Hi,
I can tell you how Eliot entered the picture. For those who didn’t know Elliot personally, you need to know that for 30 years, he ALWAYS had a field. Elliot’s philosophy about his club was: when you join a country club to play golf, you’re not expected to cut the grass, same with his field, you paid your dues, $300/yr, in my case $600 since my son was also a member. No meetings, field clean up, etc, you pay your money and go fly.
Peter Acosta owned the land the field was on and wanted an increase in liability from $1M to $2M. Since we were an AMA charted club, Elliot called AMA and after talking to some people at HQ about getting an increase on the policy, he was told that AMA could not get a policy with $2M coverage, as they had “never heard” of anyone wanting that much coverage. After going back and forth for several weeks, the AMA told Elliot they can’t do it and if he doesn’t like it, go find it somewhere else. At this point, we’re weeks away from losing the field and Elliot finally finds SFA, calls Marsha and she says no problem, gets a policy and sends it to him. He gives it to Acosta; field saved.
Elliot calls up the AMA and asks if SFA can get a policy why can’t AMA. Their response to Elliot was to get bent. They also informed him that the AMA insurance was no longer in effect, since he now had SFA insurance and they were going to write to Acosta informing him that AMA would not cover any accidents. In addition, they were revoking the club charter if Elliot did not get rid of SFA, which, of course, he did not.
Elliot was a strong supporter of SFA, by his own admission to stick it to AMA. Everyone in the club joined SFA, since it was now an SFA chartered club.
I’m not privy to all the back room stuff that was going on but Elliot, at some point, decided to buy SFA, for whatever reason. He owned a garbage business; euphemistically called carting, in NJ in a time when people who controlled that industry last names ended in a vowel. That he was able to make a go of it speaks volumes on how he ran a business. IMHO, his good business sense was clouded by his desire to get even with AMA in buying SFA. I know, even at the end, when he was really sick, he felt he could make SFA successful. I remember I was talking to one of the lawyers and he explained that Elliot doesn’t understand that when you’re going to a gunfight, you need to bring more than a penknife. He never really had a chance against the 800-pound gorilla (AMA).
The one thing I will NEVER forgive AMA for, was their attempts to collect money from Elliot’s wife after he passed away. Her nickname was Wally and she was in dire straits, both emotionally and financially after his death, but that didn’t stop those bloodsuckers at AMA from trying to get their pound of flesh, no doubt in revenge against Elliot for getting involved in SFA. Wally was NOT involved in anything that had to do with AMA, SFA or the club and the AMA knew it but that didn’t stop them from harrasing her for money.
I don’t know what happened after Elliot’s death as the club disbanded and we went our separate ways.
All I know is it was the best “club” I’ve ever belonged to.
BRG,
Jon