Charlie Adams, former sportscaster, provided humor and inspiration during the SWCD’s annual meeting Tuesday. Adams is a motivational and inspirational speaker

Charlie Adams, an award winning former television sportscaster, was the keynote speaker for the 2014 annual Kosciusko County SWCD meeting Tuesday. He concluded the evening with humor and inspirational stories including a few from his experiences in Kosciusko County when sportscaster for WSBT.

The Oxford, Miss., native and graduate of University of Mississippi, is also the author of four books including the most recent, How To Build A Positive Attitude and Keep The Darn Thing! He left the broadcasting and the news industry in 2004 to go into motivational speaking full time.

Noting individuals need a positive attitude in farming, he told a story of a positive farmer trying to change the attitude of a negative farmer. He related growing up in Mississippi on 160 plus acres and enjoying the outdoors, his sports broadcasting experiences and desire to share two positive news story each week, of sharing fresh ideas and not the cookie cutter presentations.

Noting Archie Manning was his idol growing up, he left his job at WSBT when offered a position as a sports director in New Orleans. It was his opportunity to meet his idol. However, instead of meeting his idol on the field, their meeting was in a dorm shower where team members, coaches and media stayed.

Adams related meeting individuals who went all out in life, who had “fire within. When you go all out you leave your blood in the bricks, like you all do in conservation,” noted Adams.

He spoke of goal setting, sharing a story of a young Warsaw wrestler who as an eighth-grader lost all his matches, but set goals with his coach. Goals such as making it 15 seconds in a match before getting pinned, then 30 seconds, one minute then the whole match. While he never won a match, he did help Warsaw win a regional placing by setting goals.

He shared an experience at a Warsaw v. South Bend St. Joe football game, when the sheriff asked the TV helicopter crew to help search for two potential wanted individuals and of attending an event where a young speaker stated, “Remember to live your life where the preacher doesn’t have to lie at your funeral,” which he remembered.

Reaching potential instead of settling on complacency was also highlighted. To this he related a young reporter’s experience in interviewing Matt Alt when he was named Mr. Basketball, suggesting the reporter go beyond the usual. The resulting video clip was award winning. “I wouldn’t let him settle on complacency,” Adams stated, adding it provided an opportunity to reach his peak. He also noted Dane Miller’s book and his fire within.

Solution centered attitude was another area Adams touched on. Ryan Newman’s attitude and his “fire within” to become a NASCAR driver and a Notre Dame women’s soccer player’s achievement of obtaining a 4.0 GPA in chemical engineering or the attitude of a Tyner resident born with no arms, no legs who looked at the possibilities in his life and their friendship that has lasted during the last 15 years.

Year In Review

Darci Zolman, SWCD program administrator, presented the year in review. “It was an incredible busy year,” she noted adding the district was understaffed almost all year. Programs addressed were the Mississippi River Basin Eel River Project, which had 21,000 acres impacted with $2 million allotted for the project; the Great Lakes Restoration, Elkhart River project with $397,000 allocated affecting the Dewart Lake and Lake Wawasee watershed.

Zolman shared information on the Clean Water Indiana Grant for technical assistance and the three-year Conservation Innovation Grant partnering with the Nature Conservancy and Notre Dame University, documenting the effect of cover crops in the Shatto Ditch watershed.

Educational programs for youth were noted. SWCD provided programs to 136 classes impacting 3,000 students with 57 classes (1,500 students) having field experiences and more than 1,000 students participating in the 20th year of rafting on Grassy Creek or Tippecanoe River. Training workshops, Hoosier Riverwatch, Project WILD, Project WET were in demand during 2013. These workshops focused on wildlife and water, skills and knowledge to conduct water monitoring and more. There were also several events such as the Conservation Cropping System initiative, breakfast with a forester, cover crop workshop, fall field day and more.

Individuals were also encouraged to visit the SWCD website, www.kosciuskoswcd.com, to learn more or to find volunteer opportunities.