Our outstanding nominees for Judge of the Year are Kevin Muenz and Michael Pena.
We also have three excellent nominees for the Bill Foster Award (credit Marc Yancey for the following paragraph and vitae.)
"When you look at the work and service of these nominees, along with that of the past recipients of this award, it becomes very clear that Texas, Region 3, and in fact, all of USA Gymnastics have been very blessed to have such dedicated and capable leaders who were (and are) passionate about growing the sport
, producing fine young men, great Champions, and remarkable Programs. How lucky we have been so far in this sport. The days ahead seem fraught with overwhelming problems for our sport and USAG, but I will choose to believe that because of the strength, experience and wisdom that we have in our leaders, past and present in Texas, we will navigate the coming difficulties well and come out better than we are now."
Tim Erwin
Tim is now in his 41st year of coaching. He has coached 30+ Jr. National Team Members, 4 of which went on to become Sr. National Team Members who represented the USA in World Cup, World Championships and Olympic Games.
After beginning his coaching at San Antonio Gymnastics Academy, Tim went on to Coach at Houston Baptist University and then at the ER/JCC where he has directed the Houston Gymnastics Center program for the past 25 yrs.
Tim served as Texas State Chair for 9 years; was a member of the Jr. Olympic Program Committee for5 years; a member of the Jr. National Coaching Staff for 10 yrs.; a National and FIG rated judge for 20 yrs.
Tim was a founding member of the Michael Sims Memorial Scholarship Foundation and is its current President. In addition, Tim was Meet Director of the USAG Jr. Olympic Championships here in Houston in 2005.
Tim is also the founder and Event Director of the Houston National Invitational now in its 23rd year. Tim has been honored as a Life Member of the Gymnastics Assoc. of Texas. Because of Tim's leadership in large part over the years, Texas has grown exponentially in athlete, club and coaching numbers and has become the most influential State Program in the USA.
Jim McKinney
Jim has served as the President of the Texas Gymnastics Judges Assoc. , regarded as the Nation's finest group of judges, for the past 20 years. In total, Jim has been a National and FIG rated judge for 53 years.
He served as the National Gymnastics Judges' Assoc. Mid-West Technical Director for 25 years. Jim's coaching career spanned 32 years most notably as the Head Coach of Abilene Cooper High School where he led his teams to 3 State High School Team Championships.
During that time Jim had 38 Individual Event State Champions on his teams. He has judged the USAG National Championships and USA Olympic Trials on numerous occasions.
Jim has served as the Meet Referee for the Texas State Championships as well as for the Region 3 Championships for over 25 years. Jim has been honored as a life Member of the Gymnastics Assoc. of Texas.
During Jim's career he has been one of the chief architects of the development, growth and close knit community of the Texas High School Program, the State Judging Association where he has championed judges education and mentoring of a generation of young judges who now are among the most respected and talented judges in the USA. Jim has worked tirelessly to bind the Club, High School, Coaching and Judging communities together in Texas and the remarkable working relationship and support each of these groups have for each other in due in great part to the efforts of Jim McKinney.
Gil Elsass
Gil has been in gymnastics for over 50 years. He has been the Owner/Director of Crenshaw's Athletic Club in Austin, Texas for 41 years. Gil was a University of Texas Gymnast 1971-75 and Team Captain in 1975. He began coaching gymnastics in1972, 44 years ago.
Gil earned an Education Degree in 1975 from the University of Texas and a State of Texas Teaching Certificate in Physical Education. He has been an active Men’s & Women’s team coach since 1976. Gil was the Region 3 (six states) Chair for an unprecedented 25 years all the while serving as the USAG Chair of the Jr. Olympic Program Committee (1988-2013). Gil served as the Chair of the USAG Age Group Competition Committee for 4 years. Gil has coached Jr. Olympic National Championships Qualifiers for the past 41 consecutive years during which span he has had several National Champions and Jr. National Team Members. In 1992 Gil was the host and Meet Director of the USAG Jr. Olympic National Championships in Austin, Texas.
Gil is the recipient of the USAG 35 Year Service Award, the USAG Frank Cumiskey Award, and has been honored as a Life Member of the Gymnastics Assoc. of Texas. Gil continues to lecture and teach for the GAT ITP 1 & 2 courses.
Gil's long service, business acumen and leadership for over 4 decades at the State, Regional and National levels of our sport provided the Jr. Olympic program with great vision and numerical growth while he was instrumental in bringing both Texas and Region 3 to the forefront as the leading Men's Gymnastics programs in the USA.
