September 2020 - Parks & Recreation - 14

W E A R E P A R K S A N D R E C R E AT I O N

NRPA Life Trustee Eugene Young Passes Away

RPA and the park and recreation community are mourning the loss of Eugene A. Young, who passed away on
July 20, 2020. Young devoted much of his career and life
to the profession of parks and recreation. From a summer
camp counselor to the longest-serving superintendent in East Baton
Rouge Parish history, he spent 57 years working to make life better
through parks and recreation.

PHOTO COURTESY OF BREC

During his tenure from 1960
to 2003, Young led successful
campaigns for tax elections
to hire staﬀ and purchase
land while also accepting any
donation of land, labor or
supplies oﬀered to BREC.

Parks & Recreation

Young joined the Recreation
and Park Commission for East
Baton Rouge Parish (BREC) in
Louisiana as assistant superintendent in 1952. When he took over
as superintendent eight years later, the agency was nearly broke;
however, the budget-minded
leader gradually turned things
around. During his tenure from
1960 to 2003, Young led successful campaigns for tax elections to
hire staff and purchase land while
also accepting any donation of
land, labor or supplies offered to
BREC. As a result of Young's efforts, BREC has grown in every
area and has recorded a financial surplus at the end of each
year. Park attendance rose from
less than 2 million to more than
9 million visitors per year under
his leadership. In addition, more
than $5.5 million in land was donated to BREC throughout his
tenure as superintendent.
Young believed in hard work
and brought national acclaim
to the Baton Rouge area when
BREC became one of the first
two-park systems in the United
States to achieve national accredFrom working as a summer camp counselor to the longest-serving superintendent in East Baton Rouge Parish history,
Young spent 57 years working to make
life better through parks and recreation.

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itation. Under his leadership,
BREC won the highest honor bestowed on a park system - the
national Gold Medal - twice. He
also served on the NRPA Board
of Directors with distinction for
18 years and was the first professional to be made a Life Trustee
of NRPA in 1998.
Young also served as chairman
of the Personnel and Compensation Committee, which developed
a policy and procedures manual
and upgraded salaries and benefits for the NRPA staff. What's
more, he participated on Trustee
Awards, Professional Development, Public Policy, Constitution
and Bylaws, Research, Finance,
Services to the Elderly, and Standards Committees.
Throughout his career, Young
served as a mentor and a source
of inspiration to other park and
recreation professionals across the
country, especially those just starting in the field. Dianne Hoover,
director of city of Bakersfield
(California) Recreation and Parks
Department, was among those
who Young influenced.
" Mr. Young served on a few
committees while I was just
learning about the various opportunities to get involved in NRPA
leadership. He guided me to the
American Park and Recreation
Society (APRS) [now NRPA],
where I met life-long friends. He
was always professional and treated me as an equal even though I
was just learning, " recalls Hoover.
" He lifted others up, and he wanted us to succeed and seek the
higher ground. Never once did I

September 2020 - Parks & Recreation

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