Torchbearer
Award

The Lion’s Heart Torchbearer’s Award is in honor of my grandfather, Ken Corwin, who died of a brain tumor on November 16, 2004, shortly after Lion's Heart was founded by my mother and me. His life exemplified service to his community.

He was a Second Lieutenant in the Army Air Corps during World War II. He attended the University of Redlands where he met and married his wife of 57 years, Jane Towar. He was inducted into the University of Redlands Athletic Hall of Fame in 1989 for his achievements as a three-year letterman in Baseball, Basketball, and Football. He worked as an administrator for the University of Redlands for 35 years beginning as an Admissions Counselor and later as Dean of Admissions and Financial Aid.

The following is just a partial list of his commitment to his community through volunteering: He was a member of Town and Gown, the First Baptist Church, and was a Board Member for the Redlands Red Cross and the Redlands YMCA. He served on the YMCA Financial Advisory Committee, the Community Bank Advisory Board and was a member of the Boy Scouts Council Distinguished Service Committee, and President of the Redlands Racquet Club. He was on the Board of Directors of the Alumni Association of the University of Redlands and a member of the Baseball for Boys Committee, as well as one of their coaches and managers. He served on the boards of the Redlands Education Partnership Foundation and the Redlands Community Scholarship Foundation.

At Redlands Community Hospital, he served eight years on the Board of Directors, was on the Finance and Patient Care Committees, and was Chairman of the Board. Before his death, he was President and Chief Executive Officer of the Hospital’s Foundation for the past 15 years. He headed the Foundation’s charity golf tournament for all of those years, helping raise millions of dollars for hospital equipment and upgrades. The Foundation has named the annual golf tournament champion’s trophy in his honor.

He served the Redlands Chamber of Commerce as a Board Member. He also served as chairman of its Educational Committee and helped organize the annual Educational Fair, as well as other Chamber activities. He served on the United Way Board of Directors for eight years and was later Chairman. He was selected United Way Volunteer of the Year in 1992. In 1993, He was named Redlands Man of the Year for Outstanding Community Service.

He was a regular blood donor and donated more than ten gallons of blood to the local blood bank. He was an active member of the Rotary Club of Redlands and was a member of its Board of Directors. He had a lifelong association with University of Redlands sports and alumni activities, most recently as Chairman of the Bulldog Bench. In 1993, he received the University of Redlands Alumni Distinguished Service Award. In 2004, both he and Jane received the Outstanding Alumni Award from the University of Redlands.

In 1996, my grandfather was honored to run with the Olympic Torch for the 1996 Atlanta Summer Olympics because of his dedication to community service. This experience led to the naming of the Lion’s Heart Torchbearer’s Award.

In honor of this great man who gave back to his community in so many ways, the Torchbearer's Award was created in 2004. This trophy will be awarded every year to the Member in each class who goes above and beyond to serve his community, as voted on by their peers. Each class has its own trophy. The recipient’s name is engraved on it and that Member keeps the trophy until next year’s recipient receives it. Photos of the winners are posted on the website. At the end of each class’s senior year, the winner of this trophy will keep it forever.

We hope all of the Members will be inspired by my grandfather and his years of dedicated service to give their best to our community now and for a lifetime.

Lion’s Heart Co-Founder and Class of 2010