Sportsperson of the Year Dinner Recap
Wayne Geider, Ken Rylak and Paul Turi Honored

The JCAA Sportsperson of the Year Dinner was held on Saturday evening, November 12 at the Captain’s Inn in Forked River. It was a festive occasion with 118 guests enjoying the fine food and other activities. Cocktail hour with hand passed Hors d’oeuvres began at 5 PM with sausage kabobs, teriyaki chicken sticks, mini- Maryland crab cakes, beef satay, three cheese artichoke hearts and bacon-wrapped scallops. That was followed by a sit-down dinner that began with cheese tortellini w/vodka sauce and a Caesar salad. Guests had their choice of prime rib, baked Norwegian salmon, herb roasted chicken, or a broiled seafood combo. All entrees came with potatoes and vegetables. Finally, dessert was served which consisted of Tartufo & mini pastries. Coffee, tea and soda were also included and there was a cash bar. Environmental Educator, Jim Merritt was our guest speaker, and we also had a huge gift auction along with a silent auction and a 50/50.

However, the highlights and purpose of the event was to present awards to some truly deserving individuals. Wayne Geider of the Hudson River Fishermen’s Association won our prestigious Sportsperson of the Year Award. Ken Rylak of the Fish Hawks Saltwater Fishing Club was presented with our Youth Education Award and long-time JCAA board member, Paul Turi, received a special Lifetime Achievement Award. Read below to learn what these dedicated individuals did to earn their awards. Congratulations to all the recipients!

Sportsperson of the Year – Wayne Geider

The Hudson River Fishermen’s Association nominates Mr. Wayne Geider for the 2022 Jersey Coast Anglers Association’s Sportsperson of the Year Award to be presented at the Saturday November 12th dinner.

Robert H. Boyle and others founded the HRFA in 1966, mainly to stop pollution of the river and conserve its natural resources, most notably the striped bass, for future generations to enjoy. While Wayne was not a founding member, he did join back in the early 90’s. From the very beginning he was, and continues to be, one of our club’s most omnipresent members and reliable volunteers.

Giving more of his time and talents than most, he has been a proactive participating member of the HRFA’s Board of Directors for at least 20 years. He has led our Youth Angler Program for many years too. The Program is for everyone but is especially dedicated to helping underprivileged/underserved children and America’s veterans with disabilities. He rounds up his steady corps of volunteers, without cell phone or computer, for an average of 20-30 youth fishing events & clinics a year. He also stores and maintains all the fishing gear at his home and loads everything into his van to bring to each event. He completed NJ’s Hooked-on-Fishing-not-on-Drugs course to better guide children away from drugs, computer games, and to ‘develop positive life skills’ by introducing them to the great outdoors through fishing. He volunteers constantly in other club events too – Hooked on the Hudson, acting as a Judge in our Catfish Chaos Derby, etc.

In 2006 Wayne received the HRFA’s most prestigious Pete Barrett Achievement Award which was given in appreciation of his efforts to protect & conserve the resources of the Hudson River and in recognition of his devoted and outstanding service to the entire membership. Wayne is not one to rest on his laurels either. Even though he is now in his 80’s his level of contributions has hardly slowed. Like the Energizer Bunny he just keeps going, and going and going.

Wayne remains the consummate outdoorsman. Besides his love of fishing, he was also an avid hunter. He is a lifelong fisherman, enjoying all kinds of fishing. He fishes from shore and boat in fresh and saltwater. He is especially passionate about fishing on hard water in winter; for the uninitiated that’s ice. He fishes from party and charter boats but perhaps his greatest joy was that for many years he and his friends Al Miller and Marvin Oresky shared a boat and loved being out on the lower Hudson River fishing together for blackfish, seabass, fluke – you name it. He has fished or hunted in many places across the globe – China, Granada, Canada, Alaska, etc. When asked if he caught anything he sometimes must reply, “The fishing was great – the catching not so much.” A response which typifies his positive outlook.

He is also very active in his church & gives thanks for all God’s blessings every Sunday. He loves his large backyard garden. He is practically a sustenance farmer raising all kinds of crops for the table. He still heats his house with a wood burning furnace - splitting logs and chopping wood for the purpose himself. Getting exercise and warmth from the physical activity and then again when the wood burns in winter. While his home has a phone AND electricity if anyone could live life off the grid in the middle of modern suburbia it is Wayne.

Youth Education Award – Ken Rylak

The Fish Hawks Saltwater Anglers Club would like to nominate Mr. Ken Rylak for the prestigious Youth Education Award for the Year for 2022. The Fish Hawks is a social fishing club, dedicated to good sportsmanship, preservation of the marine environment, and safeguarding our natural resources. The Fish Hawks is 200 members strong, and was established in April, 1977. The Board of Directors all agree, that Mr. Ken Rylak should be nominated for this prestigious Youth Education Award for the 2022 year.

Running a successful club like the Fish Hawks takes a lot of work from its membership. Mr. Rylak has been a member of the Fish Hawks for 18 years, and a Board Member for 10 years. Mr. Rylak is involved in many club activities and has been for years. For instance, he maintains all club records, he also is the Membership Chair, and runs the New Membership Program for our new members. Mr. Rylak also co-chairs our advertising committee.

Mr. Rylak's major responsibility for our club is running the "Out-Reach Programs" that the Fish Hawks are involved in. He is the Chairperson of the Youth Seminar, which is a very well- organized program. It is a day of teaching Veteran's Children fishing techniques and the enjoyment of fishing. As the Chairperson, he reaches out to the military joint bases within New Jersey to enroll children whose parents are in the military, and on active duty, or have been on active duty and living on base. He coordinates all the day’s activities for these children and their sponsors. This includes transportation, serving breakfast and lunch. Many activities are scheduled for the day to include identifying different species of fish, boat safety, and various types of fishing techniques just to name a few. It is a tremendous amount of work to get volunteers, and schedule all these activities for the children. We had 37 children participate in the seminar. After all the activities, each child received a rod and reel, and a tackle box to take home.

Mr. Rylak is also involved in other types of "reach-out'' programs for the Fish Hawks. He is the club representative for the Lacey Food Bank. As the representative, he coordinates getting food and monetary contributions for the food bank. Mr. Rylak is the Fish Hawks Club representative for the Lacey Township Children's Christmas Party.

Mr. Rylak is an extremely active member of our club and helps make our club successful in every aspect.

The Fish Hawks Board Of Directors considers Mr. Rylak as a person that is always there to help his community, whether it be the Youth Fishing Seminar, Lacey Food Bank, or Township Children's Christmas Party, he is always willing to jump in and help out.

Mr. Rylak is a friend to everyone and is dedicated to reaching out to the community to do such programs.

The Youth Fishing Seminar was Chaired by Mr. Ken Rylak which was a complete success. The Fish Hawks Saltwater Anglers Club is very proud to Nominate Mr. Ken Rylak for the prestigious Youth Education Award for the Year 2022.

Lifetime Achievement Award – Paul Turi

I want to Congratulate Paul Turi on receiving the JCAA Lifetime Achievement Award for his long service to JCAA, recreational anglers and the environment. Paul was introduced to JCAA by a speech Tom Fote made at the Village Harbor Fishing Club in the early nineties. He and his fishing partner, Ed Cherry, started volunteering their time to help put together the JCAA Newspaper. Those were the days before we had collating equipment. We would walk around the table and put one page on top of the other, then staple, then fold, then put a label and stamp, and finally put the newspaper in the proper box for mailing. It took all afternoon with 4 people. JCAA would supply lunch and the newspaper crew would discuss fishing and fisheries politics. Ed and Paul were a team, and they began getting more involved in JCAA. Paul volunteered to become the recording secretary, taking advantage of his many years as a court reporter.

When Paul Smith stopped publishing the newspaper and Tom took over being the publisher and editor, Tom knew he needed help. Anybody who received an email from Tom knows he can’t spell and grammar is a moving target. Paul became the “Proofreader in Chief.” In 2000 he became corresponding secretary and continued to work at shows and other events. JCAA has a habit of becoming a major part of someone’s life and Paul certainly exemplifies that.

In 2012, when Phil Celmer retired as office manager and tournament director, Paul stepped in to become manager. In 2013 he also took on the thankless job as tournament director. The annual JCAA dinner was run by Paul for 17 years. Anyone who has worked with Paul knows how well organized he is and how diligent he is in getting things done in a correct and timely manner. Paul keeps us all on task and focused on the job at hand. Remember, Paul was a young man of 52 when he took on his first JCAA responsibilities. JCAA would not have survived the last 15 years without Paul’s hard work. Paul is part of the generation that has always volunteered but he is finally retiring as office manager and tournament director. He has set a high standard for the younger generation. He will be irreplaceable.