Young Eagles Volunteers Receive First Bob Hoover Legacy Award

July 25, 2018 - Young Eagles volunteers and pilots who helped EAA provide more than 2.1 million youths a free airplane ride since the program’s launch received the first Bob Hoover Legacy Award on Wednesday night.

The award, intended to shine a spotlight on those who are doing outstanding work to improve and expand aviation’s future, is to be given annually by the Bob Hoover Legacy Foundation, created by Hoover before his death in 2016­ to perpetuate his lifelong dedication to aviation learning and safety, and to inspire those qualities in succeeding generations of American aviators.

The award was presented at “An EFOB (Extraordinary Friends of Bob) Evening With Bob Hoover” fundraising event.

In addition, Michael Herman, the foundation’s chairman of the board, said the foundation has already provided six students with $25,000 student scholarships. But the foundation isn’t meant to just benefit future pilots. “It’s meant to help future generations so they can become whatever they want to become,” Herman said. “We’re also working on partnerships to mentor those who are coming in.”

Executive Director Jon Tennyson said the foundation is also collecting stories about Hoover’s life. Stories about Hoover, a World War II fighter pilot and test pilot who went on to fly more than 300 types of aircraft at more than 2,500 air shows, are being captured on the foundation’s website, https://BobHooverLegacyFoundation.org, and through a book, Friends of Bob: Stories About One of America’s Accomplished Aviators, by Those Who Knew Him Best, by Jim Campbell of Aero-News Network and published with the cooperation of the foundation. Campbell said the book is meant to inform the next generation of Bob’s life and lessons.