Excellence in Instruction Award
At the ACA Annual Banquet each fall, the prestigious Excellence in Instruction Award is presented to an ACA member for his or her outstanding contribution to paddlesports instruction.
The recipients names are placed on a perpetual plaque that is prominently displayed in the ACA National Office.
*Award Nominations for 2009 are now closed. Please contact the ACA Executive Director for additional information.
2009 - Tom Lindblade
"Tell me and I will forget; Show me and I may remember; Involve me and I will understand."
Tom Lindblade has been a Counselor/Therapist and 
Experiential Educator for over forty years. He began his experiential career working in summer camps while in college in the early sixties. Then he completed a Master's degree in Counseling and a post graduate certificate in Gestalt Therapy. Throughout his career he has been able to combine his skills as a therapist, career counselor and experiential educator.
For twenty five years Tom taught in and coordinated the Field and Experiential learning Program at College of DuPage in Glen Ellyn, Illinois. As Coordinator, Tom facilitated the development and marketing of hundreds of interdisciplinary and experiential courses and since retirement in 2000, continues to teach at COD in an adjunct capacity. He developed and led field studies which have taken students to fifty countries and many wilderness areas of North America. Tom has visited Southern and Eastern Africa eight times, and has led students on expeditions to Europe, Asia, North, Central, and South America.
Since retirement in 2000, Tom has become active as a volunteer, and serves on the Board of the Association for Experiential Education. Tom’s other contributions, service, and accomplishments are many. Currently serving as President and Safety Chair for the Illinois Paddling Council, he formerly served as Secretary, Director and Safety Chair. He is Training Director for Prairie State Canoeists, Kishwaukee River Water Trail Reach Steward for Illinois Water TrailKeepers. He is author of numerous articles on paddlesports and is a frequent guest speaker at local paddling events. He has videographed many of his paddling trips as well as paddling instruction venues.
If you have had any formal canoeing instruction here in the
Tom is an Instructor/Trainer for the American Canoe Association and continues to train Canoe Instructors for various organizations. He has a life long love for waters and for paddling. He spends as much time as possible in one of his five boats, and in recent years has become intrigued with the combination of travel, paddling, and digital video, with more than 100 videos posted on You Tube which can be accessed through his website at www.hauntedbywaters.com
Tom has been married to Peg for twenty seven years.
Randy works at the University of MN Duluth Recreational Sports Outdoor Program (www.umdrsop.org) where their mission is to serve the students, faculty, staff and community with programming that promotes healthy, active lifestyles and a connection to the outdoors. Randy's focus is on Kayaking, Canoeing, Surfing, Stand-Up Paddle Boarding, Snow Kiting, Water Kiting, Telemark Skiing and a little bit of Maple Syrup Production!
He has been involved with the American Canoe Association since1984 and has focused on Adventure Sport programming in Northern Minnesota which involves: site assessments, program development, risk management, equipment selection, promotion, staff training and monitoring the progression of their customer services.
Over the years Randy has been able to form the UMD Kayak & Canoe Institute, help develop the ACA Coastal Kayak Curriculum, travel throughout the Continental US, Hawaii and Austria to offer ACA Instructor Certification Workshops and currently serve as an ACA Instructor Trainer Educator for Whitewater Kayak, Canoe and Coastal Kayak. In the winter his focus is with the Professional Air Sport Association and Snow Kite Instruction.
In total, as an Adventure Sports Educator Randy is striving to promote exploration of the earth's natural settings where interactions with the forces of nature can be achieved and people can make strong connections for life.
Robin currently sits on the ACA Board of Directors and is the chair of the Safety Education & Instruction Council. He is an Instructor Trainer Educator Level 5: Advanced Swiftwater Rescue and an Instructor Trainer Educator Level 5: Advanced Whitewater Kayaking. He is an active and long time member of the Carolina Canoe Club and resides in western North Carolina where he is teaching his son the art of kayaking.
2006 - Gordon Black
Need we say more! 
Sam has been involved in paddlesport for 35 years. His connection with the American Canoe Association began in 1977 when he certified as an ACA Whitewater Kayak Instructor while working at the Nantahala Outdoor Center as a guide and instructor. He has been an ACA Whitewater Canoe Instructor Trainer since 1981. He is presently an Instructor Trainer Educator in Swiftwater Rescue and Whitewater Canoe for the ACA. For the last 10 years his focus has been on swiftwater rescue instruction and instructor training. Sam’s interests lie in making rescue techniques adaptable and relevant to paddlers.
Sam has also been on the teaching faculty of Western
Carolina University for the past eleven years schooling students in water-based sports education. Sam’s other ACA leadership positions include: 12 years as Dixie Division Divisional Instruction Facilitator, 4 years as SEIC Vice Chair (1996-2000). He served as Chair of the Safety, Education and Instruction Council from 2004-2007 and is a 5-year member of the Board of Directors of the ACA.
In addition to receiving the Excellence in Instruction Award in 2005, he was a recipient of the ACA Joe Pena Outstanding Volunteer Award in 2002.
Sam is also a Rescue 3 International Instructor Trainer, a WMI WFR and a NC EMT-B.
Sam gives special attention to providing a multi-level educational experience. Providing professional level training for colleges, universities, agencies, outfitters, summer camps and clubs for 30 years. His website is www.whitewater-rescue.com.
2005 - Bruce Lessels
Bruce has been kayaking and canoeing since 1975 when he happened into an AMC whitewater instruction course which inspired him to make paddling his pastime, vocation and excuse for leaving work early! He competed in slalom C-1 for the US National Team from 1984 to 1989 and won an individual bronze and a team gold medal at the 1987 World Championships. He has run Zoar Outdoor (www.zoaroutdoor.com),an outdoor center that includes one of the nation’s top paddling schools, since 1989, bringing his work and his passion for paddling together.
2004 - Greg Wolfe
Greg is an Instructor Trainer Educator in River Canoeing, the SEIC River Canoeing Committee Chair and Co-Instructional Facilitator for Ohio-Penn. He became an ACA Instructor and Instructional Facilitator for the Ohio-Penn Division in 2000. From ’01 through ’05 he served as the SEIC Secretary and Chaired the
Curriculum Committee. He was elected the Ohio-Penn Division Vice Chair in ’02
and served as Division Chair until ’05. Greg worked with the Marketing Committee in ’03 while serving on the ACA Board of Directors. He was responsible for the development the OCCK (Ohio College of Canoeing and Kayaking program, a contributor to the River Canoeing curriculum and drafted materials used in the current ACA Instructor’s Manual.
A retired University Professor and Department Head, he is currently a photographer in
2003 - Mike Aronoff
Mike has paddled various craft all his life and loved every minute. His paddling credentials include ACA Instructor Trainer Educator in River 
Kayak, Open Water Coastal Kayak and Whitewater Canoe, Instructor in Swiftwater Rescue as well as a British Canoe Union Sea Kayak Coach. He is an Adjunct Professor of Kayaking at George Mason University (River/Sea) and teaches Kayaking classes for the University of Maryland, Johns Hopkins, Loyola and the College of the Albemarle. He is the owner of Canoe, Kayak and Paddle Co. LLC (www.ckapco.com) the first ACA Pro School. CKAPCO provides instruction, certification and trip leading for Kayak and Canoe at all levels.
Pamela, ACA Executive Director from 2002-2007, has been an avid paddler since the early 1970’s. An ACA Instructor Trainer (IT) in canoe and kayak, she also served as an IT Educator in both disciplines.
Appointed as Chief of the Ohio Department of Natural Resources Division of Watercraft in 2007, she returned to her roots where she began as a State Watercraft Officer in 1977. With ODNR she assisted in the development of the Ohio River Rescue Training program, the first state-sponsored training program of its kind in the
Pamela has received recognition for her work from the U.S. Coast Guard, the National Association of State Boating Law Administrators, National Safe Boating Council, the National Water Safety Congress, the Professional Paddlesports Association, the United States Power Squadrons and numerous federal, state, and local awards.
2001 - James Patton
