29
October 2007
Road Runners Club of
Attention: Jessica Sleight
Dear
Nomination Committee:
The Huntsville
Track Club would like to nominate Carl Smith for the "2007 RRCA Rod Steele
Memorial Award." Although Carl has
received recognition by the club, it doesn’t come close to expressing
appreciation for all he has done for the running communtiy. This year we add the name of Carl Smith to a
long and distinguished list of people who have given time and talent to the
Huntsville Track Club and the
Carl and his
wife, Merri-Lynn, moved to
But we are giving
Carl this award for his service contribution to the club, not just the fact
that he is an accomplished runner.
In 1996, then
HTC president, Steve Rice, asked Carl to act as volunteer database coordinator
for the club, and most race directors can thank Carl for helping secure
assistance for their races. With his computer knowledge and a willingness to
work with others, Carl developed an easy way to match willing volunteers with
directors to assist at the club’s races.
Prior to each club event Carl emails the race director a list of
volunteers who have indicated interest in helping at the upcoming event. This list is organized by job type making it
easy for the race director to determine what position people are willing to
fill. Carl continues to fulfill this
important duty which is as useful now as it was when he began many years ago.
Injuries have
deterred Carl’s running for the past few years, yet he has given more of his
time to help with race organization. Carl
has served as Race Operations manager for the Cotton Row 10K and oversaw the
results processing for the Rocket City Marathon, two of the club’s biggest
races. In addition, Carl can be seen
many weekends scoring not only our club’s events, but events all over our area,
lending his knowledge to organizations and other clubs who don’t have the resources
to score their own events. When Rocket
City Marathon Director, Malcolm Gillis, needed help tracking income and
expenses for his race, Carl accepted the job of Financial Coordinator to enter
transactions and create reports.
In the past eight years, Carl has been our most willing learner of the
club’s computer scoring system, Runscore. He has spent countless mornings
entering data at races and processing results for the HTC. Although there seems
to always be new things to learn about Runscore, Carl is now at a point where
the club has another person, besides Jim Oaks, who can handle timing and
scoring for most, if not all, of the club’s events. As the club has purchased new timing and
scoring equipment, Carl is always at the forefront in learning how to utilize
it.
It is with
pleasure that in recognition of his eleven years of volunteer service to the
Huntsville Track Club that we present the 2007 Rod Steele Memorial Award to Carl Smith.
Sincerely,
David C. Purinton
President -