Chapter Thirteen - The Valuable Man Award
For the past thirty years, it has been the custom for the Firemen to publicly recognize exceptional service and/or outstanding efforts of citizens of Sebring. Until just recently, this ceremony was more of a tradition than a ritual made mandatory by a section of the By-laws.
It started in 1928 with a testimonial dinner given by the Chief in honor of the Assistant Chief, Chal Lighthiser. When the Department was re-formed in 1925, Chal was one of the most diligent and effective workers in the reorganization, but he was not chosen to fill one of the two paid positions that were open at that time. They went to relatives and friends of the city officials. It was but natural that he should feel that his efforts were not appreciated so, to let him and all the City know that the Firemen did acknowledge his valuable and untiring services, he was publicly commended at the dinner.
It seemed such a weak gesture to merely acknowledge the years of faithful devotion to the fire department, that Spencer Jones had freely given, by a rising vote of thanks so the steering committee decided to thank him with a more elaborate ceremony and, as a memento of the Occasion, they presented him with a very ornate pool cue in 1929.
In 1930 it was Doyle Schumacher for his splendid work in building Firemen’s Field. He was followed in 1931 by P. G. Gearing and so the tradition was started.
At first, the steering committee decided as to the one to be honored but it was soon agreed that those who had been "tapped" were best qualified to make the selections so, without any formal action, they took over that duty. Also, by tacit agreement, the latest recipient automatically became the chairman of the committee for the following year.
There have never been any definite or clear-cut rules to guide the Committee in the selection of the man who is lauded as the "Most Valuable Man" for the year. But, it is generally the purpose to try to point out the one who has done the most to benefit the City and/or the Fire Department. This honor is not reserved to members of the Firemen but it is only natural that the Committee would be better acquainted with the work and value of firemen and would want to reward persons who had helped their organization so, as a natural result, more members than non-members have been cited.
However, several non-members have been named and many of the awards have been based on activities that did not necessarily, directly benefit the Fire Department. Distinctively, along this line, were the occasions when "Prof" Gustat and "Buck" Pardee were cited for their exceptional work among the youth of Sebring as they were not members of the Department when they were chosen. Later, however, they became associated.
Only in two years, were more than one person designated as "Most Valuable".
During World War II, a committee composed of Dee Long, Hayden Williams and Forrest Howard, issued a bi-monthly news letter which was sent to every Sebring man in the armed forces. This was such an excellent piece of work that it won many words of praise from the men who were away from home and plaques of recognition from the committee-men.
In 1954, when Ray Graddy earned the applause of his fellow firemen for his years of service as a member and officer of the Sebring Firemen, Inc., and as the head of the Fair Association in the year when they built the first permanent fair exhibition building, a scroll was drawn up memorializing the tremendous contributions of Alexander Blair, not only to the benefit of Sebring and Highlands County but to the State of Florida and to all mankind.
Unfortunately, there are several features in the method of choosing the most valuable man, that make it impossible to arrive at selections that will be unanimously agreeable. Since the rules are so informal, no score or tally sheets are used so, if the majority of the committee members present and voting are baseball fans, the choice for that year might be influenced in favor of one who had performed outstandingly for the benefit of that activity.
Likewise, a man may labor diligently for years, successfully fulfilling every job assignment given him, in a quiet and unostentatious manner and thereby make himself invaluable but may go on for years almost unrecognized because another person, in one year only, performed a flashy piece of work that is quickly seen. While it is not meant that any award has been made that was not merited, many, many men have really earned recognition but have never been publicly cited.
There are several salient examples of this condition, including Harry Brown, E. L. Greene, W. J. Amy, George Hicks, Col. Bailey, Joe Lighthiser, Ebb Gallaher and many others. These were outstanding in their continuous service to the Fire Department and the City of Sebring but when their names were placed in nomination, the Committee had other selections for that specific year.
It has been often said that no man is indispensable or irreplaceable but it is an obvious fact that no man has filled the places of the leaders (in their fields of activity) who have left Sebring.
One fact is very noticeable. Most of the men who have been designated as "most valuable man", continue to serve the public year after year even though it has been the practice to not name the Same man more than once. This appears to prove the wisdom exercised by the selecting bodies.
Recently, the By-laws were amended to make the committee official and to outline its duties and privileges. It is generally conceded that the custom of naming the year’s most valuable man, is one of the Department’s more important activities.
1929 Spencer Jones 1944 Bill Dutton
1930 Doyle Schumacher 1945 Floyd Schumacher
1931 P. G. Gearing 1946 Brandon Jones
1932 Skeet Naylor 1947 Fred Baguley
1933 Hal Long 1948 Elton Weaver
1934 O. W. Chapman 1949 Howard Livingston
1935 Allen C. Altvater 1950 C. B. Carter
1936 Ray Paschall 1951 Dick Dorton
1937 Jack Williams 1952 Woodrow Harshman
1938 Payne Sebring 1953 Ford Heacock, Sr.
1939 Prof. Gustat 1954 Ray Graddy
1940 Gatchell Burton 1955 Kenneth Wilson
1941 Joe Kinsey 1956 Lonnie Curl
1942 Buck Pardee 1957 L. R. Carter
1943 Forrest Howard 1958 J. M. McAdams
1943 Dee Long 1959 Miles Baker
1943 Hayden Williams 1960 Frank Bryant