Federal Premium Announces Winner of 2012 Bill Stevens 4-H Leadership Award
OutdoorHub 07.18.12
Federal Premium Ammunition announces the recipient of the second annual Bill Stevens 4-H Leadership Award. Dr. Ronald Howard Jr. from College Station, Texas, was honored and received the award June 19 during the 2012 National 4-H Shooting Sports Invitational in Grand Island, Nebraska.
Federal has been supporting the conservation efforts of 4-H since 1934. This year marks Federal’s 33rd consecutive year of support for the 4-H Shooting Sports Program. The company also sponsors numerous 4-H youth shooting camps that teach safe hunting, shooting and wildlife management techniques.
Committed to Conservation
In 2011, Federal Premium Ammunition created an award to honor those volunteers and professionals involved in the 4-H Shooting Sports Project who have gone the extra mile to achieve the mission of 4-H Shooting Sports.
The award is named after the late Bill Stevens, Federal’s former Conservation Programs Manager who retired in 2007 after 42 years. Stevens played a major role in making the Shooting Sports a part of 4-H across the nation. He also increased Federal’s support of the 4-H program. Stevens passed away in 2011, but not before awarding the first 4-H Leadership Award to Conrad Arnold of Maryland.
2012 Award Winner
Ron Howard’s academic and professional career included time at Cornell University in New York, Purdue University in Indiana, and Texas A&M. He worked both as a professor and extension agent, teaching countless students how fish and wildlife management are interwoven with hunting, fishing, trapping and the shooting sports. His support and advancement of the 4-H Shooting Sports Program has been hugely successful.
Howard helped spearhead New York’s early efforts in 1980 and anchored the program on the east coast in its early days. He served on the National 4-H Shooting Sports Committee, including terms as chair, and was a driving force in the creation of the Wildlife and Hunting Skills disciplines. Howard also led the Texas Shooting Sports Project, the largest state shooting sports program in the country.
“While 4-H has included shooting sports since the 1930’s, the Shooting Sports Project really had its birth in December of 1979 when the first truly multi-state organization was put together,” said Federal Premium Conservation Manager Ryan Bronson. “Among the participants in that meeting was Ron Howard representing New York, Tom Davison of Texas, Jerry Neuman of Washington, Wayne Sheets of the NRA, and Bill Stevens. These early leaders put together a systematic approach that would eventually lead to the 4H Shooting Sports project that we know today. We’re proud to give the second annual Bill Stevens 4-H Leadership Award to Ron in recognition of all of his efforts over the years.”
