The Jerry Harwin Community Service Award

The Jerry Harwin Community Service Award recognizes individuals who give unselfishly of their time and energy to support, encourage, and assist athletic organizations within the community.  The award identifies and acknowledges community volunteers who provide opportunity to others in the area of athletics.

Awardees are nominated by their organizations and selected by the SBART Board of Directors after careful consideration.  The following criteria are considered when selecting honorees.

The unpaid, volunteer coach, instructor, organizer, director, fundraiser, or promoter must have ties to the greater Santa Barbara community.  Awardees will have been a major contributing factor to the success of a local sports organization and its participants.  The Community Service Award seeks to recognize those who have clearly gone “above and beyond”.

Thank you to Rick Wilson of Draper and Kramer Mortgage Corp. for sponsoring this award!

If you have been selected as a recipient of the Community Service Award, please click here to complete your information form.

The Legacy of Jerry Harwin

Jerry Harwin left an amazing legacy of giving back to the community he loved. The Jerry Harwin Community Service Award commemorates that legacy. 

Along with his good friends Caesar Uyesaka and Bill Bertka, Jerry is credited with founding the SB Athletic Round Table in 1968. He presided over the first Monday press luncheon in 1970. 

Jerry Harwin’s lifetime mission was service to his community. He held leadership roles not only with the Round Table, but with the Lion’s Club and the Elks Lodge as well, helping to raise millions of dollars in support of youth organizations and community causes. Jerry is also credited with founding the Gaucho Hoop Club, in addition to bringing minor league baseball to Santa Barbara in the 1960s.

Jerry’s most memorable legacy, however, would have to be his establishment of Las Positas Park, now known as Elings Park—the largest privately-funded public park in America, opened in 1985.