Last year it was 'Elvis' who greeted the attendees at the U.S. Harness Writers Association’s (USHWA) annual Dan Patch Awards dinner in Las Vegas, and this year on Sunday night, Feb. 25, it will be professional wrestling legend 'The Nature Boy' Ric Flair who will welcome everyone at the Rosen Shingle Creek resort in Orlando, Fla.
Flair, who will be attending the dinner as a guest of one of the honourees, is a 16-time world champion over a career that spanned 40 years and is considered by many to be the greatest professional wrestler of all time. He is a two-time inductee into the World Wrestling Entertainment Hall of Fame, first inducted in 2008 for his wrestling career and four years later as a member -- ironically -- of The Four Horsemen, a professional wrestling stable in the National Wrestling Alliance and later World Championship Wrestling.
Flair will meet and greet the attendees on the Dan Patch Awards Red Carpet. The one-hour reception begins at 6:00 p.m. and will be followed by the awards ceremony and dinner beginning at 7:00 p.m. The Red Carpet hour will be broadcast live on the Facebook pages of well-known harness names Heather Vitale and Heather Wilder. The two Heathers will roam the Red Carpet area and interview several of the award winners and attendees.
In addition, the awards ceremony, hosted by Roger Huston and Jason Settlemoir, will be broadcast live on the USHWA Facebook page, with viewing available the following day on the U.S. Trotting Association's website ustrotting.com and its YouTube page.
Information about the banquet and the entire week, which will also contain the annual meetings of USHWA, can be found at ushwa.net, including links for making hotel reservations at special rates; banquet tickets; and congratulatory or acknowledgment ads in the keepsake souvenir journal.
(USHWA)