National 4-H Alumni Recognition Program

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National 4-H alumni winners in 1983 were (back row, left to right) broadcaster Orion Samuelson, Secretary of Agriculture John Block, Senator Thad Cochran (MS), Orville Redenbacher, Charles Smith, (front row) Ann Scott Porter, and hospital administrator Edna Wilke Thayer. [An eighth winner, not pictured, was Kentucky Governor Martha Layne Collins.

In 1953 the National 4-H Service Committee created the National 4-H Alumni Recognition Program, supported by Olin Mathieson Chemical Corporation as donor of awards. The program had two objectives: to draw attention to the accomplishments of former 4-H members, i.e. visibility, and to help secure needed volunteers in the 4-H program. While the program recognized outstanding 4-H alumni at all levels, it also triggered an active search for all former 4-H members and encouraged their participation as leaders and resource persons for the 4-H program at the county, state and national levels.

While the program identified alumni at the county and state levels and honored them in various ways and at different county and state events, at the national level traditionally eight outstanding 4-H alumni winners were recognized during National 4-H Congress in Chicago and given a special recognition luncheon by the donor where each recipient could relate their personal story. The program was highly visible and continued through 1992 when the last eight were recognized. Over this 40 year period many outstanding individuals were recognized and many renewed their interest and support for 4-H.

Some of the former 4-H'ers honored on this long list of VIP's include: Senator Edmund S. Muskie, Maine; Roy Acuff, country singing legend; Harold "Red" Poling, chairman, Ford Motor Company; Clayton Yeutter, U.S. Secretary of Agriculture; Pat Head Summitt, University of Tennessee head coach of the women's basketball program; Colby H. Chandler, chairman, Eastman Kodak Company; Ken Montfort, president of ConAgra Red Meats Company; Dr. John S. Toll, president, University of Maryland; Joseph "Joe" Robbie, general manager and owner of the Miami Dolphins; Reba McEntire, country music entertainer; Dr. Stanley O. Ikenberry, president, University of Illinois; Vice President Al Gore, Jr.; John R. Block, U.S. Secretary of Agriculture; Sen. Thad Cochran, Mississippi; Martha Layne Collins, first woman governor of Kentucky; businessman Orville Redenbacher, Earl Butz, U.S. Secretary of Agriculture; Johnny Bench, catcher, Cincinnati Reds; Sen. Dale Bumpers, Arkansas; Dr. Glenn A. Olds, president, Kent State University, Ohio; Sen. Howard H. Baker, Jr., Tennessee; Rep. Carl B. Albert, Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives; Dr. Russell G. Mawby, president, W. K. Kellogg Foundation; Hon. Robert W. Scott, governor of North Carolina; Judge Juanita Kidd Stout, Philadelphia County court judge, first Negro woman appointed to the bench; Jean Ritchie Pickow, internationally known folk singer; Edd H. Bailey, president, Union Pacific Railroad; Dr. E. T. York, Jr., provost of the University of Florida; Jane Marsh, winner of the 1966 Tchaikovsky International Competition in Moscow; Dr. George Beadle, Nobel Prize winner in Genetics and president, University of Chicago; Dr. Emil M. Mrak, chancellor, University of California at Davis; Hon. William L. Guy, governor of North Dakota; Dr. Paul A. Miller, president of West Virginia University; Hon. Buford E. Ellington, governor of Tennessee; astronaut Alan B. Shepard, Jr.; Jesse W. Tapp, chairman of the board, Bank of America; Sen. John Sparkman, Alabama; Roy Rogers, radio, television and motion picture star; Hon. Herman E. Talmadge, governor and U.S. senator, Georgia; Gov. Dan Thornton, Colorado.

The history of the National 4-H Alumni Recognition program and complete listing of all 320 national winners can be found on the National 4-H History Preservation website: