The American Sports Builders Association (ASBA), the national organization for builders and suppliers of materials for athletic facilities, has announced the winners of its highest honor, the Industry Merit Award. This year, the award was presented to the individuals who founded the association more than 45 years ago. The award was presented at the ASBA’s recent Technical Meeting in Savannah, Georgia. It is given at the discretion of the association’s Board of Directors and its Awards Committee, and is meant to recognize individuals who have made outstanding contributions to the association and the industry.
The ASBA was organized as the U.S. Tennis Court & Track Builders Association in 1964 with the goal of pursuing excellence in tennis court and running track construction. Over the years, the association has broadened its scope of membership to include those who design and engineer facilities as well as those who manufacture the materials and supplies used both in construction and in the completed facilities. As its current name suggests, the American Sports Builders Association has seen its membership grow and diversify along with the industry, and now includes a wide range of individuals and companies, including those who supply indoor multi-purpose facilities, sports fields, turf facilities and more.
ASBA has also extended its reach into the marketplace, offering two meetings a year (a Technical Meeting, which is held in December, and a Winter Meeting, held in February). The association also publishes construction guidelines, regarded by many governing bodies to be the industry standard for sports facility construction, as well as buyer’s guides and construction and maintenance manuals for tennis courts, running tracks and artificial turf fields. The association also offers a voluntary certification program for builders of tennis courts, running tracks and sports fields, and also puts forth an awards program to recognize construction excellence. It publishes a regular newsletter, and its website, www.sportsbuilders.org, includes a search feature which allows those who are seeking a designer, builder or supplier of materials to locate the right personnel.
“Since its inception, the ASBA has stood for quality design and construction of sports facilities, and it has stayed true to those principles,” said Sam Fisher, chairman of the association. “The group was started with the goal of bettering the industry, and we continue to do that every day. The association as we know it today owes a great debt of gratitude to the individuals who started it and stayed with it.”
In its presentation at the Technical Meeting, ASBA recognized the founders as well as charter members: William J. Hansen (Humphries Hanson), Robert E. Lee (The Lee Company), Gene Edwards (Malott Peterson Grundy), Joseph P. McClaren (Master-Krete, Inc.), Sydney R. Mayer (Mayer Paving and Asphalt Co.), M.Dale McDonald (M. Male McDonald Co.), George Peebles (Pacific Tennis Courts), Emery W. Bedall (Surface Engineers), Sheldon Westervelt (Wm. C. Westervelt and Sons), Dick Hoover (Zone Marking Co.), and Robert Caldwell. Of this group, only Lee, Caldwell, Westervelt and Hoover are known to survive. Sheldon Westervelt, who was in attendance at the meeting, accepted the award on behalf of all his colleagues, living and deceased.
The ASBA is a non-profit association helping designers, builders, owners, operators and users understand quality sports facility construction. Available at no charge is a listing of all publications offered by the Association, as well as the ASBA’s Membership Directory, its publications, activities and upcoming meetings, please contact the Association at 8480 Baltimore National Pike, Suite 307, Ellicott City, MD 21043. The toll-free phone number is 866-501-ASBA, the local number is 410-730-9595, and the fax number is 410-730-8833. The ASBA also may be reached electronically via its website: www.sportsbuilders.org, or via e-mail at info@sportsbuilders.org.