The recipient of this annual award is chosen by the SORP Board of Directors to acknowledge an individual or organization whose career path has had a significant national impact on outdoor recreation and the outdoor recreation profession.
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2022 | Angelou Ezeilo, Founder of Greening Youth Foundation
2020 | North Carolina State University, Department of Parks, Tourism, and Recreation
2019 | Yvon Chouinard (Patagonia) and Kenton Carruth (First Lite)
2018
Congressman Don Byer (VA)
Congressman Peter Welch (VT)
Senator Jeanne Shaheen (NH) for establishing the Outdoor Recreation Satellite Account (ORSA)
2017 | Recreation Equipment, Inc. (REI)
2016 | Liz Putnam, Founder of the Student Conservation Fund
2015 | Dr. Glenn E. Haas, Professor Emeritus at Colorado State University and Aukerman, Haas and Associates
2014 | The California State Parks Foundation, Elizabeth Goldstein, Executive Director
2013 | Outdoor Industry Association
2012 | Will Shafroth, Counselor to the Secretary for America's Great Outdoors, Department of the Interior
2011 | Dr. Ken Cordell, USDA Forest Service, Southern Research Station
2010 | Mike Pool, Bureau of Land Management
2009 | Bob Ratcliffe, Bureau of Land Management
2008 | Bob Meinen, Idaho Parks and Recreation
2007 | Donna Brasher, Lower Colorado River Authority
2006 | Not awarded
2005 | Greg Super, USDA Forest Service
2004 | Ney Landrum, retired Florida State Parks Director
2003 | Gaylord Nelson, Former U.S. Senator and Governor of Wisconsin
2002 | Courtland Nelson, Utah Division of Parks and Recreation
2001 | Robert Anderson, National Park Service
2000 | Darrell Lewis, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers
1999 | Dr. Arthur H. Mittelstaedt, Jr., Ed. D.
1998 | Dr. B. L. “Bev” Driver, retired – USDA Forest Service
1997 | Bill Spitzer, retired – National Park Service
1995 | Congressman Bruce Vento, Minnesota