L.A.C. Newsletter Award

By Bruce Markielewski

    Somewhere around the middle of August, 1995, I received a phone call from Mike Hellmund, and he said "Congratulations". I thought for a moment, and not remembering winning the NAR "C" Division National Championship, I inquired "What For?".

    It was then that I learned that "C.R.A.S.H. Landings" had won the NAR's 1995 L.A.C. Award for the year's best newsletter. This was totally unexpected (for me, anyway), as there are many fine newsletters published by rocketry groups around the country. We had been runner-up in 1993, but I had felt that winning the top honors unlikely. Still, that moment has arrived, and It makes the efforts of all that contributed that much more worthwhile.

    There are many who deserve credit for this award, beginning with Larry Weber, who started the whole thing in 1988. Dave Nauer was a great help with his updates on COSROCS events, and Kevin Kuczek's technical and Presidential articles were both entertaining and educational, as were Ed O'Neill's Kit reviews. Others that have contributed to the year's efforts were Dario Brisighella, Pat Michl, and Dave Gianakos, and there were many more in the preceding years that made this possible.

    You're probably asking by now "What did we win, anyway?" Along with the prestige and recognition the award brings, we were the caretakers of a rather large traveling trophy, and a mysterious box that contains memorabilia from every section that has won the award before. The trophy Is labeled the "North American Rockwell Trophy", but the origin of this eludes me. This award began in 1969 by the NAR's Leader Administrative Council or L.A.C. (and donated by the Rockwell company), which was responsible for developing a number of educational and technical rocketry related programs.

    The LAC award, as it's now called, has some rules that accompany it. Only members of the winning section may learn what items accompany the trophy, and (I assumed) we couldn't keep any of them! We were entrusted with its care for the next year and passed it on to the 1996 winner. Being passed along for 26 years has taken its toll on the trophy, and I think only the traditions involved (of which I'm not totally familiar) have saved it from being replaced by a newer one. In spite of its used appearance, it's a great honor our section can be proud of!