A.B.A.T.E. of Illinois

The Rich Neb Award in 2009 was awarded to Mike Sprecher! This brother of ours has been involved in A.B.A.T.E. of Illinois since nearly the beginning. He's been riding motorcycles even longer and logged many miles, many of those miles doing the work of A.B.A.T.E. of Illinois. Mike has had near perfect attendance at the Board of Directors meetings and his chapter meetings. Many times missing out on events going on at the chapter level just to make the state meetings. He has been and continues to be a voice of reason at both chapter meetings and the Board of Directors meetings, which we often have needed. He has made numerous trips to Washington DC to help with our legislative needs with Senators and Congressman and the work of the MRF. Mike has helped start two chapters in central Illinois and assisted a few others in formation. He has also helped a lot of yards signs pop up around election time. Mike was involved in defeating the ATV ban in East Peoria, the noise ban in Peoria, along with several other issues. When you see Mike thank him for all that he has done for ALL motorcyclists throughout the state of Illinois and our great country. For if it was not for dedicated members like Mike Sprecher, we would not have our freedom of choice as we do today!

Rich Neb Award Honorees

1996 - Gary Waymen & Mike Gallagher

1997 - Jim Dean

1998 - George Tinkham

1999 - Jacque Roberts

2000 - Craig Ashbaugh

2001 - Linda Benedict

2002 - Dave & Dana Hissong

2003 - Roger Larson

2004 - Ernie Steele

2005 - Family of Rich Neb

2006 - Neal Toepfer

2007 - no award given

2008 - Michael (Boz) Kerr

2009 - Mike Sprecher

Description:
A.B.A.T.E. of Illinois' highest honor for outstanding contributions to motorcycling.

Requirements:
Sacrifice, Success, Sincerity, Continuity, and Organization.

Contribution to motorcyclist's rights.
Commitment to motorcycling.
Character (Quality person).
Cooperation (Ability to work with others).
Continuity (Length of service).

Not to be awarded yearly, but by merit.
Executive Board members are not eligible.
No awards will be given posthumous.

Procedures:

A brief profile of candidate's qualifications should be turned in to the State Office by December 1st.
The Executive Board will review all nominees prior to the December meeting and vote by secret ballot.
Awards will be presented at the Seminar in January.
The recipient will be presented a flag in a Presidential Flag Case.
At a later date they will receive a flag w/certificate that was flown over our Nations Capitol by their respective U.S. Congressman on the day of the Seminar.