The World Floor Covering Association’s recent 50th anniversary celebration in Scottsdale, Ariz., was a tremendous event for a group that has grown and flourished within the industry. The celebration was attended by more than 210 industry professionals and executives, including 32 of the association’s 46 past presidents, chairmen and directors from the original Western Floor Covering Association and the American Floorcovering Institute (formerly the Retail Floorcovering Institute) which merged to become the WFCA as it is known today.

Past presidents/chairmen, front row: Scott Bryan; Willis Kerr; Ron Leach; Mitchell Brown; Wally Herder; Paul Pumphrey; Judy Knowles; Vikky Green; Chuck Griffith; John Allen; Glenn Phillips; LaVone Pirner; Carl Biggs; Red Marron; Pat Kerns; Arlon Miller. From left, back row: Dennis Blake; Brooks Mancini; Bob Hill; Haig Pedian; Marvin Taylor; Jeff Cowan; Jerry Holte; David Alton; Bill Mainzer; Cal Chamberlain; Riley Gazzaway; Aaron Pirner; Gary Wasmund; Dick Bray; Tom Jennings.

The daylong celebration also included a board of directors meeting providing a view of the current efforts of the World Floor Covering Association. Some of the key association programs reviewed were its recently completed 2009 Female Shopper Ideal Showroom Experience Research Study; its efforts to promote the HIRE Act (The Home Improvements Revitalize the Economy Act of 2009) in Congress; industry relations - B2B programs; WFCA services; the member scholarship program; and the ongoing Surfaces sponsorship.

WFCA board of directors, from left: Harold Chapman; Paul Johnson; Dennis Blake; Brooks Mancini; Scott Steel; Janice Clifton; Tom Garvey; Terry Wheat; Phil Koufidakis; Cam Crenshaw; Eric Langan; Scott Walker; Richard Akel; Daniel Kennedy; Bob Weiss; Sam O’Krent; Fred Schmidt; Kelby Frederick; Nick Freadreacea; Jim Walters.

The reception/dinner in the evening featured a glimpse of association history through a video presentation of vintage photographs and slides from the group’s first 50 years. The event culminated with the posthumous induction of Marvin Berlin of New York Carpet World into the World Floor Covering Association Industry Hall of Fame. He was inducted by friend and fellow Hall of Famer Peter Spirer. Berlin is the 37th inductee into the Hall of Fame, a virtual who’s who of the flooring industry.

Pictured are WFCA past chairman David Alton; Mary Alton; Cynthia Peterson, and Tom Peterson during the evening celebration.