Barbershopper of the Year, Dan Lance, in announcing this year's recipient at the year end BBQ in June 2024 is as follows:

 

Good evening, ladies and gentlemen, it is my honour this year to present the Barbershopper of the year award. My name is Dan Lance and I had the pleasure of sharing this award in 2019 with another lead Alex Trecroce. It is truly rewarding to be recognized for not only your hard work throughout the year, but also to be part of a great chorus that brings so much joy to others.

 

The recipient of this award has been doing a great deal of work behind the scenes throughout the years to ensure that members of the chorus are prepared for the show, are out in the community and taken care of after practices.

 

He has been a member of the chorus for approximately 10 years now and maintains an attendance record of 90% since he first began. He always has a smile on his face, asks how you are, has a wonderful sense of humour and camaraderie with the boys. This member is the epitome of kindness and decency – truly a gentleman.

 

Despite receiving the honour of being constantly kicked by our director – you’re singing a chorus note, its just not YOUR note! He laughs off his mistakes and his dedication to try harder both at practice and at home with the assistance of his wife is even more admirable. As with many of us with health challenges, he has never let illness get in his way of his commitments on a Monday night.

 

This member’s “behind the scenes” work also includes looking after the coffee and cleaning up after practices, attending board meetings and arranging sing-outs at the Finnish rest home, which probably wouldn’t happen, and most members would agree, if it were not for the Finnish bread after our sing!

 

He is our, “go to guy” when it comes to tuxes, or maroon shirts….need a size bigger? He has it for you! Probably because of all that Finnish bread! By the way, God bless your wife for agreeing to store our uniforms, she gets half of this award! Someone has to be picked up, dropped off or need a lift somewhere? He’ll go out of his way to make sure it happens.

 

This gentleman does not take being a member of the Northland Barbershop chorus lightly. His dedication and commitment to the chorus has not gone unnoticed. If you look in the dictionary under activation – his face is there!

 

Ladies and gentlemen please join me in congratulating the recipient of 2024 Barbershopper of the year award:  Mr. Pauli Valli.

Barbershopper of the Year Award Winners - Revised 2025.pdf

Barbershopper of the Year Award Winners - Revised 2025.docx

Barbershopper of the Year Award - Criteria Guidelines - 2025.docx

BOTY Nomination Form - Revised 2025.docx

 

Past Barbershopper of the Year Recipients:

 

1965       Art Bodley

1966       Ken MacPherson

1967       Don Bazely    

1968       Gordon Saxby

1969       Ed Briggs

1970       Ross Christie  

1971       Not Awarded

1972       Ed Cloutier

1973       Richard Metcalfe

1974       Joe Rogers

1975       John Greco

1976       Eugene Haines

1977       Gerry Clowes

1978       Al Binkley

1979       Wes Triplett

1980       John Tully

1981       Ernie Guzzo

1982       Doug Iles

1983       Barney Coulter

1984       Bob Cameron

1985       Don Bazely

1986       Bob Shami

1987       Al Carscadden

1988       Jim Duncan

1989       Capt. Cliff McLean

1990       Paul Stabile

1991       Barney Coulter

1992       Bob Martin

1993       Bob Shami

1994       Dan Rae

1995       Mike Luther

1996       Sean McMurray

1997       Loyal Beggs

1998       Bill Webb

1999       Doug Iles

2000       Ross Christie

2001       Bernie Arbic

2002       Al Toivonen

2003       Art Fink

2004       Jim Lake

2005       Bob Holley

2006       Peter McLarty

2007       Wes Triplett

2008       Folgo DellaVedova

2009       Jim Schmidt

2010       Don Myers

2011       Ted McKinney

2012       Don White

2013       Mickey Contini

2014       Kevin Collar

2015       Al Murray

2016       Al Carscadden

2017       Layne Hill

2018       Jesse Lethbridge

2019       Dan Lance & Alex Trecroce

2020-2023  Not awarded due to Covid

2024       Pauli Valli

2025