Our columnist enjoys discovering and recognizing the great leaders of today’s sport.
As our summer comes to a close, organizations start the process of identifying the legends of their sports in order to honor the contributions they’ve made in the organization and in the community.
The U.S. Hunter Jumper Association began our process by asking the general membership for nominations for our Lifetime Achievement Award, Owners Legacy Award, Jane Marshall Dillon Award and Amateur Sportsmanship Award. Choosing these honorees is one of the highlights of my role in the USHJA leadership. It reminds you of the accomplishments of the great people who have come before us and the great people who are still part of our sport, which in turn makes you reflect on your own contribution to our community.
Each award winner brings a résumé full of accomplishments in excellence including competition results, teaching and nurturing students, owning horses for riders to compete, organizing competitions and inspiring others to be better horsemen and better people. To be honored, you don’t have to be an Olympian or be featured weekly on the pages of industry publications. Each award category has a different focus, but underneath their specialties are the same core values: a commitment to their craft and ability to inspire others to achieve their best.
Four Awards
The USHJA Lifetime Achievement Award honors members whose lifelong involvement in the sport and in our organization have benefited the industry. Candidates for this award have ded-icated their lives to furthering the hunter/jumper discipline.
Past recipients include Beth Miner and Alvin Topping, who made significant contributions in the creation of USHJA, Joe Fargis and Larry Langer, one of whom has achieved Olympic gold-medal status and one of whom helped organize Olympic show jumping, and Col. John Russell and Danny Robertshaw, both of whom are well respected riders, teachers and mentors. Their names appear on the Eugene R. Mische Perpetual Trophy, named for the late Gene Mische, who personified the ideals and values of a lifetime achievement winner.
New to our stable of special awards is the Owners Legacy Award. The Owners Task Force created this award to honor a past or current owner who has been or is a true “patron” of the hunter/ jumper industry and who has created a legacy of giving back to our sport through continued dedication and support.
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With permission of the family, the Owners Task Force is privileged to name this award after the late Mrs. A.C. Randolph. Mrs. Randolph exemplified every aspect of what this award is about. She provided riders such as Kathy Kusner, Rodney Jenkins and Charlie Weaver with a stable of notable show horses. Quiet Flite, Black Atom, War Dress, Army Wife, Greenland and Sky Ghost are just a few of the superstars Mrs. Randolph so generously made available to these young riders.
While providing horses for young equestrians was instrumental in helping these people achieve their dreams and goals, the teachers behind the scenes who inspired these young riders to make horses a lifetime commitment share an equal influence on our sport.
The Jane Marshall Dillon Award was created with the assistance of Joe Fargis and Randy Dillon to recognize the dedication of equestrian teachers of all professions within the hunter/ jumper discipline who have devoted their lives to instilling the values of horsemanship, integrity and hard work in their students. The award’s namesake, the late Jane Marshall Dillon, inspired young people such as Kathy Kusner and Joe Fargis to dedicate their lives to horses by respecting their equine partners and committing themselves to correct training and teaching methods.
Dillon operated one of the most respected riding academies in the country and turned out students who dressed properly, conducted themselves properly and most of all respected their horses by adhering to proper training methods. Joe, Randy and all of us at USHJA felt that we needed to highlight and honor the “Jane Dillons” who are in our sport, working every day to provide knowledge and inspiration to equestrians of all ages. These aren’t necessarily the people in the spotlight; they’re most behind the scenes. Last year’s inaugural recipient, Helen Kelley, personifies Dillon’s grace and commitment to teaching, nurturing and inspiring riders to be complete horsemen.
While some young riders have gone on to be professionals, others have chosen a different path. The Amateur Sportsmanship Award recognizes an amateur-owner or adult amateur competitor who exhibits a degree of excellence and integrity by supporting her fellow competitors and volunteering time and resources to the industry.
Examples of this commitment include serving on committees, supporting the sport through various sponsorships and promoting the welfare of the horse, with success in the show ring being a secondary factor. Current Amateur Committee members are not eligible for this award. Past winners include Patricia Van Housen, Parker Minchin, Peggy O’Meara, Christina Jones and Tara Widman. Their contributions to our sport include horse rescue and rehabilitation, community service and governance involvement.
Reason For Reflection
These four award categories offer the general membership the opportunity to assist in identifying and honoring the legends of our sport. There are numerous other awards that honor the accomplishments and contributions of our members and which are presented at our annual meeting and at the meetings of our zones. In addition to these awards are those that are chosen by the president, which honor the commitment and contributions of the USHJA volunteers.
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Choosing the winners of the President’s Distinguished Service and Volunteer of the Year Awards is one of the highlights of being president. This process could not come at a better time of the year. After more than 100 days on the road for USHJA so far this year and many more at the home desk, it’s a nice change to reflect on where the organization has gone this year and those people who have shaped and moved it in that direction.
In its early days, before programs in the field really started to take shape, most of the recipients were people chairing committees and creating the programs or people involved in governance. In fact, in our early years, some have been repeat winners because they just kept on growing our organization and sport in the right direction.
As we have grown, the number of volunteers has increased exponentially, and selecting people for these awards has become more difficult—in a very good way. We’re so fortunate to have so many committed volunteers who continue to propel our sport forward through their leadership and work as committee members to the essential volunteers in the field who help conduct programs like the Hunter Derby, Emerging Athletes and Trainers Symposiums and TCP Clinics.
The recipients of these awards aren’t known until they’re presented at our annual meeting. This means that they are doing their work because they enjoy it and feel a sense of personal accomplishment that they are part of the system that drives our sport forward. Receiving an acknowledgement of their contribution is icing on the cake for these volunteers and a great way for USHJA to recognize their talents and accomplishments.
Every day, people at all levels of participation in our sport are inspiring others to achieve their personal best. I am personally inspired by the work and commitment of our volunteers, the contributions of the legends in the sport and the overall sense of community that is becoming more prevalent in our sport. It’s really nice to take a short break from the day-to-day administration of USHJA to spend time reflecting on how far we have come and the accomplishments of our members and organization.
Bill Moroney, Keedysville, Md., is president of the U.S. Hunter Jumper Association, a member of the U.S. Equestrian Federation Board of Directors and a USEF R-rated judge. He started writing Between Rounds columns in 2004.
