Scholarships

IEBA awards scholarships in honor of industry leaders who have contributed significantly to live entertainment and who have displayed a passion for giving back. It is our hope that the recipients of these scholarships will follow in the footsteps of the pioneers for which they are named: Harry Peebles, Don Romeo, J.P. Williams, George Moffett and Barbara Hubbard.
 
 

HARRY A. (HAP) PEEBLES

 
Harry (Hap) Peebles was country before Barbara Mandrell was born. Hap served the country music industry for more than 60 years, booking artists at the age of 18 he spent his entire life in the business. In fact, he toured Miss Mandrell when she was eleven years old! Hap is a founder of IEBA known as the International Country Music Buyers Association originally as well as the Country Music Association (CMA).
 
In the old days, Hap would take several acts for the entire season booking country music into fairs and festivals. These acts included Tex Ritter, Red Foley, Smiley Burnette, Kitty Wells, Ernest Tubb, the Wilburn Brothers, Pee Wee King, the Duke of Paducah, Roy Acuff, Martha Carson, Hank Thompson and many others.
 
He was nominated for the Country Music Hall of Fame and was inducted into the Hall of Fame in Arkansas, Louisiana, Oklahoma, Kansas, Colorado, Nebraska, South Dakota, and North Dakota. Hap was named Fairman of the Year in several states.
 
 

DON ROMEO

 
As a youth in Omaha, Romeo taught himself to play guitar and won the Arthur Godfrey Talent Search on TV in 1945 as part of the Metro Tones Trio, a musical comedy group. After a stint in the Korean War with the U.S. Army, Romeo returned to Omaha in 1952 to the Paul Moorehead Agency. He purchased the agency two years later and formed the Don Romeo Agency.
 
"He was a pioneer in the fair business, but people need to realize Don Romeo was really about show business, period," says Paul Moore, who heads up the fair division for the William Morris Agency in Nashville. "He booked as many clubs, ballrooms, and other venues as he did fairs. He booked Ak-Sar-Ben Arena (in Omaha) for years, with acts ranging from Bob Hope and Red Skelton to the Fifth Dimension and Tony Bennett."
 
Moore says Romeo and the late William Morris agent Sidney Epstein in Chicago were the first to book national talent into fairs. "Don Romeo was one of the first customers Sidney talked into selling fairs name stars. Much of what we know of the modern-day fair industry as it relates to talent started with those ideas that Sidney and Don came up with."
 
As a fair booker, Romeo worked with acts ranging from Lassie and the Three Stooges to the Rolling Stones and nearly every country act that ever played fairs.
 
 

J.P. WILLIAMS

 
J.P. Williams is the owner and CEO of Parallel Entertainment, the personal management company he founded in 1991. He currently manages the careers of Jeff Foxworthy, Bill Engvall, Larry the Cable Guy, David Koechner and many other top talents in the entertainment industry.
 
An incredibly successful producer, his notable credits include several one-hour specials for Comedy Central and HBO, as well as Blue Collar Comedy Tour: The Movie, which has sold more then three million units. He also produced the sequel, Blue Collar Comedy Tour Rides Again, which had its world premiere on Comedy Central. The movie was the network's second most-watched telecast ever and has sold more than 2.5 million units since its release on December 7, 2004.
 
Capitalizing on the success of the Blue Collar projects, J.P. executive produced the WB hit comedy show, Blue Collar TV. He was also executive producer for Mobile Home Disasters for the WB Network, starring Bill Engvall. In addition, four of the 18 comedy albums he has produced have received Grammy Award nominations, and he received the 2004 IEBA (International Entertainment Buyers Association) "Artist Manager of the Year Award."
 
He is the executive producer of the feature film, Larry the Cable Guy: Health Inspector, that was released by Lionsgate on March 24 2006. J.P. is also the CEO and founder of Jack Records, a record label formed as a co-venture with Warner Bros. Records, and the founder and CEO of Parallel Entertainment Pictures.
 
J.P. began his career in the entertainment business in 1983 as an agent's assistant in New York. He ultimately worked his way up to agent and in 1988 became Vice President of Live Performance for Spotlite Enterprises Ltd. Over the course of his career, he has represented super-talents such as Jay Leno, Jerry Seinfeld, Damon Wayans, Adam Sandler, David Alan Grier, Dennis Miller and Jamie Foxx.
 
 

GEORGE MOFFETT

 
George Moffett began his career in the entertainment industry while attending Muskingum College, OH, where he booked entertainment for college celebrations and fraternal organizations. It was at this time that he started Variety Attractions.
 
Over the years, the organization he began in college has turned into one of the most respected names in the entertainment business.
 
George has served on the Board of Directors for the Country Music Association as well as IEBA.
 
George has won several industry awards including: 1994, 1995 ACM Award winner for Talent Buyer/Promoter of the Year; 1994, 1995, 1997 CMA Award winner for Talent Buyer of the Year; 1996 IEBA Founders Award winner.
 
 

BARBARA HUBBARD

 
With a master’s degree in education and biology, Barbara spent most of her career in the Las Cruces, New Mexico Public Schools as a physical education teacher. She began a career at New Mexico State University in 1966 and became heavily involved in campus activities first as program advisor at NMSU's 13,000-capacity Pan American Center, working with the sports association. Barbara then became a student activities advisor in August 1970 and started bringing events to the building. The first act she brought in was the Ike and Tina Turner Revue; Charlie Pride was her first in-house production.

In 1977, Barbara was named director of special events, a position she held until 1996. Barbara advised student government and organizations, negotiated and processed contracts between student organizations and booking agents and agencies, scheduled and approved the use of the Pan Am Center, administered and controlled the Pan Am building budget and supervised all major campus productions, among other duties. Barbara Hubbard enjoyed nearly a 30-year reign as special events director at New Mexico State University, until her "retirement" in 1996.
 
Today, she continues as executive director of the American Collegiate Showcase (ACTS), a position she's held since 1978. Barbara oversees all aspects of the program: organizes, produces and markets the program; administers and controls the budget and fundraising; formulates recommendations for the program and recruitment of the Advisory Board, judges, guest stars and seminar instructors. With the scholarship money raised, Barbara is able to take her students to various industry conferences and help nurture their involvement and give them the experience and exposure they need.
 
Her honors are many, including: Minority Affairs Award, National Minority Affairs Committee of the National Association of Campus Activities (1976), First Annual NMSU President's Award for Service (1982), Associated Students of NMSU Dedicated Service Award (1982-93), Performance Magazine's Readers Poll College Promoter of the Year (1981, 1983, 1985, 1987), Teacher of the Year, NMSU (1989), NMSU's Ralph B. Crouch award, (1996), Performance Magazine Touring Hall of Fame (1996), Honorary Sun Bowl Director, NMSU, Racial Harmony Award (1998), International Entertainment Business Association President's Award (2005), Event Pro named her a Living Legend and Presidential Citation from the International Association of Assembly Managers (2006) and the IEBA / Harry A. Peebles Award (2009).