Outstanding National Vice President

(Donnie Alvis Memorial Award)

        Originally, this was the Outstanding Elected Officer of the Year award which was to recognize what we call today Region Vice President. The first one was presented during the third year of the organization’s history. With the exception during the Charles Fries and Bob Hunt administrations, this held true until at the annual meeting held in Louisville, 1990. In 1979, Carl Keplinger was recognized as the Outstanding Elected Officer and Bob Hunt was recognized as the Outstanding Vice President. In 1980, Dave Habershaw was recognized as the Outstanding Elected Officer and Carl Keplinger as the Outstanding Vice President. In 1990, Charles Gouviea became the first non V.P. officer to be awarded outright. He had served as Secretary under President Lanny Heater and none was awarded to a Vice President. This would happen three more times before the annual meeting held in Des Moines, 1997, voted to institute the recognition of the outstanding Region Vice President on its own by creating this award in memory of Donnie Alvis. There has been one tie and that was during Jim Luff’s year (1983-84) when Art Butler # 2565 and Ray Baskette #29037 shared the award. The number in the parenthesize represents the region number. This award is sponsored by the Virginia JCI Senate.