It is time someone took the time and effort to publicly thank the people responsible for staring The Vizsla Club of America. It was then known as The Magyar Vizsla Club of America.

This all started a quarter of a century and most of us like to think we were too young to remember things like that far back. Thanks to people like Frank Tallman, William Olson and Jack Hatfield, the Magyar Vizsla Club was formed. The first meeting was January 16, 1954 at the Fort Des Moines Hotel, Des Moines, Iowa. They had the same type Board meetings then as now; it was reported to have started at 9:30 AM and adjourned at 11:50pm. There were eleven members present and five more were represented by proxy votes.

Frank Tallman of KC Missouri acted as President at this first meeting until elections were held. The first elected officers were President Jack Hatfield of Minnesota; Vice President Harry Holt from KC, Missouri; Secretary Charles Hunt from Illinois; and Treasurer Roy Hawkinson from Minnesota. The people were elected to serve on the first Board of Directors for one and two-year terms.

The one-year Directors were Frank Tallman,  Missouri; Dr Roger Greco, New Jersey; Roy Hawkinson, Minnesota; Charlie Hunt, Illinois; C Hayward, Washington; Mrs Sylvia Chatfield, Minnesota. The two-year members were James Garr, Missouri; William Osborn, Minnesota: and Jack Hatfield, Minnesota.

There was talk at this first meeting of having a Breed Improvement Committee. The function of such a committee was to help set up a good breeding program of the available Vizslas. Nothing I could find later stated anything more about this committee.

It was noted at this meeting that The German Pointing Dog Club would accept the Vizsla upon their acceptance by American Field, the FDSB. The second meeting of the Magyar Vizsla Club was set to coincide with the Chicago International Dog Show. No dates were given on this in the report.

I wonder what all of us now active with Vizslas in this Anniversary Year of our club would be doing in our spare time if it weren’t for these few dedicated Vizsla lovers in 1954. I want to personally thank them on behalf of all of us who now, 25 years later own, love and even sometimes cuss our Vizslas. Just like I am sure they did in their day. I also wonder what has happened to all of them. I hope that if they read or hear of this article they or their families would contact either the Editor of the VIZSLA NEWS or me. Maybe we could publish some of the letters and let everyone know what these people to whom we owe so much are doing now.

Thanking you all once more for working for our beloved Vizslas before most of us even thought of or could spell the name Vizsla.