And the Award Goes To ...
AMA President’s Awards
The Academy proudly honored Don Anderson and Eric Meyers with President’s Awards for their marketing contributions to the modeling industry.
“The President’s Award is one of the Academy’s highest honors,” explained Dave Mathewson. “It’s meant to recognize those individuals or organizations that have made significant contributions of an extraordinary nature in support of AMA and aeromodeling.”
- Don Anderson is president of Great Planes and an employee of Hobbico. He received his award during the GP E-Fest, held February 9–10 in Champaign, Illinois. “We launched our Park Pilot Program, which would not have been possible without Don and the Hobbico team,” said Mark Smith during the presentation. “Don is a visionary and has tirelessly given to this hobby in countless ways.”
- Eric Meyers received his award at the AMA annual meeting held at the Joe Nall fly-in in May. He is the brand manager at Horizon Hobby. “Mr. Meyers is the power behind Horizon Hobby and an active member who has given a lot of his time and effort to promoting the hobby and the AMA,” wrote Greg Gimlick. “The Academy is honored to have him as a member and more importantly an advocate.”
Don and Eric were each presented with a plaque and a $1,000 memorial brick certificate for the AMA Walk of Fame.
Dave Mathewson added: “Both Don and Eric clearly epitomize the meaning of the AMA’s President’s Award and are truly deserving of this recognition. They have each played a large role in helping AMA develop new programs that will both introduce countless people to aeromodeling and benefit the Academy and its members. They have volunteered virtually countless hours of their personal time providing AMA with their expertise and knowledge, which is second to none in the modeling industry.”
Congratulations! —AMA staff
Zaic Memorial Award and the Vintage R/C Society
When the AMA was established in 1936, radio control (RC) was relatively unknown, practiced by only a few experimenters such as the Good brothers. At the time, Frank and John Zaic were helping the AMA organize modelers into the new organization. The primary modeling activity then was free flight (FF), with control line (CL) emerging as an alternate discipline. RC did not become widely recognized until after World War II, when commercially available equipment appeared in the late 1940s. Over the next 60 years RC grew dramatically and became the dominant segment of AMA membership.
Leading the way in documenting this progress is an AMA special interest group, the Vintage R/C Society (VR/CS), founded in 1989. At various times the organization’s membership has included many of AMA’s pioneer RC modelers, including:
- the Good brothers
- Ed Lorenz
- Hal deBolt
- Howard McEntee
- Art Schroeder
- Jerry Nelson
- Cliff Weirick
Another pioneer was recognized at the Toledo R/C Expo in Ohio in April. Bob Noll of New York, the current VR/CS president, received the Zaic Memorial Award on behalf of the VR/CS. He’s carrying on from where the organization’s early leaders began. The award includes a plaque expected to be displayed prominently at VR/CS events and, perhaps more significantly, a check from the Zaic Memorial Fund to help offset the cost of putting on the VR/CS display at the Expo.
Transcribed from original scans by AI. Minor OCR errors may remain.
