Jim Kovacevic Inducted - Cleveland 1975
	Mr. Jim (Imbro) Kovacevic was above all a gentlemen tamburas of the first magnitude.  His love for and contributions to tamburitza music spanned a period of more than 50 years.  He was not only outstanding musician and superb arranger but also an excellent craftsman of tamburitza instruments.  Any accomplished veteran tamburitza musician will attest to the high quality of sound and workmanship represented by Kovacevic-made instruments of bird's eye maple and mother-of-pearl inlay.
	Jim Kovacevic made his first prim when he was nine, back in Buzevac, Yugoslavia.  "I watched and copied my grandfather.  The third one I made he took away and sold and gave me a suit!" Mr. Kovacevic once recalled.  Constantly striving for better instruments, it was Kovacevich who joined with Andrew Groehsl in what is now considered the 'Stradavari' of tamburitza, the Groehsl cello.
	Upon arriving in the United States in 1910, he launched his musical career with a group then called The Balkan Mountain Men.  In 1923 he opened in the first production of the "Merry Wives of Windsor", then participated in radio broadcasts emanating out of NBC in New York, Chicago, and Detroit.  Mr. Kovacevic was playing on the radio in Chicago in 1928 when a new comedian got a chance during intermission.  It was Bob Hope.  Later he continued to perform with tamburitza orchestras in top theaters, cabarets, and at social functions.  His playing ability teamed him with many of the great personalities of the tamburitza world.
	Mr. Kovacevic may be the only man who ever played at his father's wedding.  His own mother had died years before.  Mr. Kovacevic once said "I played at a funeral but I said 'no more'.  Everyone cries.  It's especially hard if you like the guy."
	It took bells to terminate his travels ... wedding bells, that is.  While in New York, he met the young lady who was to become most influential in his career, Sally Kesser, who today is Mrs. Sally Kovacevic.  Mr. Kovacevic was playing brac when Sally walked by a New York cafe.  "My girlfriend and I stopped in our tracks.  'Do you hear what I hear?'  Real music ... just like home.  So I went in," said Mrs. Kovacevic.
	What was eventually to become Cleveland's gain occurred when Sally and Jim decided that Cleveland was to become their established home.  Mr. Kovacevic helped to organize one of his many true loves, a children's tamburitza orchestra, the Cleveland Junior Tamburitzans.  He was also the tutor of the Continental Strings of Cleveland when this well-known musical group was formed in 1962.
	Jim Kovacevic died in 1966 but his spirit lives on today through his warm-hearted Sally.  His musical principles are remembered by the many students he has taught over the years.  His music is played and enjoyed by us all and his hand-made instruments have become treasures.
	Mr. Kovacevic is a legened whose presence is always felt and he is a welcome addition to the Tamburitza Hall of Fame.
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