Area residents are invited to nominate persons for the annual Nashville Chamber of Commerce citizenship awards.
The awards will be presented at the chamber banquet set for Monday, Feb. 19., at the Nashville High School cafeteria. Doors open at 6 p.m., and the banquet begins at 6:30.
Tickets are $15 each, and tables for 6, 8, 10 or 12 may be reserved.
Awards to be presented include Man of the Year; Woman of the Year; Orange & Black Education Award; and Hometown Hero Award for community service.
Deadline to receive nominations is Friday, Feb. 9. Nominators should give reasons the person should be honored and include specifics. Nominations may be made by calling the chamber, 8870-845-1262, or by email to [email protected].
Criteria for the Orange & Black Award are: (1) must be someone within education who does something outstanding for the community; or (2) someone from the community who does something outstanding for local education.
A committee made up of former winners will review nominations and make selections.
At the banquet, the previous year’s winners will present the plaques to the new honorees who are usually present not knowing they are to be honored.
The chamber of commerce began having an awards banquet in 1974. At first, the only award was Man of the Year. The first winner was the late Jay Toland, an insurance agent and school board member who volunteered to write grant applications for the city. He was named Man of the Year for 1973.
The only award was Man of the Year until Liz Bell was named 1975 Woman of the Year. Her award was actually called Citizen of the Decade, but it was later amended to Woman of the Year, and it has continued since that time.
First winners of the Orange & Black were the late Billy Laird and the undefeated Scrapper football state champions.
The late Edna Benson was the first black citizen to receive an award.
Man of the Year recipients include the following:
1973 Jay Toland
1974 Louis “Swampy” Graves
1975 Clayton Franklin
1976 John Reuther
1977 Larry Renard
1978 James Masey
1979 Deward Sharp
1980 Bobby Feemster
1981 Arthur Baker
1982 Roy Reaves
1983 David Pile
1984 Herschell Teague
1985 Mike Reese
1986 Dale Hart
1987 Mike McCann
1988 Dr. John Hearnsberger
1989 Joe H. Ball
1990 Donny & Ronny Woods
1991 Louie Graves
1992 Wendell Hoover
1993 Jess Young
1994 Norman Adamson
1995 Mike Kinkade
1996 Donnie Parrish
1997 Cliff Petty
1998 Roger Cox
1999 Ray Blakely
2000 Billy Hockaday
2001 Rev. Jim Polk
2002 Bo Castleberry
2003 J.B. Davis
2004 Gary Dan Futrell
2005 Dr. Glenn Lance
2006 James Reed
2007 Sen. Jim Hill
2008 Joe Dallas
2009 Bill Blakely
2010 Mark Canaday
2011 Randy White
2012 Sheriff Butch Morris
2013 Bob Cargile
2014 Freddie Horne
2015 Don Fletcher
2016 John R. Schirmer
2017 ????????
Woman of the Year recipients include the following:
1975 Liz Bell
1976 Jane Chesshir
1977 Mercedes Dildy
1978 Jane Graves
1979 Dot Tyndall
1980 Mary Power
1981 Junior Auxiliary
1982 Becky Steel
1983 Edna Benson
1984 Jo N. Howard
1985 Hospital Auxiliary
1986 Lossie Johnson
1987 Evelyn Cobb
1988 Verna Hockaday
1989 Sandy Steel
1990 Nobie Ann Williams
1991 Mabel Sanders
1992 Mary Lawrence
1993 Sandy Boone
1994 Deb Kinkade
1995 Neva Byrd
1996 Lou Jamison
1997 Carol Oliver
1998 Kaye Jones
1999 Dolly Henley
2000 Jimmie Jean White
2001 Freda Davis
2002 Becky Rockenbach
2003 Cay Teague
2004 Voncille Bullock
2005 Carolyn Ellis
2006 Dena Tollett
2007 Beverly Starr
2008 Sandra Jones
2009 Ruth Wilson
2010 Rose Ray
2011 Sheila Kreul
2012 Anna Blase
2013 Vivian Wright
2014 Kristi Vines
2015 Joan McCrary
2016 Gail Harris Hearnsberger
2017 ????????
Orange & Black Education Award recipients include the following:
1996 Coach Billy Laird and the
State Champion Scrappers
1997 John R. Schirmer
1998 Katie Wesche
1999 Edwin R. “Bob” Armil
2000 Anita Stuckey
2001 Tammie Elliott
2002 Dennis Horn
2003 Jr. & Sr. High FCCLA Classes
2004 Cheryl Power
2005 Gaye Graham
2006 Billy Dawson
2007 Johnny Wilson
2008 Becky Floyd
2009 Tammy Alexander
2010 LaDonna Curtis
2011 Paul Tollett
2012 Doug Graham
2013 James “Bunch” Nichols
2014 Reeder McCullough
2015 Joy Freel
2016 Stacia Petty
2017 ???????
All winners for 2017 will be announced at the annual chamber banquet Monday, Feb. 19, at the Nashville High School cafeteria.
