SOCIAL SCENE: FTBOA Hall of Fame Reception
Members of Live Oak Stud and Live Oak Plantation, front, from left, Michelle McCavera, Virginia Moens, Stacy Amerson, Charlotte Weber and Lori Doperalski and back, from left, David Brigham, Frank Gelinas, Nicholas Sammy and Ken Shaw, pose together during the Florida Thoroughbred Breeders’ and OwnersÕ Association Hall Of Fame reception at the Florida Thoroughbred Breeders’ and OwnersÕ Association in Ocala, Fla. on Friday, Oct. 24, 2025. [Bruce Ackerman/Ocala Gazette] 2025.
The guests were a veritable “Who’s who” of the thoroughbred industry at a reception on Oct. 24 when the Florida Thoroughbred Breeders’ and Owners’ Association inducted its newest members into the FTBOA Hall of Fame.
The newest honorees are Arthur I. Appleton, Fred Brei, Gilbert Campbell, Donald Dizney, Jack Dreyfus, John Franks, Joseph LaCroix, Leonard Lavin, J. Michael O’Farrell Jr., Tim Sams, Harold Plumley, Michael Sherman, Peter Vegso, Charlotte Weber and Louis Wolfson.
Several honorees were in attendance, or were represented by family members, such as Linda Potter standing in for her father, the late Arthur Appleton.
The event took place at the FTBOA offices in Ocala and was attended by several of the organization’s board members.
The FTBOA Hall of Fame began in 1968, with a second induction in 2004. The Hall of Fame was created to acknowledge the outstanding industry stakeholders who have been instrumental to the success of Florida thoroughbreds worldwide.
(To learn the credentials of the inductees, go to our previous article: https://www.ocalagazette.com/ftboa-announces-newest-hall-of-fame-class/)
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