Buck O’Neil/North Florida Chapter meeting recap – 2/11/2026
Members and guests of the Buck O’Neil/North Florida Chapter gathered on February 11, 2026, in the private room at Casa Grande Margaritas & Cocina Midtown Tallahassee for the monthly meeting. Those in attendance included:
- Matt Hudson, Chapter President
- Tom Richardson, Vice President
- Kent Putnam, Secretary
- Renee Watters, Co-Director of Communications
- Frank Alarcon
- Obrey Brown
- Gar Chisenhall
- David DeFelice
- Matt Keelean
- John Nogowski
- Chuck Rosciam
- Jason Welty
President Hudson called the meeting to order at the appointed time. He announced that Tom Richardson has accepted an offer to serve as Vice President of the Chapter, which was approved by all present.
We discussed last month’s SABR Day meeting with the panel discussion of NIL and related topics receiving high praise. Our group’s performance in the Trivia Contest was less than perfect but Obrey Brown, the contest winner, made us proud. He was presented with a Certificate to memorialize his achievement.
At last month’s meeting funds were collected from members and a donation of $630 was made to the Florida Sheriff’s Youth Ranches in memory of our long time and recently deceased member Fred Dunphy. Members told anecdotes of their life and times with Fred.
Spring Training was next. Members recalled their own experiences attended the games and talked about their hopes and worries for their favorite teams. A highlight was John Nogowski’s news that his son will be serving as a hitting coach for the Mets’ AAA affiliate.
Our attention turned to the possibility of a group of our members team teaching an OLLI class about baseball. We were asked to report back on our interest in the project and topics we might choose.
The finale was a trivia quiz about free agent movements in the current offseason. Tom and Matt Keelean came out on top.
After further discussion of the state of the game the meeting adjourned.
— Kent Putnam, Chapter Secretary