Hall of Fame performers

Some editorials should be read to the accompaniment of Pomp and Circumstance March No. 1 in D. This is one of those.

Pat Farrah will enter the Home Channel Hall of Fame at the Golden Hammer Awards Ceremony May 4, during the National Hardware Show.

The Home Channel Hall of Fame began in 2004. But there is another, older Hall of Fame that preceded ours. It was called the National Home Center Show Hall of Fame.

Of course, the National Home Center Show (no relation to us) is no longer around. But it has been suggested by one reader (thank you Bob Taylor of Do it Best Corp.) that much can be gained by a careful preservation of the uprooted Hall of Fame and the continued recognition of its corresponding members.

I agree with him. So let’s look at some names from the old list. (See the complete list at homechannelnews.com.) And there are some great names:

There’s Petro “Pete” Kulynych (inducted in 1987) of Lowe’s, who started his home improvement career as a bookkeeper and rose to managing director. Under Kulynych, the company realized its coast-to-coast retailing goal.

Richard England (1984), the son-in-law of Sidney Hechinger, himself, helped lead Hechinger into a public company in 1972. John Hechinger Sr. (1991) was Sidney’s son. In an interview with Pete Hamill in 1995, John delivered some memorable copy when he explained that “…sex is merely the sublimation of man’s desire to browse in hardware stores.”

There’s Max Ratner (1985), of Forest City Enterprises, formerly Buckeye Material Co. A philanthropist as well as respected businessman, his nephew Bruce Ratner is a big shot here in the New York City real estate scene.

Many of these names are associated with a tradition of excellence that continues. Robert Curtis (1991) of Curtis Lumber Co. took over his father’s sawmill in 1949. Now the company is under the direction of son Jay, who accepted the HCN Pro Dealer of the Year Award in 2008. And Leonard “Lanny” Gertler (1989) founded All American Home Center in Downey, Calif., in 1959. In 2009, the retailer accepted the inaugural Golden Hammer Tools of the Trade Award.

In an unusual time-lag discrepancy that perhaps has a reasonable explanation, Bernard Marcus was inducted in 1984, but Arthur Blank wasn’t inducted until 1992. Both men were inducted together in the Home Channel Hall of Fame in 2004.

And both men worked very closely with Pat Farrah, our Home Channel Hall of Fame inductee in 2010.

The Home Depot founders’ autobiography, “Made from Scratch,” describes Farrah as “a man who can be brought to tears by a gleaming stack of pliers.”

The name “Pat Farrah” is guaranteed to come up again and again when you talk to Home Depot employees from the early days of the company. It certainly did when we talked to them. An article in our December issue painted Farrah as an executive who liked to roll up his sleeves, experiment on the fly and move merchandise out the door. (See senior editor Brae Canlen’s article)

There is no objective criteria or requirement for the Home Channel Hall of Fame. But we know a Hall-of-Famer when we see one. It’s the way they shape the industry, develop future leaders or connect with their peers and the public.

And we see one clearly in Pat Farrah.