Gene Hauman (#3065)
Two phrases describe Gene Hauman: Great collector and a wonderful friend. As a collector, Gene is without parallel. Like so many of us, he started as a youth with stamp and coin collecting and discovered license plates and ALPCA as an adult. However, unlike most collectors, he has continued his world-class coin and stamp collections to this day. As a coin collector, he specializes in fractional gold currency of the California Gold Rush era. His collection is among the very best and he is a recognized expert in the field. As a stamp collector, his collections of world Special Delivery and Postage Due issues are unparalleled.
Even more impressive is Gene's friendship and mentoring as a collector, sharing his vast knowledge of his many pursuits with both novice and advanced collectors. In the world of plates, Gene is a pacesetter and has served ALPCA in several important positions. Gene was a co-founder of the Long Island Region and an active leader in the New England Region. He created the judging protocols for both regions. From 1987 to 1991 Gene served as awards chairman for the national club. In this capacity he expanded on the fine work of Mike Naughton to establish a judging system that remains the basis of the current system. Gene served on the ALPCA Board of Directors from 1993-1994.
Clearly, aside from Gene's work on behalf of ALPCA and its members, his legacy is defined by his collecting specialty and its effect on the collecting world today. In all his collecting endeavors, Gene has been fascinated with the odd, the obscure, and the rare. For license plates, he chose to collect state-issued porcelain issues, both passenger and non-passenger, from all states as one of his primary interests. Prior to Gene starting that quest, non-passenger plates were collected only by a small group who almost exclusively had an interest solely in issues of their own state. At meets, these issues were virtually unsalable, despite often being exceedingly scarce. Between Gene's zeal for these elusive beauties and his contagious warm personality and generosity, a whole new interest in non-passenger plates grew. As more and more collectors caught the bug, many previously unknown, and often one-off, issues were discovered and a whole new collecting sideline went mainstream.
Gene is a true Hall of Famer in several worlds of collecting, most certainly in the collecting of license plates.