Lou Cavic Inducted - Niagara Falls 1978
	Lou Cavic was born in Wood River, Illinois, a small town just 20 miles from St. Louis, Missouri, on July 22, 1916.  He was the son of Petar and Pauline Cavic, his father from Lika, his mother from Slavonia.
	There was nothing in Lou's early life to indicate an interest in music in general, let alone the tambura.  At the age of 12, his parents took the kids to a wedding where the first tamburas to be inducted into the Hall of Fame, Steve Bucherich, Sr., was playing with his tamburitzans from Madison, Illinois.
	It was love at first sight for Lou as this was the first time he had heard tambura music.  Lou's parents left the wedding at about midnight but after his parents fell asleep Lou 'snuck' out and went back to the wedding to listen to this music which to him was the sweetest music this side of heaven.  Lou was 'hooked' and when Lou's brother Sam and Matt Dobrinich organized the Slavaj Tamburitza Orchestra, Lou's future was assured.
	Lou became a very apt student, running the two miles from school to home so that there would be no time lost for practice.  Slavaj's instructor was a gentleman by the name of Vincent Kovacic of East St. Louis, Illinois.
	Slavaj played from 1931 through 1946 throughout the St. Louis and southern Illinois area at weddings, christenings, engagement parties, dances, and some of the society clubs in the Alton, Illinois area.  During World War II, Slavaj played on radio station WTMV on the Croatian Hour.  During the radio appearance, Lou's wife, a died-in-the-wool tambura lover, cut records of the programs Slavaj played on the radio.  Lou still plays some of them to remind him of the heyday of this band.  During this period, Slavaj was one of the top bands in the St. Louis area.
	In Lou's work, he traveled the Wood River area and on numerous occasions, he would stop in at Butkovich's ole tavern, scene of many Serbo-Croatian affairs.  The old-timers kept asking Lou to bring other old-timers to have a jam session.  So it was the beginning of the Tamburitza Extravaganzas, or whatever other name these affairs have been called over the years.
	Lou originated the Tamburitza Hall of Fame in 1968 with Mr. Steve Bucherich as the first inductee.  From that beginning, there are now 34 members of the Hall of Fame including two women, the incomparable Vinka Ellesin and 'Mrs. Tambura of St. Louis, Missouri', Mrs. Ann Lusicic.  Mrs. Lusicic and the late Mr. Ivan Lusicic, Sr., are the first and only husband/wife members in the Hall of Fame.  There is also a father/son team, Mr. Djoko Dokich and his son Melvin (Milovan) Dokich.
	With the legal assistance of Mr. Steve Sulentic, Lou has set up a not-for-profit corporation in Missouri -- the Tamburitza Association of America.  This corporation was established in 1974 and Lou has served as its president from its inception.
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