Speech given during RCC Leadership Awards Luncheon on March 30, 2007, at Holiday Inn, Suffern.

Thank you, Tom for the kind words. President Wood, dignitaries, honored guests and award recipients. When I received the news of the award I asked Emil what I should talk about. He said you could talk for about 2-1/2 minutes. Here is my best shot. This has been a 47-year lifetime journey for both Judy and me that started at Suffern High School in the fall of 1960. Dr. Lester Rounds, Suffern’s Superintendent of Schools, was starting a college, based on his doctoral dissertation. If only he could see the old county poorhouse now! Ed Green, our first athletic director, recruited me to start soccer and wrestling at RCC. Our office and locker room were in “the jailhouse,” the Ramapo police radio center. Our soccer field was an old tomato patch, with a few tomatoes still growing. Classes meet at Deer-kill camp for tennis, handball, football, and softball.

Bowling took place and the old Hub alleys and swimming at the Bader Hotel. The barn was converted into a gym for our classes, theater and general meeting space. Next the bubble covering two tennis courts and a movement away from team sport to lifetime and fitness activities. By the twelfth year we moved into the Fieldhouse.

All this history, curriculum, bricks and mortar are great stuff, but the real thrill and excitement is getting your students to the Aha-Moment, giving them the information and time to practice skills that will empower them for a lifetime. Now, thanks to Patty Zodda, we have a new Physical Education Studies major program. Last fall I taught Racquet Sports, the first skill class for teacher training. These young men and women were outstanding students and gave me the greatest compliment a faculty member could ever receive by not missing one class. Yes, when you know where you want to go, you give it 100 %.

We’ve come a long way in 47 years. I want to thank the Foundation for this award and the opportunity to grow with the college, and with the physical education program. Thank you all.