PRO FOOTBALL'S ULTIMATE FAN ASSOCIATION

RING OF HONOR MEMBER

AWARDED AS ACTIVE MEMBER OF ORGANIZATION

Monte Short (Arrowman) was a member of the inaugural Class of 1999 of our organization, was honored by the "Visa Hall of Fans" as the Kansas City Chiefs Ultimate Fan in January 1999, and was inducted into the Pro Football's Ultimate Fan Association "Ring of Honor" in 2014.  He is the first living member to receive this honor.

In 1999, Visa in conjunction with the Pro Football Hall Of Fame sponsored a new promotion called the Visa Hall of Fans award.  The charge card company, working through a select committee, would pick one fan from every NFL team to represent their team in the Pro Football Hall of Fame in Canton, Ohio.  To be selected, fans, or a third party, would submit a short essay explaining why the fan should represent their respective teams in the Hall of Fans.  The selection committee would then review essay and select the best fan for each team.  Fans and teams would then be notified, after which, most fans were honored "on the field" of a home game.

In January 1999, the first class was selected and the 31 winners were brought to the Hall of Fame for a ceremony.  The media was on hand for the presentations.  During subsequent class selections, fans were inducted in the same manner, but had to provide their own transportation to the Hall.

During the induction of that first class, the recipients enjoyed themselves and each other so much that Monte and his wife Stacie came up with the idea of having a yearly reunion of the Visa winners along with the newest winners selected each year.  The first reunion was held a few months later in August 1999.  Monte and his wife also began a quest to get the PFUFA into the annual parade held during Hall of Fame enshrinement weekend.  The parade marches through Canton and has over 150,000 people attending the sidelines.  Hometown Health Network of Canton agreed to promote the fans, and the 12th Man float was born.

Monte convinced 22 of 31 fans of that first class to come back in August.  Once again, the fans enjoyed themselves and each other so much they decided to form a group honoring that "bound" between fans.  The group came up with a mission statement:  "TO PROMOTE THE FELLOWSHIP OF ALL FANS, ENCOURAGE SPORTSMANSHIP AND SUPPORT CHARITABLE ACTIVITIES" and named themselves:  PFUFA.

It was an obvious choice and Monte was elected to serve as the group's first President and served for three years.  He has stayed active in the group and helped to shape the current Draft selection process.  He has also served a member of our Board of Directors.

It is not an exaggeration to say that Mont Short is our Founder.