Ira Hutchison

Ira J. Hutchison
Cornelius Amory Pugsley National Medal Award, 1997
Ira J. Hutchison (1927 - ) received the Pugsley Medal in 1997. He was born in Topeka, Kansas. Upon completing high school there, he served in the US Navy from 1944 to 1946. Hutchison had participated in an array of sports in high school and had aspirations to be a coach after completing his military service. He attended Kansas State University, graduating with a BS in physical education and recreation in 1950. He was one of only two African-Americans in his graduating class and he found that there were no coaching opportunities available for African-Americans after he graduated, so he headed back to his home in Topeka to search for another type of job.
He learned of a pioneering program at the Topeka State Hospital which used recreation activities as a therapeutic modality for treating the institution's mentally ill patients, so Hutchison visited with the director of that program. There were no openings available, but he was advised to accept a position as a psychiatric aide at the hospital to become familiar with the context of working with the mentally ill. The first 13 years of Hutchison's career were spent at Topeka State Hospital. He quickly moved from positions of psychiatric aide, athletic instructor and recreational therapist, to become the hospital's recreation director in 1954. In this position, he was responsible for planning and delivering recreation activities for patients and staff.
In 1963, Hutchison, eager to advance in the fledging field of therapeutic recreation, took advantage of a program sponsored by the federal Department of Housing, Education and Welfare to study for a master's degree in therapeutic recreation at Columbia Teachers College in New York City. As part of the program, a job related opportunity that provided funds to pay the costs associated with the degree was arranged.
This resulted in Hutchison organizing the city's first specialized recreation program for narcotic addicts at the Westside Rehabilitation Center, which was the first program to use recreation as a means of effecting behavioral change among addicts. Recreation was used as a reward for abstinence. Hutchison later recalled this was the most emotionally demanding group with whom he worked in his career. In his view, the tragedy of able-bodied people who were psychologically crippled by drugs was more difficult to handle than working with the mentally disabled. In this role, he engaged in leisure counseling and developed a referral service program which involved working with citizen groups, city agencies, and private organizations to create rehabilitation and developmental opportunities for clients.
After completing the master's degree he sought advancement, so in 1965 he moved to a more senior position at St. Vincent's Hospital in New York. Here as recreation director, he organized and administered recreation and rehabilitation programs for the emotionally disturbed.
The move from Topeka to New York City transformed Hutchison's perspective of the world. After the close-knit community of a Mid-Western city with relatively few minorities, the cosmopolitan, cultural, sensory and intellectual stimulation offered by New York City was exhilarating. He reveled in the challenge of succeeding in this novel, competitive, exciting environment.
As a pioneer in the therapeutic recreation field, Hutchison sought out others working in similar contexts and this led to involvement with the National Association of Recreational Therapists. An association with like people reinforced his belief that this was a meaningful field in which to invest his career. Over time, he rose to leadership positions in this professional association. In 1966, it merged with multiple other recreation groups to form the National Recreation and Park Association (NRPA). In that year, he was elected president of the Therapeutic Branch of NRPA. Halfway through his presidential year of office, the executive director of NRPA invited him to join the executive staff of the new organization as director of its programs in the therapeutic area. His long and proven track record in the area brought the credibility and respect NRPA was seeking to encourage others to join the organization. Subsequently, Hutchison moved to other executive positions in NRPA, including directing its first urban affairs thrust.
His background in the urban arena provided the entre for Hutchison's next career move to the National Park Service in 1972 as chief of community programs for the National Capital Parks region. In 1974, he was appointed superintendent of National Capital Parks - East, where he was responsible for 150-300 professional and support employees. His tenure in this role coincided with the nation's Bicentennial celebration and Hutchison was responsible for coordinating many of the events and projects associated with that celebration in the Washington D.C. area. He gave special emphasis to the NPS sites in his jurisdiction that were in minority locales because traditionally they had been under-resourced by the NPS. The result was major restoration and renovation of these facilities and marked upgrades in the quality of services offered at these sites.
After a short period as superintendent of Gateway National Recreation Area in New York City, Hutchison returned to Washington D.C. to become the first African-American deputy director of the NPS in 1977. In this role, he worked closely with the NPS director and other senior managers in planning, developing, administering, protecting, and interpreting the NPS to the public. In effect, he was primarily responsible for the internal day-to-day management of the agency. Hutchison's focus on the contributions of recreation to human physical and mental development offered a different and complementary perspective to the traditional natural resources management focus of the NPS.
In 1983 he moved from the NPS to the Office of the Secretary of Interior with a specific mandate to create greater opportunities for minorities and women within the Interior Department. This was Interior's programmatic response to President Reagan's executive order to federal departments to increase the involvement of historically black colleges and universities in the work of agencies. In this role, Hutchison started a cooperative education program involving 15 predominantly African-American colleges and universities. This program provided training and employment for African-American youth prior to graduation and career opportunities for them after graduation. During his tenure, a program was initiated to provide accelerated management training and follow-up career opportunities for women and minorities. Those completing this training moved immediately into management positions in the NPS. Hutchison was also responsible for the creation of a division of programs for special populations within the NPS directorate responsible for overall management and operation of the NPS.
There were no African-American role models for Hutchison to follow when he entered the field. Learning for the most part, was experimental on the job. Thus, when he retired from the federal government in 1986, Hutchison founded the Roundtable Associates (RTA) which is an organization comprised of distinguished African Americans in the park, recreation and conservation fields. He became the non-salaried executive of RTA and has directed its development and program up to the present time.
Among the many awards Hutchison has received are the Meritorious Service Citation (1993) and the Distinguished Service Citation (1990) from the Department of the Interior and the Ralph Wilson award from NRPA given in 2004 for his long-term service and dedication to NRPA. He was a charter member of the US Senior Executive Service (SES) and recipient of the SES Presidential Rank Award, Meritorious Executive, 1992. Hutchison was good at conceptualizing issues and creating a vision. He was articulate and a fine writer. Throughout his career, Hutchison's leadership credo never varied: "We are going to do what we are supposed to do, when we are supposed to do it, better than anyone else has ever done it." He inspired others through the passion and commitment he brought to the field.

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