Trailblazers: playing it safe: after 30 years, the pioneer of playground safety is still active.

Name:           Fran Wallach
Title:          President, Total Recreation Management Services, Inc.
Member since:   1977

Dr. Fran Wallach spends her free time solving cryptograms and anagrams, but this simple hobby tells a lot about her professional career, where she has spent 30 years solving different kinds of problems--safety on the playground. To describe Wallach's full career would take volumes, of encyclopedic proportions.

Now, taking time to "slow down" Wallach is running Total Recreation Management Services, a recreation consulting firm. She is still a member of the National Playground Safety Institute's (NPSI) Executive Committee, an adjunct associate professor at New York University and a former United Nations liaison for the World Leisure and Recreation Association.

But Wallach is most known for her ground-breaking work with playground safety. Not only is she a Certified Playground Safety Inspector, but has been the chair of the American Society for Testing and Materials committee F15.29 for public playground equipment for 18 years. She has been a playground safety consultant to countless projects and organizations, including McDonald's Corporation and Discovery Zone.

But Wallach says that her interest is not with swing-sets and slides, but with the children who use them. "I suppose I've dedicated my professional life to recreation and parks. I have a very deep interest and love for children," she says. "I've spent the last 30 years involved with playground safety and that's been the focus."

Most proud moment: "I've had a lot of proud moments. I had a proud moment every time one of my three children graduated from college. I've had a proud moment every time I was given an award. I had a proud moment when I was elected president of the New York State Recreation and Park Society."

Words of wisdom: "If you're going to do something, do it with all your heart. I would just like to encourage everybody to get into this field and stay in this field. I know it's not the best-paying field, but the results and feelings of achievement are unbelievable."

Favorite Quote: "My favorite quote comes from my father, who always said 'If somebody comes to you for a favor or a loan, you either give it or you don't, but you don't ask why.'"

Future of parks and recreation: "I think the future is brighter than it has ever been, despite tight budgets or lack of money. I believe the world has begun to recognize that fitness and recreation are critical to our lives."

Most embarrassing moment: "I almost killed the governor of the state of New York! We were opening a state park and I was responsible for the setup of the ceremony. We had flags but they weren't tied down properly. And the wind came, blowing the flags down on the governor.