MSO Class of 2009 Honorees
The 2009 Maryland Senior Olympics Hall of Fame Inductions and Awards Ceremony was held Nov. 14 at Rockland Manor Center in Potomac, and five new members were added to the Hall. Special congratulations to Phil Adams, Nicholas Graves, Joe Holland, Bill Osburn and Tait—all very deserving of the honor.
Special honors were also bestowed upon John Stewart of Finger Lakes, N.Y., who is this year's recipient of the Maryland Senior Olympics Commission Citation Award for his long-time service to the Games. Salisbury University was presented with the Robert G. Zeigler Service Award for a decade of dedication to the wellness and physical fitness of seniors through the Eastern Shore Games.
A look at each 2009 honoree:
Maryland Senior Olympics Commission Citation Award
John Stewart
A native of the Finger Lakes area of upstate New York, John is a graduate of Colorado College and a four-year veteran of the U.S. Coast Guard. Our long-time golf coordinator, he began his career as a sports reporter in 1957 and progressed to the Baltimore Sun in 1963. For the next 36 years, he covered area colleges, including the University of Maryland and the Naval Academy, plus regional golf events.
He joined our MSO Commission in 1985 and served for more than 15 years, with the golf tournament as his primary responsibility. He covered all aspects of what a successful tournament requires—from setting up the various teams, deciding the playing formats, determining category winners and handling the myriad complaints that only golfers can come up with.
His intimate knowledge of the area’s courses and close association with their superintendents provided us with highly successful and trouble-free events over the years.
Since his 1999 retirement from the Sun, he has served as a media representative for several local, state and regional golf associations, writing about them for their respective web sites.
On behalf of hundreds of satisfied golfers, and with the heartfelt thanks of the entire MSO, we are pleased to present the 2009 Commission Citation Award to Mr. John Stewart.Hall of Fame Inductees
Phil Adams—Administration
Over the past 25 years, Phil Adams has climbed from Towson State student to executive director of the Maryland Senior Olympics and beyond. Currently, Iowa’s gain has been Maryland’s loss.
Phil came to Maryland Senior Olympics with an outstanding background. In 1981, he received the Most Promising Prospective Teacher Award and Presidential Scholar Award from Montgomery College. In 1984, he was named to the Who’s Who Among American Colleges and Universities and was listed among the outstanding young men in America.
Following graduation from Towson in 1984, Phil served as a student resident coordinator at TSU until 1988, when he transferred to Goucher College to serve as Associate Dean of Students and for a time, acting athletic director.
In 1992, with his dad actively involved as a participant, Phil began his involvement with MSO as a tennis coordinator. With his background and experience, we allowed him only two years of coordinating before engaging him as a full-time commission member in 1994.
In 1995, the MSO Commission was encouraged to consider bringing on a paid administrator as executive director, owing to the growth and diverse responsibilities this position had developed into. A year was spent interviewing applicants and, in 1996, a decision was made from our own ranks and Phil Adams emerged as the applicant of choice. He brought so many skills to play in fulfilling the needs of the organization
He was a skilled athlete with substantial competitive background; he was experienced in organization and people skills, plus extensive capabilities in computer programming and office management. Phil brought cohesiveness to the MSO through full-time dedication that was simply not possible with all-volunteer personnel.
In 1999, he was elected to the NSGA National Board of Directors and served in that capacity until 2007. He has endeared invaluable service at the local, state and national levels for over 15 years. Although we are extremely happy that a transfer of MSO to Montgomery County Recreation has been made and is growing strong and stronger, the move was essentially necessary because we lost this young man to Iowa.
So, it is with a deep sense of pride in your accomplishments and years of service with MSO that we present to you this Hall Of Fame Award . . . congratulations Phil Adams!
Nicholas Greaves—Sponsorship Administration
To most participants the name of this inductee is probably unfamiliar. However, were it not for Mr. Graves’ interest and enthusiasm for the MSO concept and his willingness to support the games of the Maryland Senior Olympics, we might not be gathered here today, nor would we have enjoyed the past 30 years of successful competitions and beautiful memories.
In 1979, the Baltimore County Fitness Commission had given its blessing, the Maryland State Fitness Commission had endorsed the endeavor, Towson State University had agreed to host the competition and a commission was forming to offer leadership and direction. But, we had no financial support—not one cent.
However, knowing that Blue Cross and Blue Shield was tied closely to seniors in Maryland through the Medigap program and the processing of Medicare claims, it seemed like a natural place to begin looking for funds and support. But identifying a source, as we all know, is only half the solution; it is also knowing the appropriate contact that will carry your needs to the so-called “powers to be” or CEOs.
Agnes Taylor, a member of our fledgling commission, said she knew someone at Blue Cross and she would make a contact. Of course, that contact turned out to be Nicholas Greaves.
From the beginning, Nick could not have been more understanding and cooperative. From that point he graciously and effectively ran with the ball and received financial support from the executive staff of BCBS, an initial sum of $6,000—monies that enabled the MSO program to become a reality.
Nick continued to support, attend the games and be our liaison with BCBS over the next 15-plus years for financial support. During those years, BCBS was our sole financial support. Ultimately raising their annual contribution through those years to nearly $45,000, the financial and support services provided by BCBS through the first 16 years was without question the single-most important factor in any success we have achieved, as evidenced by the rise in the participant level from 300 in 1980 over 1,500 by 1995.
A journey or venture can only begin if you are willing to take that first step or leap of faith, and Nick was so supportive in helping MSO take that so-called leap that it is with the utmost pleasure we present him this Hall of Fame Award.Joe Holland—Running, Administration
For eight or so years, this inductee was a member of the Maryland Senior Olympic Commission—and no card-carrying member was he. He had ideas, was an Olympian, and when not participating, was in the midst of whatever needed to be done. As you will see, Joe is accomplishment-oriented—here is a task, lets see how best to do it and get it done.
Joe enjoyed and excelled in athletics in high school, winning the school’s “lions” medal for outstanding athlete, class of 1940. In that same year, he ran a 54-second quarter mile at the famous Penn Relays at Philadelphia’s Franklin Field . . . on a cinder track, no less. However, with the exception of a few races shortly afterward, his running days remained rather dormant for the better part of the next 30 years due to war, family and career.
Then, in the early 1960s, thanks to information from an article by Dr. Kenneth Cooper and a Towson YMCA “Run For Your Life” program, he renewed his interest in running. Joe, along with a few others, in 1971 formed what would eventually become the Baltimore Road Runners Club and Joe was named first vice president.
In 1972, he was appointed by then Gov. Marvin Mendel as chairman of the Maryland Marathon Commission and charged with bringing a major race to Baltimore. Joe served the commission for six years, eventually building the Maryland Marathon up to 2,000 participants.
Joe has run over 500 road races and 42-plus marathons, including 13 Boston Marathons, achieving his best time of 3:13.34 at age 60. He estimates he has “trained” over 50,000 miles in the past 25-plus years of running. During those years, it has been his good fortune to have found $1,200 in coins and paper money while running.
The Maryland Senior Olympics was indeed fortunate to enlist the talent and experience that Mr. Holland brought to the commission during his tenure. His services were invaluable and contributed significantly in so many ways to the success and fulfillment of the MSO goals.
It is with much pleasure, pride and admiration that we present Joe Holland the MSO Hall Of Fame Award. Congratulations.Bill Osburn—Running
Bill began as a senior runner at age 55 and competed until he was 81. He estimates he ran over 1,000 races in that period, winning more than his share and hardly ever finishing out of the medal category.
He didn’t compete in our first games in 1980, but then he ran each year from 1981 until 2005, when two major surgeries relegated him to the role of spectator.
He was a constant winner in our 1,500, 5k and 10k races, holding various age-group records for years. In that same time, he won several 400-meter races.
He was even more prolific in our National Senior Games, medaling in all six Games in which he participated, starting with St. Louis in 1987 until the combined Senior Olympics and National Masters at LSU in 2001. In our games, he took silver in the 5k; in the Masters, he won medals in the 1,500, 800 and the 2k steeplechase, where his time of 10:50 still stands as the age-group record.
In 1991, at the Golden Olympics at Howard University, he took gold in the 400, 800, 1,500 and 5k, as part of the 75-79 age group.
In 1992, at that meet, he again won the 1,500 and 5k, and took silver in the 400.
Therefore, in honor of his distinguished record in Maryland and the renown of his accomplishments on the national track scene, we are pleased to present Bill Osburn with the Maryland Senior Olympics Hall of Fame Award.Bill Tait—Softball, Basketball, Throwing
Bill’s first experience with the Maryland games was taking gold in the softball throw in 1990. In the following years, he repeated with medals in the throw and also 3-on-3 basketball. His team competed in the National Senior Games at Orlando and Tucson.
After running up and down the floor for a while, he’d relax by competing in the floor- and foul-shooting events.
Bill was also a valuable member of our torch run from Annapolis to Towson for many years.
As successful as he was in all of the above, Bill’s real passion was softball. He started in 1990 with a team in the 55-59 bracket that finished second in our games. Unfortunately, that was in the days when only one state winner qualified for the National, so he missed out on the ’91 ames in Syracuse. However, for the next several years as a player and manager, his teams competed in the Nationals in San Antonio, Tucson, Orlando, Baton Rouge and Louisville, winning bronze in Orlando with more than 30 teams in their age bracket.
Finally, all that hard work paid off in 2009 at Louisville when they won gold in their division.
Additionally, as president of the Montgomery County Senior Sports Association, Bill was instrumental in publicizing our state Games in their newsletter and highlighting the activities of Montgomery County participants in our games.
In recognition of his outstanding career and contributions to our Maryland Games, and for the credit he has brought to the state through his national Games activities, we are especially honored to present this Maryland Senior Olympics Hall Of Fame Award to Mr. Bill Tait.Robert G. Zeigler Service Award
Salisbury University
Following the 1998 games, the MSO Commission agreed to the suggestion that we try to establish satellite games in the western, central, and eastern shore areas of Maryland. These were areas of the state with the least number of participants. The official state Games would remain at Towson, but we felt by offering games in areas outside the greater Baltimore area we could attract to additional athletes.
Approaches were made in all three geographic areas—and we had interest and some tentative action occur in each section of the state. However, the western and central areas failed to materialize. Only through the interest and cooperation of Salisbury University’s Department of Physical Education were we able to establish and conduct the first Eastern Shore Senior Games on April 21-22, 2000.
Dr. Nelson Butler, a professional colleague and personal friend initially accepted the invitation to establish the Eastern Shore Games. In turn, he enlisted the assistance of the physical education faculty, staff and students at Salisbury University to help coordinate the events.
The Eastern Shore Games have served as a satellite event for MSO and has been an affiliated organization with the MSO Commission since its inception in 2000. In 2007, when Towson University, our only and long-time host, indicated it would no longer host the MSO, we turned again to Salisbury University and they graciously accepted our request to become the site of the 2007 state Games. This was an interim agreement, but an ever-so-important one owing to the time constraints we were working with at the time.
Through this past decade, the Eastern Shore Games have remained strong and shown continued growth. It features 57 events with Dr. Carol Wood, its current director and advocate since 2004. Dr. Wood is the university’s Associate Dean of the Seidle School of Education and Professional Studies.
Since her tenure as coordinator, over 2,000 athletes from Maryland, Delaware, Virginia, Connecticut, Pennsylvania and New Jersey have participated. Dr. Wood actively supports life-long physical activity and promotes its merits through television, radio and print media. She is also a participant, medaling in golf, tennis, badminton and cycling.
The MSO is deeply appreciative and proud of the support that Salisbury University has given to the Senior Olympics movement and I personally take the utmost pleasure in presenting this Robert G. Ziegler Service Award to Salisbury University. Dr. Wood accepts on behalf of the university, its foundation, faculty, staff and students.
