Hall of Fame Inductee
by Tom Dietrich

I would like to thank all who had a hand in my hall of fame induction. It is the ultimate honor for a die hard Dutch raiser. It was especially gratifying to go in with Kevin Hooper, who is a young person with an older person's resume. I always felt Kevin and I thought a lot alike as competitors and as rabbit ambassadors. It was also good to see David Moll get a scholarship award. I always said he is a young Kevin Hooper, which is a compliment (I guess Kevin is getting older.)

I will give a brief history about myself, as having written as it seems millions of articles on Dutch rabbits, a lot of you have heard this before (I even let my rabbits write articles.) I will be 56 years old this June, raised in Hadley, Michigan, in a grocery store environment. I had quality rabbits as a kid and used them to buy the finer things in life, such as ball gloves, hockey sticks, basketballs, footballs, ballcards, etc. My first rabbit as a kid was named Tracy, a chocolate doe, whose first litter included Blackie, Inky, Chip and Snoopy. Blackie produced dominate show rabbits, Inky was the opposite of Blackie and noted motherhood was not her thing.  Chip was my favorite but was part of the supper meal one night, funny thing I never cared for rabbit meat after that. Snoopy became a dominate show rabbit after he was purchased for fifty dollars. I enjoyed the rabbits as a kid but sports in high school and college would cause me to be out of rabbits until 1976. After graduating from Michigan Sate University in 1972, I married my wife Teri in 1975, a concert pianist and artist. Dutch rabbits came back and four boys would follow. Bret, 1977, named after the race horse Bret Hanover. Bret is currently working in home land security in Arizona. Blair, born in 1979, named after a pro baseball player. Blair is currently unemployed and living at home. Scott in 1983 named after my wife's brother, Scott is working in accounting in Arizona. Benjamin born 1985, name is a compromise between wife and husband. Ben is studying to be an optometrist and is big in paintball with a trip to Tampa for a tournament and Chicago the following weekend. He could be on ESPN, very exciting times.

As an adult I worked for 31 years in the state of Michigan mental health facilities, retiring in 2002. I enjoyed my time there but it was time to move on. Other highlights included being director of Lapeer county Special Olympics for 15 plus years. Playing and managing various ball teams across the U.S. Training and racing harness horses for ten years. Coaching youth sports for thirty years.

In the rabbit world won numerous national, state, and local shows and supplied stock for others to accomplish this. I also held offices in national, state, and local clubs. I am currently a Purina Mills rabbit ambassador and I was told I was the inspiration behind the modeling of this program. Well this is getting lengthy and I probably forgot a whole lot but that will give me something else to write about. 

P.S. Thanks for the standing ovation it was appreciated and brought tears to my eyes. 

Best of everything,
 Tommy D.
 Tom Dietrich