For outstanding service to the Ranger Profession and the Park Rangers Association of California, as a founder of PRAC and its second president, for instituting joint conferences and publications with the California State Park Rangers Association, and for distinguished volunteer efforts all part of a dedicated career of public service.
Autobiographical Sketch Born in South Bend Indiana and educated at Purdue University and hold a graduate degree from Indiana University. I first taught at Glendale Arizona High School where I taught biology and was the head track coach. While there I was a founding father of the Arizona Track Coaches Association and was inducted into their Hall of Fame in 1999. I moved from there to San Jose City College as their track coach and three years later to West Valley College when it opened. John Nicholas and I started the Park Management Program in 1960 and I was the Coordinator for many years. During my tenure there. I began the Ranger Training Academy at West Valley and as a result WVC became the Mecca for in-service training for the western states. People traveled from as far as Colorado, Washington, Oregon, and Nevada to attend training that was held for rangers, naturalists, and maintenance people. I was the Director for 11 years of the Region 5 National Forest Recreation Academy which was held each year at West Valley. This training gained some renown as people from the Washington office attended and then used the Academy as a model for two other colleges on the east coast. When I retired, almost 500 people had attended in-service training at West Valley in some manner or another, some several times! . While I was at WVC the College became the model for a program to privatize the running of campground in Region 5 for the Forest Service. It was a successful program that now has expanded to the entire nation. The College ran the campgrounds for 10 years until just after I retired.
I worked as a seasonal ranger for county parks and for the National Park Service in Yosemite, where I was a horse patrol ranger in Tuolumne Meadows. I am a graduate of the Horace Albright Training Center, Grand Canyon, in Park Operations and the Santa Rosa Criminal Justice Training Center (National Park Service Training). I taught conflict management and communications there each session for two years.
