Hello Eddy Arnold fans.  A number of you who worked relentlessly to have Eddy receive the Kennedy Center Honors in 2002 are as disappointed as I.

Many of you believe that politics played no part in the selection of this year's nominees.

I never once believed that politics was involved until this year.

Eddy has been recommended for this award every year since the middle of the 80s.  A young man, Bill Shoop, worked tirelessly each year and contacted Eddy's manager the late Jerry Purcell.
I first met Bill in 1992, backstage at the Tupperware Theater in Orlando, Florida.  Eddy had just finished a fantastic show and a few of his fans were allowed backstage by his manager, Jerry.

Since first meeting Bill, we would communicate with each other during the years. In November of 1997, my son, Bruce, and I began building this website to honor a living legend, Eddy Arnold.  We also designed the website for the purpose of promoting Eddy.  The site was open to the public in March 1998.  In my mission statement I commented that one of the reasons that this site was placed on the Internet was to let fans around the globe realize that Eddy had received very few honors and awards when you considered his many accomplishments.

Thanks to Bill Shoop and the people he has contacted since the middle 80s, the Kennedy Center has received requests every year to grant this honor to Eddy.

In 2001 I was confident that Eddy would be a nominee thanks to Bill Shoop, the people he personally contacted, and this website.  Well, it didn't happen.

In late 2001 and early 2002, Frank Cunningham took up the task of getting Eddy this honor.  Frank is a professional in this type of work.  He is very organized, focused, talented and he selected his people beginning with Bill Shoop and the cooperation of this website.  Frank was able to also recruit Nancy L. Richardson, Don Stewart, and dozens of other hardworking fans who helped Frank in this endeavor.

Frank and his team acquired letters of endorsements from US Senators, US Congressman, State Governors, State Legislators, journalists, authors, and thousands of Eddy Arnold fans.

I was so confident due to this activity that there was absolutely no way the Kennedy Center could reject Eddy once again.  I was devastated when they announced the nominees for 2002 and Eddy was not among them.  They only chose five people this year and in previous years they have chosen as many  as six  or seven people.  So why wasn't Eddy chosen this year along with the other five?

For the first time I am now convinced that politics played a major role in Eddy's rejection.  This is so unfortunate as there is not a living person who is more deserving of this honor.

I know there are some fans who do not agree with me on this matter and I invite you to email me at <Bill830@aol.com> with your comments and I will post them on this website.

Bill Comer