Call for Nominations: The Bob Paton Award for Volunteers

Volunteers and partners are the lifeblood of the Buckeye Trail Association. Volunteers and partners give thousands of hours of their time and energy to help build, maintain, protect and promote the enjoyment of Ohio’s 1,454 mile BT. Our volunteers deserve to be honored for their hard work on-trail and off-trail and we need your help to highlight all types of volunteers and partners around the state to thank them and encourage others to follow their leadership.

The deadline to nominate a volunteer or partner is July 1, 2026. The awards will be presented at a Virtual Awards Ceremony the week of August 24.

Questions? Contact the Awards Committee Chair at Awards@buckeyetrail.org

This week’s spotlight award category is The Bob Paton Award for Meritorious Service!

The Bob Paton Award for Meritorious Service

This award honors members who have contributed exceptionally meritorious services to the Association for at least fifteen (15) years. Such services may pertain to trail maintenance, trail utilization, and/or administrative or management functions.

Bob Paton was the first Executive Director of the Buckeye Trail Association during the late 1960’s and early 1970’s. He was also the first appointed State Trail Coordinator of ODNR. Many of the BTA’s accomplishments and the future direction of the BT and BTA are in part due to the continuous and consistent work of “Mr. Buckeye Trail”.

Past Recipients

2025 Darlene Karoly and Dana Zintek
2024 Tim Murphy
2023 Pat Hayes
2023 Connie and Robert Pond
2022 Jeff Yoest
2020 Mary Hayes
2019 Jim Guilkey
Prior to 2019 Susie Hulls, Herb Hulls, Jim Sprague, Bob Merkle, Steve Miller, Mary Hamilton, Mike Paekeosnis, Paul Daniel, Jim Runk, Larry and Sopia Morton