The Scott Scudamore National Volunteer Leadership Award
Nominate a MORE Volunteer for the IMBA Scott Scudmore National Volunteer Leadership Award
Most MORE members have surely heard the name of Scott “Scud” Scudamore in conversation throughout the years. If not, here is a brief introduction to one of MORE’s most active and dedicated volunteers, from my perspective…
In the early 90’s, when I was part of MORE’s Board, we organized a ride to Gambrill State park. Nothing out of the ordinary. Back in those days our riding destinations were limited and Gambrill was one of our primary meeting points (Gambrill, in fact, was one of the first parks MORE adopted to manage and maintain trails on). That scheduled ride would be different. Those in attendance would be treated to something new: the energy of Scott Scudamore.
I distinctly remember thinking to myself, “who is this guy? where the heck did he come from?” His riding, at the time, had yet to match his enthusiasm. I kept hoping for the ride to end so that we could see him make it safely to the parking lot. Despite the many falls, scrapes, and scratches, Scud finished the outing with what I came to know as his distinctive smile. Immediately after he wanted to know when we would be back out again, and how he could become more involved so that he could ride with us more often.
That was his way. After knowing him for over two decades I seldom found anything that Scud did in which he did not devote himself 100%. Shortly after that ride Scud started to be come more involved and became an integral member of MORE’s leadership and active group of volunteers.
That first meeting also led to many more and began to forge a friendship between us that would last until the day he left us, way to soon. I counted Scott amongst my best friends. Not only did we ride together constantly, but we became friends off the bike as well, doing things together completely unrelated to the sport.
In the time I knew him, Scud became highly involved with the club and rose to become a driving force behind many of the initiatives that MORE follows today. For years he volunteered and helped our organization forge into the future, along the way he made hundreds, if not thousands of friends, and showed all of us how to live life to the fullest, – to be passionate about what we love.
Shortly after he passed in late December of 2013, Then MORE president Ernie Rodriguez, Vice President Jason Ashmore and I crafted what would become MORE’s Pillars:
We crafted these specifically from Scud’s contributions to the club. From these we devised the MORE Scott “Scud” Scudamore Memorial Award with the idea of giving it to MORE’s most devoted volunteers. Since the award was instated it was awarded to Frank Raiti (2013) and David Scull (2015), two people that have been instrumental in ensuring we all have places to ride in the region.
I was extremely excited when earlier this year IMBA announced that it planned to award outstanding individuals who make significant contributions to the mountain biking community in his name.
The Scott Scudamore National Volunteer Leadership Award will publicly recognize outstanding volunteer efforts within the IMBA network, with the presentation of ten (10) awards annually. The funds will be distributed via unrestricted grants to the chapters to which the awardees belong.
I’m hoping that MORE, Scott’s and our regional club, and the organization that he helped shape so much is duly represented.
Please take a moment to nominate someone from within MORE’s ranks who you feel has made a significant contribution to riding in our region. I know there are plenty of volunteers within our membership who deserve the honor. If you want some ideas, just shoot me a message and I’ll share my nomination with you.