NAC Hall of Fame
A group of people designated as worthy of inclusion in said group by Chip Beall. It is unclear what further criteria are involved--though some have been denied entrance with an implication that only one-man teams who finish highly in the tournament are eligible, the induction of two players from the same team in 1998 and 2007 seems to indicate a different standard altogether. The 2000 tournament summary states that "the Hall of Fame generally requires a player to be a standout for two consecutive seasons at Nationals, and to lead the team to the title in one of those years," though this definition does not explain the inclusion of Evans, Rutter, Harris, Powell, and Madden, who never played on a tournament-winning team. The 2003 tournament summary states that "a player cannot be selected for the Hall of Fame in his first year of competition at Nationals." Doing well on Jeopardy also appears to be a factor.
The 2008 induction of Dylan Hames marked the fifth straight year in which the captain of the tournament-winning team entered the Hall of Fame. This appears to be the new criterion.
It is also interesting to note that one could construct a list of all-time great high school (and collegiate) players who played at the NAC, did well at the NAC, are hundreds of times as good at quizbowl as the members of the NAC Hall of Fame, yet somehow did not qualify for the NAC Hall of Fame, probably due to expressing distaste with the questions. Andrew Yaphe and Jacob Mikanowski are two such people who immediately come to mind.
It is also worth noting that Beall repeatedly declared in the 1999 and 2000 tournament summaries that "only ten players have ever been elected to the Hall of Fame," yet twelve players from 1999 or before are now listed. A 2003 list of the Hall of Fame membership did not include Brad Rutter or Dave Madden. As acknowledged in the 2005 and 2006 tournament summaries, Rutter and Madden were retroactively inserted into the list after their Jeopardy! appearances, for whatever reason (likely related to Beall's extensive usage of Rutter in advertising).
List from the Questions Unlimited site:
- Mike Keller (Irmo, '85-87)
- Eric Evans (Granville, OH, '88-89)
- Jim Paluszak (Dorman, SC, '89-91)
- Matt Bruce (Booker T. Washington, OK, '89-92)
- Mark Staloff (East Brunswick, NJ, '94)
- Brad Rutter (Manheim Township, PA, '92-95)
- Brad Harris (James Island, SC, '92-95)
- Amanda Goad (Governor's School, VA, '93-96)
- Scott Petty (Houston Eisenhower '95 and Houston Memorial '96)
- Justin Powell (James Island, '95-98)
- Ryan Cooper (James Island, '95-99)
- Dave Madden (Ridgewood, 1998-1999)
- Jonathan Hess (Irmo, 1998-2002)
- Sara Sheer (Horace Greeley, 2001-2004)
- Matt Pargeter (Holland Hall, 2002-2005)
- Nate Mattison (Byram Hills, 2004-2006)
- Fuhe Xu (Harrison, 2004-2007)
- Ariel Schneider (Harrison, 2004-2007)
- Dylan Hames (Booker T. Washington, 2006-2008)