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NIRSA 2008 Honor Award presentation

Introductory remarks by John Meyer, CRSS, University of Colorado at Boulder, 2006 Honor Award recipient

John Meyer, CRSS, presents the 2008 Honor Award

Greetings my NIRSA sisters and brothers. Please recognize the members of the Honor Award Selection committee: Pat Besner, Tom Dison, Darcy Bingham, and Steve Young. I am pleased to be with the NIRSA family tonight and I am honored to be able to present this award.

The NIRSA Honor Award Banquet is the culmination of our Annual Conference, and we hold this event in order to acknowledge one of our colleagues who has distinguished themselves through outstanding achievements in the profession of Recreational Sports and through exemplary service to the NIRSA. The selection of the Honor Award recipient is symbolic of the many NIRSA members who continually make significant contributions to the success and advancement of this association. It marks the value that each of you brings to the lives of our participants, our universities, our communities every day through personal and professional service. So even though tonight is about honoring one outstanding individual, it is also about validating the important and good work that you perform.

The first recipient of this award, in 1963, was George Haniford from Purdue University. Since then, there has only been one person singled out each year for their important and sometimes inspired contributions. There has never been a person selected for this award for a second time. This year is no exception so we will have only one Honor Award recipient and it will be a first-time winner. (Sorry all you folks in the front tables, we do still value your continuing contributions, but it’s someone new.)

Our recipient exemplifies all the service and commitment to our profession for which a member could aspire. There may be some people over the years who have thought that the criteria for this award was based partially upon who might be closest to being finished with their career and their contributions, or simply sick of being around all of you fun-loving NIRSA people. The truth is that the committee makes its selection based on the many factors as are listed in the NIRSA publications. You know the sort of things – “significant impact to the services or programs of the association”, “efforts that allow NIRSA to move through times of transition and change”, “fostering innovation”, “serving a diverse membership”, “contributing to learning and scholarly endeavors”, “strategic projects”, yada, yada, yada.

Some of these contributions and projects may be famous, yet others are known only to a few peers or colleagues. Nonetheless, all these contribute to the fabric of our profession. The committee received many testimonials for our recipient. In fact, there were 36 letters of support detailing contributions. Let me apologize that I will not be able to do justice to the outpouring of support that has helped to corroborate the contributions this individual has made to the Association and its members. Here are some of the things that people have written about our recipient:

“...a passion for NIRSA that is not only personal, but contagious”

“always would find time to help, offer a word of comfort or laugh with any of us”

“(Our recipient) is a person who not only shows character, but is fun-loving enough to be a character.”

“encouraged me to take risks and speak my mind”

“...pays attention to detail and knows how important it is to care about the little things”

(It still could be anyone now, so you are all still in the running.)

“37 years at the forefront of NIRSA when it comes to leadership, service, commitment and guidance”

“not only an outstanding leader in NIRSA, but a person of vision who has provided our national association a great deal of direction and innovation”

“I am constantly amazed with this person’s dedication, enthusiasm and compassion for assisting the development of young people and instilling the concept of volunteerism.”

“...always gives credit to others although we all know that this person’s vision and creative energy provides the spark that ignites much of what gets achieved”

“This person stands out the most because of the leadership, creativity, integrity...and, simply put, as a master of getting things done whatever the challenge.”

Over 60 articles & presentations

Chaired or co-hosted over 15 conferences

Board of directors of 9 organizations including NIRSA

Recipient of NIRSA Regional Award of Merit and Distinguished Service Award, our honoree was also recently recognized as both their University’s and the State’s Administrator of the Year.

This person has served the association at the grass roots level, as a member of the Executive Committee, and as President.

Some of the key leadership roles included development of the NIRSA Planning Principles for Recreation Facilities, task force for the NIRSA Strategic Marketing Plan, development of the Outstanding Sports Facilities Directory, led collaboration with Society of College and University Planning, and founder of the NIRSA Media Center.

The last testimonial that I will read goes like this:

“To cut to the heart of the matter, there is no other person beyond my parents who has taught, mentored, and encouraged me more in my life than this person... It is because of the examples he set for me, that I live a life of commitment to good causes outside of my family and work...To this day I still marvel at his energy, drive and ability to create and sustain such great successes in anything he does. I remember in particular how full his life was when he served as an officer in (NIRSA) for several years, and yet I never saw him give a half-hearted effort to anything else he committed himself to. I am confident your association is a better place because of his involvement and leadership.”

Your 2008 Honor Award Recipient, from the University of Southern Mississippi, Sid Gonsoulin.

Sid Gonsoulin’s acceptance speech