President's Perspective - 2008/01

his is my last column and I’ll miss
writing them. Not really! It is
difficult to come up with something
to base a column on each month.
Among the gems of wisdom I remember is
from the late Jeremiah Courtney, AMA’s
general counsel many years ago. He said that
conventional wisdom has it that to show
someone how short a month is, commit him to
making a large monthly payment on
something. Jeremiah also said that
conventional wisdom was wrong, and that if
one is to really show someone how short a
month is, commit him to writing a monthly
column.
I can tell you how true that statement is.
Jerry was but one of hundreds of people who
were a part of the AMA during my time on
the Executive Council (EC). There are many
who deserve mention in my last column as
people without whom AMA would not be
what it is today.
There are those who started the
organization back in 1936. (Contrary to
popular theory, I don’t remember that
occasion!) There were many heroes of the
organization who were an important part of
AMA long before my time, but I can only
attest to those with whom I have worked.
I must mention John Worth. Without John,
there would be no AMA. He took over as
executive director during a difficult period,
and pulled the AMA through those times by
the bootstraps.
I have to mention Johnny Clemens. If
there was ever a single person who
epitomized AMA, it was Johnny. His upbeat
attitude and jovial style led AMA through
those same years. Some of his jokes became
old before their time, but Johnny served
AMA extremely well.
President’s Perspective
AMA President Dave Brown
T
Don Lowe, my predecessor as District III
vice president and later as AMA president,
was my mentor in many ways. His cool head
and calm demeanor made him an effective
leader during the years of incredible growth
in the late 1980s and early 1990s. AMA owes
him a great deal.
You could not mention anyone in AMA
who has done more for modelers and served
in whatever capacity he was asked than Bob
Underwood. His willingness to step in and
take over any job he is requested to do
continues to be well above and beyond the
call of duty.
I can’t mention anyone who has been
more meaningful to AMA during my tenure
as president than Joyce Hager. Joyce served
as our executive director during most of my
time as president and has been a godsend to
the organization.
There are many others—some close
friends and some with whom I never did
become friends—who have had a huge
impact on the organization. Frankly, I learned
much more from those with whom I
disagreed than from those with whom I
agreed. There were few with whom I dealt
who didn’t fall into both categories at one
time or another.
The one person without whom I could not
have served as president is my wife Sally.
She has supported me—literally and
figuratively—the entire 28 years I spent on
the council. Without her support it would
have never been possible.
During the last 28 years I have seen an
enormous number of EC members come and
go. To a man or woman, they have all had an
impact on the direction your organization has
taken. AMA is a democratic organization:
you vote for your representatives on the
council and those representatives dictate the
policies that AMA will follow.
If you do not like the direction in which
the Academy is going, then you can elect
someone else or even run yourself. That is
how I got started in AMA’s leadership; I
didn’t like what was going on and decided to
do something about it. The only way I could
have my say was to run for office so I threw
my name into the hat.
Now, 28 years later, I am leaving the EC
after having held all of the elected offices:
district vice president, executive vice
president, and president. I leave much wiser
than when I arrived. I’m leaving with a
slightly different perspective and only history
will tell whether I leave the organization
stronger than it was when I arrived.
What am I going to do once I am no longer
on the AMA EC? I expect to remain involved
with some AMA committees and hope to
remain involved with the FAI representation.
But mainly I hope to get back to doing some
flying. That’s a novel idea! It has been nearly
impossible because of time constraints during
a large part of my time as an AMA officer.
I have flown more in the last 10 months
than I did during the previous 10 years, and I
intend to fly even more once I no longer have
as many AMA responsibilities.
In short, I’m not going anywhere. I will
still be involved in the sport I have loved for
almost all of my life.
Whoever is elected as the next AMA
president I will support completely. As an
AMA member, it’s my organization and that
president can accomplish much more with my
support than if I try to undermine his efforts.
See ya at the flying field!