Homenetmen of New York hosted the 9th Annual Homenetmen Eastern Regional Inter-chapter games July 2-5, 1999. The Games were dedicated to Yeghpayer Garbis Der Mesropian's memory. He was a dedicated lifetime Homenetmen and World Scout member, who died in 1997. The games continued despite the passing away of the Catholicos, however all dances were cancelled.
This was the first time these (US Eastern Regional) games were held in New York. In 1988 New York hosted Eastern US AND Canada's Winter Games, and in 1981 the Summer Games.
The Games kicked off on Friday morning with a golf tournament (golf is not part of the Eastern Regional Games) in which 16 people took part. Scott Zakian was the overall winner, while Gregg Alessi won the longest drive, and Hagop Manoukian won the nearest pin contest.
Tennis was the official games to start of the tournament at 1 pm, while the rest of the games started at 3 pm at Van Buren HS. Over 475 athletes took part from all 10 Eastern US chapters along with teams from Montreal and Toronto. New York dominated the games, with six teams in the tournament, and all six teams making the finals; a possible games record. Washington continued its domination in volleyball by winning for the 9th straight time in the men’s division and capturing the women’s division for the first time.
In soccer, Washington won in the men’s division, while New York came in second for the third straight year. Basketball was the highly played sport in the games, 30 teams competed in 5 divisions, and New York won 3 and lost 2. There were various individual winners in track and field, tennis and ping-pong, we will post all the winners asap.
Overall it was a good weekend despite the high (95+) tempatures, the cancellation of all social events, and numerous small problems. Homenetmen of New York did its best hosting these games, the chapter had the second most athletes (75) in the games, and is looking forward to participating and hosting future games.
For additional information you could email us at NYgames@homenetmenNY.org
