The first bee was conducted in Niagara Falls, New York by Michael Ricci when he was a young man. The bee was conducted for parochial school children from the American and Canadian twin cities of Niagara Falls. Over 100 children participated.
When Mr. Ricci had received his Education degree and teacher's certification, he embarked on entering some of his students in the Syracuse (N.Y.) annual spelling bee. None of his four students qualified for the oral round.
A few years later , while a teacher at African Road Junior High School in Vestal, New York, he conducted a district-wide spelling bee for 100 students in grades 6-8. The top four finalists competed in the same Syracuse spelling bee. His students finished 2nd, 5th and 8th; the fourth student, a sixth-grader, did not qualify.
Mr. Ricci was not involved in spelling bees until one of his children was to compete in a school bee. At the last minute, the coordinator of the bee said that only one child would compete from that grade. The teacher selected another child. Ricci and his wife went to attend the bee, but did not see their child. After the bee, on arriving home, they were told by their child about the circumstances. Ricci complained about (1) What criteria was used to decide which child would be chosen, and (2) Why weren't he and his wife informed.
On that day Mr. Ricci decided that he would conduct a spelling bee, but no adult except the parent would decide if a child could participate. In 1989 he formed the Auburn spelling bee. It was quite successful, that it continued for several years. During those years, he found that it was difficullt to enroll enough 7th and 8th grade students. On two occasions, the 8th grade bee was cancelled because there were too few contestants, and one other one, a 7th grade one, were cancelled.
He decided that he would have to expand the bee to include more contestants. The program was expanded to include contestants from all of New York state. In 1995, It became the New York Spelling Bee. After the 2001 bee, Mr. Ricci retired as it's Executive Director. During the next two years he began organizing the American Spelling Bee.