1962
Earl Lowe
1963
Ralph Dreessen
1964
Clarence Bunch
1965
Byrle Killian
1966
Louis E. Deerr
1967
Sandy Saunders
1968
R. E. "Dick" Chiles
1969
Fred Dries
1970
Neal Stidam
1971
Bill Lott
1972
W Elmo Baumann
1973
John Nelson
1974
Mr. and Mrs. Dick Kouplen
1975
Harold Dedrick
1976
Louis E. Aull
Rolland Essman
Ray Etheridge
Harry Galloway
Harold Harper
John Hebert, Jr.
Russell Hill
Copeland Kell
Lavern Linnell
Charles Metcalf
Marion Porter
George Sharpe, Jr.
Elvin Smith
Edward J. Williamson
1977
Russell Pierson
Norm Bagwell
1978
Elza Bullen
1979
Allan Williams
1980
Glen Archer (posthumously)
1981
Wanda Rice
1982
Ray Parker
1983
Jim Stiegler
Loren Rommann
1984
Don Bartolina
1985
Roy Stewart
1986
Verlin Hart
1987
Monte Reese
1988
Steve Collier
1989
Frank Cotten
1990
Jack Kelsey
1991
Bobby G. Bourlier
and Soil Scientists
1992
Joe Raunikar
1993
Lee Roy
Sylvia Hudson
1994
P. J. Workman
1995
Lori Evans Wilson
1996
Eddie Smith
1997
Mason Mungle
1998
Terry Bidwell
1999
Duane Crider
2000
Charles Cox
2001
Bobbie Steenbergen
2002
Mark Harrison
2003
Alvin Woodruff
2004
Raymond Cockrum
2005
Mark Moseley
2006
Frank Evans
2007
Rose Bonjour
2008
Carolyn Tucker
Freida Rice
2009
Wadell Altom
2010
Kevin Hackett |
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Congratulations to Pete McDaniel,
the 2015 National Land & Range Judging Contest Honoree!
Phillip "Pete" McDaniel has been involved in the National Land
and Range Judging contst since the very beginning. His history
with the contest began in 1955 when as a young lad from Apache,
Oklahoma, he entered the first National Range Judging contest and
won first place and was named Range Judging Contest National
Champion. |
Through the years, Pete has continued to participate in and support and
promote the contest and to recruit other volunteers to help. Pete
serves as a group leader during the contest and is a real work horse when it
comes to getting ready for the awards banquet. He helps set up tables,
arrange table decorations and serve on the food line, and after the banquet
he always stays to help clean up.
Shortly after graduating from
Apache High School, Pete began his farming and ranching career in 1959.
He worked for the Apache Cooperative, including eight years as the assistant
manager and three years as manager. Pete farms northwest of Apache in
Caddo County and is the American Farmers and Ranchers' Southwest Area Field
Representative. A long-time Oklahoma Farmer Union member, his family
ties to the union go back to his grandparents' membership and involvement.
He currently serves as secretary/treasurer of the Caddo County Farmers
Union, served on the OFU Policy Committee and has lobbied during legislative
action fly-ins to Washington D.C. His cow/calf, wheat and hay
operation currently consists of 1,600 acres of owned and rented land
including the homesteads of his father and grandfather. Pete has four
children and many grandchildren.
"It's a real pleasure to work with
someone like Pete who really has a passion for the National Land and Range
Judging contest," said Don Bartolina, contest coordinator. "He cares
about our youth and our natural resources and very much deserves this
honor."
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Congratulations to Nick Owen,
the 2014 National Land & Range Judging Contest Honoree!
For 17 years Nick Owen has played an
important part in the site selectionand layout of the National Land
and Range Judging Contest. From arranging for the digging of
the pits, loting a site to feed 1,000 participants, or parking
vehicles and returning the site to the way it was found, Nick can be
counted on to get the job done. |
Nick grew up on a farm southeast of Geary,
Oklahoma, and is still an active farmer. He was on the Geary FFA Land
Judging team and received the FFA State Farmer Degree in 1986. He was
a high school basketball player and went on to play college ball in
McPherson, Kansas.
Nick and his wife Christi live in El Reno with
children Ky, Reagan, Kale and Kole. They are members of Sacred Heart
Catholic Church where he has played Santa Claus for the past 19 years and
counting. Nick has been very active in Little League sports where he
has coached basketball, football, baseball and softball and is currently the
high school basktball Booster Club President.
Nick joined the USDA
Natural Resource Conservation Service (NRCS) in 1997 as a soil onservation
technician in the El Reno Field Office. He has received numerous
achievement awards in his 17 years with the USDA, but one of the most
outstanding was the "National Unsung Hero Award" in 2003 for his exceptional
leadership in conservation and his community. He proudly represented
NRCS when he accepted the award in Washington, D.C., from the U.S. Secretary
of Agriculture.
Don Bartolina, contest coordinator, says, "We
appreciate all Nick does to make this contest run smoothly, especially
carrying the 'Big Stick' during the parking of all the vehicles. He is
a guy you can count on and is very deserving of this award."
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Congratulations to
Harry L. Fritzler, the 2012 National Land & Range Judging Contest
Honoree!
Harry L. Fritzler is the
state grazinglands specialist for southern Oklahoma for the USDA Natural
Resources Conservation Service. He was born and raised on a
farming and ranching operation in northwest Oklahoma. After
completing high school at Fargo, he attended college at Oklahoma State
University in Stillwater and graduated with a degree in Agronomy with a
Range Mangement Option. |
| Harry began his career with NRCS in 1980. He worked as a range
conservationist at Kingfisher, Pawnee, Waurika, Pawhuska, Stillwater,
and El Reno from 1980 to 1993. He then served as a multi-county
range conservationist at Purcell and acting area agronomist for the
Duncan Area Office from 1993 to 1994. In 1994 he was selected as
an area resource specialist in the Pauls Valley Technical Service
Office, covering 14 counties. Harry served in that position until
2001 when he was named to his current position. Harry's involvement
with the National Land & Range Judging Contest began during the early
1980's. He joined the ranks of contest workers as co-chair of the
Range Judging Steering Committee in 2004, and is the lead NRCS
coordinator for the Range Judging Contest. He has also conducted
numerous training schools over the years for coaches and leaders.
Harry also coordinates the presentation of the awards jackets for the
high point teams, individuals, and coaches sponsored by the Society for
Range Management at the contest Awards Banquet each year.
Harry is a member of the Society for Range Management and the Soil
and Water Conservation Society. He received the Society for Range
Management's NRCS Range Conservationist of the Year Award in 2001 and
the Oklahoma Section of the Society for Range Management's Trail Boss
Award in 2004.
Harry's wife Beverly graduated from OSU and she is the owner of Rose
Rock Veterinary Hospital & Pet Resort in Norman. Harry and Beverly
have two children, Bryce and Breawna. Bryce is currently in his
first year of Veterinary School at OSU, and Breawna is the Office
Manager at Rose Rock Veterinary Hospital & Pet Resort.
"Harry is the 'quiet guy' who gets things done." said Don Bartolina,
contest coordinator. "We can really depend on him and appreciate
all he does for the contest." |
Our 2011 Honoree.....
Congratulations to Dianne Ireton, the 2011 National Land & Range
Judging Contest Honoree!Dianne is the systems coordinator for
the Oklahoma Conservation Commission's Abandoned Mine Reclamation
Program. Soon after joining OCC in the fall of 1986, she started
helping at the very next National Land & Range Judging Contest in May
1987, as one of approximately 200 tabulators hand grading contest score
cards.
In the 60 years of the contest, the times have changed in many ways.
Especially in the 25 years of Dianne's personal experience with the
contest, those changes have come at an increasingly rapid pace as the
world entered first the age of computers, then the World Wide Web, then
cellular and now 'smart' phones. Tabulation and results have gone
from handwritten to typewriters to computers, and today almost every
student carries a cell phone, some of which are capable of containing
applications that could provide an unfair advantage during the contest.
As Dianne's involvement with the contest has grown, she has gained
more responsibility and has helped with modernizing several aspects of
the contest as times have changed. In 1999 she took over
coordinating adult contest tabulation and compiling results from the
entire contest and formatting them for the awards to be presented at the
Awards Banquet. In 2005 she streamlined and modernized contest
registration by moving to the registration site the location for making
corrections and entering new registrations with the use of portable
computers and printers. Previously, corrections and new
registration information were taken back to the office where they were
prepared and then carried back to the contest registration site.
This modernization has speeded up the registration process and greatly
improved its efficiency. More recently Dianne played a role in
addressing rules about the use of electronic devices by participants
during the contest.
Dianne also modernized contest processes by developing a system in
which name tags, contest certificates and registration packets could all
be produced from one database instead of separate databases for each
category of product.
In addition, Dianne creates all the signs for the contest including
sponsorship signs, group leader signs, field signs and parking signs.
Dianne said that time preparing for and during the National Land &
Range Judging Contest is one of the busiest and most stressful times of
her year. But she speaks for all the annually-returning volunteers
when she says, "If we didn't enjoy it and believe we are doing something
good for the young people of America we wouldn't keep coming back."
Dianne and her husband Roy live in Choctaw and have two grown sons. |
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