Ann Filetti is credited with being the person who started early coursing on the East Coast.

She has owned Borzoi's since the early 1970's and like most early coursers was also active in conformation.

Her first Borzoi, "Nicki", was not a show dog and when Lyle Gillette came east in 1974 to do a coursing demo, Nicki discovered what he was good at and loved doing, lure coursing. Ann, along with the Sellers and a handfull of members on the Delaware Valley Afghan Club and the Borzoi Club of Delaware, started putting on lure coursing trials at Vale View Kennels in 1974.

Ann was the force behind these trials and she ran them with organization and planning that we would envy even today. Everyone was assigned jobs and a list was sent out. Ann made sure that everyone was in their place at the right time to do their job.

When the trial was finished she sent out a list of how the hounds placed and points earned to each exhibitor. Each hound was assigned an armband number, as in the show ring. The hounds were called to the paddock by these numbers and you were expected to have your armband clearly visible when entering the field.

Ann's Borzoi, Rugay Aspor of Pheasant Hill, became the first hound east of the Mississippi to earn the ASFA Field Champion title.

Ann was the first person from the east to serve on the ASFA Board of Directors at a time when board members were expected to pay their own expenses to California for meetings.

Ann was very active in lure coursing through the 1980's. During the 1990's she became less active due to her age and faltering health.

Ann's excitement and passion for the sport and organization was an inspiration for all of us as we started lure coursing in the 1970's. Lyle was asked by Vicki Clark in an interview, "Who were some of the unheralded people in the sport?" Lyle replied, "Ann [Filetti] did so much in the beginning and received little credit."

Now is our opportunity to vote Ann Filetti into the ASFA Hall of Fame so that her name and memory will become a permanent part of our lure coursing history.