Award winners. (2001).

NATIONAL HUMANITARIAN AWARD

Governor Roy E. Barnes

For the past 2 years, Governor Barnes has championed local and neighborhood recreation in Georgia's most urban and rapidly growing counties. At the National Governor's Conference in August 1999, just nine months after taking office, Barnes announced his intent to establish a program to protect greenspace. By mid-April 2000, he had signed into law his Georgia Greenspace Program and had obtained $30 million in state funds for land acquisition grants to 40 of the state's counties, which contain 73 percent of the state's population. A year later, 39 of those counties have submitted greenspace programs to qualify for funding. At Governor Barnes' request, the General Assembly has appropriated another $30 million to continue the program.

The greenspace program grants provide more funds for land acquisition than the State has ever before offered to local governments. With these funds, participating local governments will acquire land for water-quality and wildlife-habitat protection; scenic protection; protection of archaeological and historic resources; passive recreation; and connection of existing or planned areas which contribute to the program's goals. Local governments are submitting programs with a strong recreational focus.

NRPA RALPH C. WILSON AWARD

Charles E. Hartsoe

Charles E. Hartsoe, Ph.D., of Richmond, Virginia has received the Ralph C. Wilson Award for exemplary volunteer service to the National Recreation and Park Association. The award was announced during the Congress for Recreation and Parks in Denver, Colorado.

Dr. Hartsoe, chair of the Joseph Lee Memorial Library Committee, and his wife Joyce have worked to secure and organize the literary collection and institutional records of NRPA and its predecessors. The library is accessible for research and public use. Dr. Hartsoe and former NRPA chair Harry G. Haskell, Jr. established a permanent endowment resulting in substantial funds to support NRPA archival activities. The library houses an important collection of late 19th Century and early 20th Century materials that record the emergence of public recreation as a social movement, and the history and development of public park resources and land conservation.

Dr. Hartsoe is co-author, with Richard F. Knapp, of Play for America, The National Recreation Association, 1906-1965. This scholarly work documents the individuals and organizations that have played a major role in organizing and promoting the public recreation movement.

He is executive director of the National Recreation Foundation and volunteer historian for NRPA. He has served in a number of positions in public recreation and in academia. He is an aggressive advocate for citizen participation in association and civic affairs. He has supported NRPA initiatives in education and training, public policy, and international collaboration and exchange. Dr. Hartsoe is a founding member and former president of the American Academy of Park and Recreation Administration and was president of the Pennsylvania Recreation and Park Society. He was assistant executive director of the National Recreation Association during the creation of the National Recreation and Park Association, and administrative analyst for Philadelphia's Department of Recreation.

Dr. Hartsoe was centrally involved with the creation of the Robert W. Crawford Hall of Fame, which recognizes prominent leaders in parks and recreation. The Hall of Fame presently honors the public service of nearly thirty individuals, including the late Robert Moses, an internationally prominent park planner and development official who was recognized this year. Also recognized this year was Robert W. Crawford, who during a distinguished career, served as commissioner of Recreation for Philadelphia and executive director of the Fairmount Park Commission. Crawford played a central role in NRPA governance and growth.

Dr. Hartsoe is Professor emeritus at Virginia Commonwealth University in Richmond. He also taught at Temple University, The Pennsylvania State University, and the University of Illinois. His peers and national leaders have recognized on several occasions his contributions to public parks and recreation. He earned a B.S. at Springfield College, Mass., and a M.S. and Ph.D. at the University of Illinois.

This NRPA award recognizes volunteer contributions and personal commitment to the association in the name of the late Ralph C. Wilson. Mr. Wilson was associated with NRPA and the National Recreation Association throughout his career. He was chief recreation specialist for the USDA Soil Conservation Service (now the Natural Resources and Conservation Service), and command recreation director for the U.S. Air Force in Europe. He organized and served as the first president of the European Recreation Society.