Cotton Achievement Award honours Earl Sears

The late Earl Sears, a former National Cotton Council executive vice president whose core belief was that "devotion to service is fundamental to success" has received the 18th Oscar Johnston Lifetime Achievement Award. Sears was honoured at the National Cotton Council's 2020 annual meeting held February 14-16, in New Orleans, Louisiana.

 

The late Earl Sears, a former National Cotton Council executive vice president whose core belief was that "devotion to service is fundamental to success" has received the 18th Oscar Johnston Lifetime Achievement Award. Sears was honoured at the National Cotton Council's 2020 annual meeting held February 14-16, in New Orleans, Louisiana. #

The annual award, established in 1997, is named for Oscar Johnston, whose vision, genius and tireless efforts were foremost in the shaping and organisation of the NCC. The award is presented to an individual, now deceased, who served the cotton industry, through the NCC, over a significant period of his or her active business career. The award also recognises those who exerted a positive influence on the industry and who demonstrated character and integrity as well as perseverance and maturation during that service.

 

The late Earl Sears, a former National Cotton Council executive vice president whose core belief was that "devotion to service is fundamental to success" has received the 18th Oscar Johnston Lifetime Achievement Award. Sears was honoured at the National Cotton Council's 2020 annual meeting held February 14-16, in New Orleans, Louisiana. #

The award was presented by outgoing NCC chairman Mike Tate to Sears' widow, Gwen Sears; his son, David Sears; and his daughter, Kristi Goldsmith.

 

The late Earl Sears, a former National Cotton Council executive vice president whose core belief was that "devotion to service is fundamental to success" has received the 18th Oscar Johnston Lifetime Achievement Award. Sears was honoured at the National Cotton Council's 2020 annual meeting held February 14-16, in New Orleans, Louisiana. #

In two tenures with the NCC, Sears had more than 30 years of service to US cotton's central organisation. After graduating from Texas Tech University in 1948, the Brownfield, Texas native spent three years as head of Vocational Agriculture at Lamesa's high school before joining the NCC.

 

The late Earl Sears, a former National Cotton Council executive vice president whose core belief was that "devotion to service is fundamental to success" has received the 18th Oscar Johnston Lifetime Achievement Award. Sears was honoured at the National Cotton Council's 2020 annual meeting held February 14-16, in New Orleans, Louisiana. #

Sears began his NCC career in Lamesa operating as a field representative in the High Plains. Sears quickly moved up to southwest area supervisor and transferred to Memphis, then to Dallas, and was heavily involved in formation of the Cotton Producers Institute, out of which grew Cotton Incorporated.

 

The late Earl Sears, a former National Cotton Council executive vice president whose core belief was that "devotion to service is fundamental to success" has received the 18th Oscar Johnston Lifetime Achievement Award. Sears was honoured at the National Cotton Council's 2020 annual meeting held February 14-16, in New Orleans, Louisiana. #

In 1965, Sears joined Hesston Corporation as product manager for its cotton equipment and later was named marketing manager for the firm's complete line of farm equipment. After rejoining the NCC in 1971, Sears was made administrative vice president four years later, and three years after that, was named executive vice president. For the next 11 years, Sears oversaw a six-fold growth in NCC-managed programmes. Sears helped move the industry forward whether it was advocating for innovative federal farm legislation like the marketing loan concept to pushing for expansion of international markets.  

 

The late Earl Sears, a former National Cotton Council executive vice president whose core belief was that "devotion to service is fundamental to success" has received the 18th Oscar Johnston Lifetime Achievement Award. Sears was honoured at the National Cotton Council's 2020 annual meeting held February 14-16, in New Orleans, Louisiana. #

Among other notable strides achieved under Sears' helm were improved bale packaging; advancement of the National Boll Weevil Eradication Programme; and growth of The Cotton Foundation's research, education and communications programmes.

 

The late Earl Sears, a former National Cotton Council executive vice president whose core belief was that "devotion to service is fundamental to success" has received the 18th Oscar Johnston Lifetime Achievement Award. Sears was honoured at the National Cotton Council's 2020 annual meeting held February 14-16, in New Orleans, Louisiana. #

Sears record was cited in 1989, when he became the third recipient of the Harry Baker Award, presented annually for distinguished service to the industry, and again in 1992 when he received the National Agri-Marketing Association's National Award for Agricultural Excellence.

 

The late Earl Sears, a former National Cotton Council executive vice president whose core belief was that "devotion to service is fundamental to success" has received the 18th Oscar Johnston Lifetime Achievement Award. Sears was honoured at the National Cotton Council's 2020 annual meeting held February 14-16, in New Orleans, Louisiana. #

Tate noted that Sears' 1989 retirement did not mean a loss of his talent to the industry as he played a lead role in coordinating a special fund-raising effort that led the Cotton Foundation to purchase an office building now occupied by the NCC's Washington DC staff.

 

The late Earl Sears, a former National Cotton Council executive vice president whose core belief was that "devotion to service is fundamental to success" has received the 18th Oscar Johnston Lifetime Achievement Award. Sears was honoured at the National Cotton Council's 2020 annual meeting held February 14-16, in New Orleans, Louisiana. #

"With the debt on the building retired, rent paid by the council accrues to the Cotton Foundation for use in industry research and education efforts," Tate said in the press release.

 

The late Earl Sears, a former National Cotton Council executive vice president whose core belief was that "devotion to service is fundamental to success" has received the 18th Oscar Johnston Lifetime Achievement Award. Sears was honoured at the National Cotton Council's 2020 annual meeting held February 14-16, in New Orleans, Louisiana. #

Previous Oscar Johnston Lifetime Achievement Award recipients were Robert Chapman and Walter Montgomery, Sr, both Spartanburg, SC, textile manufacturers; Duke Kimbrell, a Gastonia, NC, textile manufacturer; William Garrard, first general manager of Greenwood, Mississippi -based Staplcotn Cooperative; Sykes Martin, a Courtland, Alabama, producer; Charlie Owen, a Tucson, Arizona, ginner; William Rhea Blake, a former NCC executive vice president, Memphis, Tennessee; Roger Malkin, long-time chairman/CEO of Delta and Pine Land, Scott, Mississippi; former NCC presidents, George Cortright, Jr, a Rolling Fork, Mississippi, producer; Jack Hamilton, a Lake Providence, Louisiana, producer/ginner/warehouseman; William "Bill" Lovelady, a Tornillo, Texas, producer; Lon Mann, a Marianna, Arkansas, ginner; Jack McDonald, a Decatur, Illinois, cottonseed crusher; Jack Stone, a Stratford, California, producer; and Charles Youngker, a Buckeye, Arizona, producer; former NCC chairman James "Jim" Echols, a Memphis, Tennessee, merchant; and WL "Billy" Carter, Jr, of Scotland Neck, NC, who chaired the American Cotton Producers and served as NCC secretary-treasurer.