June 22, 2010
Today’s Program
USF Football
Today’s Speaker
Skip Holtz
A new era began at the University of South Florida with the hiring of Skip Holtz as the head coach of the football program on January 14, 2010. Holtz, who is just the second head coach in the 13 year history, comes to USF after five seasons at East Carolina.
While USF has been praised for its meteoric rise over the last 13 years, Holtz ECU’s head coach for five seasons led ECU to unprecedented heights including four-straight winning seasons and back-to-back Conference USA championships.
The USF football program has been to five consecutive bowl games, is one of seven programs to make a bowl appearance in every season as a BCS league member and is in the midst of four straight winning seasons.
USF will return nine offensive starters and six defensive starters in 2010, including electric quarterback B.J. Daniels, the entire offensive line and at least three of its top four rushers.
Holtz, 45, assisted his father, the legendary Lou Holtz, at South Carolina and Notre Dame prior to his East Carolina position. In between those positions, he had much head coaching success at UCONN, ultimately leading the Huskies at entry into USF’s conference, the Big East.
For his efforts during the 2001 season, Holtz was recognized as one of the winners of the Assistant Coach-of-the-Year Award by the All-American Football Foundation.
The success Holtz earned on the field at Connecticut was matched by his involvement in the community as a successful speaker, clinician and humanitarian - often donating his time and effort to many charitable and educational organizations. He served as the honorary chairman for Camp Courant, helping fund-raising efforts to send more than 1,000 under-privileged area children to recreational and educational camps. Holtz was also actively involved with the American Diabetes Association, serving as an honorary chairman and member of the Board of Trustees for two years.
Holtz was honored in 1996 with the National Football Foundation Man-of-the-Year Award and was a member of the Foundation's ethics committee. He was also the recipient of the Franciscan Life Center's St. Francis Award in 1995, an honor given for his dedication and support of Christian values and outstanding athletic achievements.
Skip and his wife, Jennifer, are the parents of three children: Louis Leo (Trey) Holtz III (15); Chad Fitzgerald Holtz (12); and Hailey Elizabeth Holtz (10).
What’s Happening
Congratulations
Dick Koch, forever young, celebrated fifty-two (52) years of wedded bliss to date; and donated $1.00 for each year to the Club, and for you Georgia grads, that is $52.00.
Last Week at Kiwanis
Kiwanian of the Day, Al Karnavicius, introduced fellow club member Dr. Ron O’Neal to describe in detail his mercy mission to Haiti to help the locals with their dental care. The mission’s germination and organizational seed came from Pastor Geoff Kohler, Associate Pastor of Palma Ceia Presbyterian Church (the church of Ron’s family).
Ron made it clear to us that his trip was only possible through the support of his beautiful wife Blair, his in-laws Weyman and Jan Willingham, and his four children. Ron’s extended family, the Kiwanis Club of St. Petersburg, also supported the mission with over $5,000.00 to fund the trip. Additionally, the Herbert G. Brown Rotary District 6950 Charitable Foundation gave a check for $1,000.00 and Henry Schein Dental Supplies provided over $3,000.00 of dental supplies. And finally, Tampa Bay Outfitters of Tampa gave the expedition travel essentials including a headlamp, a backpack, suitcase, and several other necessities. As they were to discover, their mission was not unlike camping as they resided on the edge of squalor.
The background of Ron is what fueled the fire for Ron to get involved in the first place. A graduate of the University of Florida’s College of Dentistry, Ron’s first experiences as a dental student included caring for the indigent of the Gainesville area, moments forever etched in Ron’s memory. This sparked the motivation to start the Save-A-Smile (SAS) project, now in its sixth year of operation. SAS is modeled after Ron’s UF experience, as once a year on a fall Saturday he opens up his clinic in St. Petersburg to the area’s less fortunate children whose families cannot afford dental care.
One would not notice, but Ron dreads public speaking comparable to a feeling most of us have to visiting a dental office. But with us, he waded comfortably into the shallow end beginning with a PowerPoint presentation. From this, we learned the nuts-and-bolts of the geography, population, economy, and about the earthquake of January 12, 2010, leaving a million homeless and 300,000 dead.
Ron and his troop arrived in Haiti on May 29. From the air, Haiti looked like the typical idyllic Caribbean island, featuring emerald waters and lush vegetation. Once landed, the island revealed itself as a land of horror, stench, and devastation as the scope of misery and poverty seemed endless.
Plunging into this chaos, the next day Ron, in primitive conditions, started (and for five subsequent days) extracting teeth. His patients ranged in age from 10-94 years. One gentleman, his mouth overwhelmed with dental disease, had all his teeth extracted. The average day Ron saw up to twenty-five patients, and his busiest day brought thirty-four to the clinic.
Daily, Ron battled rainstorms and unsanitary conditions. Only two days in, Ron started to suffer the ravages of dysentery and dehydration. Added to this, as the only dentist on board, the seven or so hours of nonstop action at the clinic left him exhausted.
On Saturday, June 5, he headed home, never so happy to be in the arms of his wife and his children. Returning from the bleakest side of humanity known to him, Ron has a new appreciation for his life.
Acknowledging our lasting support of SAS, he appreciates the encouragement and generosity we have extended through the years. It made things easier for him in his darkest hours in Haiti as he battled his sickness and deplorable conditions knowing we were there in spirit to give him the strength to continue. While what we have done and will do is a relative drop in the bucket, the smiles to the faces of those Ron helped is what Ron will remember the most. And, to emphasize, Ron wants us to realize that all our giving reaps rewards that cannot be measured.
Yes Ron, we appreciate your gratitude towards us, but more importantly, we thank you as you exemplify the ideal of Kiwanis: “A global organization of volunteers dedicated to changing the world one child and one community at a time.”
Concluding his presentation, Ron, overcome with emotion, struck to the core of our Kiwanis principles leaving a message to resonant with all of us: “I’d like to answer the question I’ve been asked multiple times since I’ve been back “”Why did you go?”” You’ve all now seen the images of devastation and viewed the pictures of these beautiful young Haitian children and the poverty they endure. You know of the lack of running water and medical care. Now take these same images and instead of a Haitian child think of what lengths you would go to if it were your child. Not a moment went by when I was there that I wasn’t selfishly grateful that my children were not in such deplorable conditions.”
“It doesn’t really matter if it is Haiti, Tampa, Uganda, New Orleans, or St. Petersburg. What we are hoping to accomplish is passing down service and its importance from one generation to the next. Helping others can never be a sprint, especially in Haiti, it is truly a marathon. We, as Kiwanians, are called to serve the children of the world (as our motto states) by being examples of compassion towards those less fortunate and empowering our youth to carry on where we will leave off. I thank you all once again!”
Ron, job well done!
Read Press Release
Attendance Last Week
We had 67 members and 10 guests.
Dale Koch, Becky Easter, and Keith Easter, guests of Dick Koch
Jim Cohen, Guthrie Cohen, Sterling Weems, Jane Weems, Blair O’Neal, Sterling O’Neal, Khalid O’Neal, and Jeff Kohler, guests of Weyman Willingham
Leesa Halstead, and Ryan Halstead, guests of Larry Halstead
Ernie Sottman and Colby Staubs, guests from Sunshine City
Cori Cochran, guest of Mitch Cochran
This Week’s Quiz
- Which conference did USF first join?
- What is Skip Holtz’s real first name? Why and when did the nickname Skip originate?
- What is the approximate expected enrollment for all campuses at USF this fall: a) 35,000 b) 40,000 c) 45,000 d) 50,000
- What year did USF become an accredited university?
- Where was the battleship Maine sunk? Which war?
Last Week’s Quiz
- The name of the island where Haiti is located is Hispaniola. The country that borders Haiti is the Dominican Republic.
- France last controlled Haiti until Haiti declared their independence on January 1, 1804 through a slave revolution.
- Port-Au-Prince is the capital of Haiti.
- Today the approximate population of Haiti is 10 million.
- Haiti's main exports are bauxite, cocoa, coffee, essential oils, clothing, mangoes, sisal (from the agave plant), and sugar. Its main trading partners are the USA and France.
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