9 minute read
CHAMPION Given the
CHAMPION
A COLLEGE’S BEST FRIEND
Bill Cramer views education as a community’s cornerstone
by STEVE BORNHOFT
Bill Cramer’s father was the first Republican elected to Congress from Florida since the Reconstruction Period following the Civil War.
William Cato Cramer Sr., first elected in 1954, represented the St. Petersburg area (Pinellas County) in Washington continuously until 1970.
His son didn’t get the bug.
But, even as Cramer was disinclined to pursue elective office, he was attracted to his father’s penchant for public service. The senior Cramer was the first member of Congress ever to establish a local office. He was devoted to taking care of his constituents and, in his district, found himself dealing with lots of seniors who needed help with Social Security matters.
In 1979, Bill Cramer went to work at Tommy Thomas Chevrolet, a Panama City dealership owned by his father-in-law. He had married Carolyn Thomas in 1975 following his first year at Harvard Law — the two began dating when both were undergraduates at schools in North Carolina. Cramer was working for a federal judge in Jacksonville when Tommy put the arm on him.
Thomas was for Cramer a mentor like his own father — a politician, albeit unelected, who served as chairman of the Republican Party in Florida, and a community servant who made the Salvation Army a personal project.
“It was one of those 90-degree turns in life that you never expect,” Cramer said about moving from court filings to car sales, but it brought him into contact with a school that would become his Salvation Army.
Cramer earned a bachelor’s degree in mathematics at the University of North Carolina and believed before entering law school that he would become a teacher. At then-Gulf Coast Community College, Cramer tried on that role, teaching trigonometry as an adjunct. Thomas would soon see to it that Cramer was too busy to moonlight in the classroom, but a relationship had been established.
For 40 years, Gulf Coast State College, as it is known today, and Cramer have remained close.
“I have always had a keen interest in the college and the pervasive good that it does in our community,” Cramer said.
In 1987, Gov. Bob Martinez appointed him to the GCSC Board of Trustees.
↑ For 20 years, Bill Cramer served as a member of the board of trustees at Gulf Coast State College. In 2005, he received the National Trustee Leadership Award presented by the Association of Community Colleges. → Bill Cramer’s association with Gulf Coast State College began when he taught trigonometry as an adjunct instructor. He would soon assume leadership roles at the college, serving as a trustee and member of the board of directors of the college’s foundation.
Dr. Larry Tyree was Gulf Coast’s president when Cramer joined the board but departed for the community college system in Dallas a few months later. Soon, Cramer was getting to know well Dr. Bob McSpadden, Tyree’s successor.
“Bob and I talked about his vision for the college and between the two of us, we thought there was an opportunity to raise money for scholarships,” Cramer recalled. At the time, the Gulf Coast Community College Foundation was 20 years old but had only a million dollars in its fund.
Cramer and others launched a Wall of Honor campaign that lasted 19 months and generated $1.1 million in community contributions. Federal and state matches brought that total to $3.8 million.
The campaign’s success, Cramer said, “wasn’t because we were such great fundraisers. The community rose to the occasion because they appreciated what the college could do for people. They had seen the results. Everyone knew someone who had been touched by the college.”
Today, the foundation’s assets, given succeeding campaigns and the passage of time, exceed $32 million.
Cramer has been part of the foundation for 33 years. He served as a college trustee for 20; was Community College Trustee of the Year in Florida twice; and, in 2005, was named the winner of the National Trustee Leadership Award presented by the Association of Community Colleges.
The national award, Cramer said, “was one of the highlights of my life.”
Of late, the GCSC Foundation has raised more than $1 million to cover non-tuition expenses incurred by military personnel and their dependents and military veterans. It raised $1.5 million to help GCSC students and employees through the tough times brought on by Hurricane Michael.
As president of the Air Force Association at Tyndall Air Force Base, Cramer is helping to
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↑ Bill Cramer, the president of Bill Cramer Chevrolet Buick GMC of Panama City, helped launch a Wall of Honor campaign to raise money for scholarships. A busy man, he is sometimes late for meetings whereupon he is wont to say, “I got behind another broken-down Ford.”
raise funds for STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Math) camps in Bay County.
And what is now Bill Cramer Chevrolet Buick GMC annually carries on a tradition started by Tommy Thomas Chevrolet by annually contributing in a big way to the Empty Stocking Fund benefitting the Salvation Army.
Aware of Cramer’s love of numbers, I asked him for a favorite math trivium. He dropped Galileo’s Paradox on me.
Consider: For each number, there is a square. The square of 1 is 1, the square of 2 is 4, the square of 3 is 9, and so on. So, there are as many squares as there are numbers (integers), but there are lots of numbers that are not squares — numbers such as 2, 3, 5, 6, 7 and 8. Ah, but the size of the two sets is the same even though one is contained within the other. For every number there is exactly one square; hence, there cannot be more of one than the other.
Capeesh?
The squares, Cramer told me, are termed a “countably infinite set.” You don’t have to be Bill Cramer to appreciate that concept, but it surely helps.
As to the man himself, his generosity and devotion to community appear to be practically limitless. I will leave it to him to determine whether those traits are countably infinite. EC
HEALTH & FITNESS
CONDITION BEFORE YOU RUN
Slow and steady wins the race to fitness
by HANNAH BURKE
It is easy to get excited when you finally find that a workout regimen that works for you. But too much exercise and a lack of cross-training can spell trouble if you’re not careful.
Dr. Mark Tenholder, an orthopedic surgeon specializing in hip and knee replacement and sports medicine at Orthopedic Associates in Fort Walton Beach, has seen his fair share of overzealous fledgling athletes.
“I would say probably the most common types of problems arise in those who aren’t conditioned to advance to the type of exercise they’re trying to do,” Tenholder said. “Runners, for example, frequently experience what’s called IT Band Syndrome (ITBS). This involves a tightness of the tendon that runs along the side of the pelvis to your knee.”
Most runners, he said, will attempt a challenging terrain or distance too quickly. The weak muscles around their hips and core cause the iliotibial, or IT band, to constrict to the point it rubs against the thighbone, making for a painful few weeks of recovery.
According to Tenholder, patients with ITBS are referred to a physical therapist, who teaches them how to strengthen essential muscles and properly complete pre- and post-run stretches to loosen the tendon.
“People who love to run derive a lot of physical and mental health from it but often neglect to cross-train with weights or participate in any body-strengthening boot camps,” Tenholder pointed out. “But it’s important to work on your core strength and gradually increase exercise regimens so you don’t suffer overuse injuries.”
Of course, this applies to all manner of exercise. Those with poor core strength who participate in the rigorous activities of CrossFit, Pure Barr or cycling class commonly incur back and abdominal injuries.
Tenholder said he was surprised that when CrossFit and plyometric classes caught on, he didn’t see as many repercussions as he expected.
With age comes increased vulnerability to injury. Among men who are over 40, torn Achilles and biceps tendons are commonplace.
Younger individuals may be susceptible to microtears and full-on ruptures due to intense exercise or diving headfirst into a new routine their bodies aren’t yet accustomed to.
Frequently, people with minor injuries or strained muscles tend to try to work through them or wait until they go away.
“If it’s a minor injury and you want to give it a week or two, it’s the classic treatment of what we call RICE: rest, icing, compression and elevation,” Tenholder said. “That will treat acute injuries to muscles, ligaments and tendons and allow swelling to go down. If you do that and can gradually return to activities without too much disability, then it’s OK to treat on your own.”
But don’t ignore nagging aches and pains.
“If you have pain in a joint area that persists for more than four weeks, you need to have it evaluated,” Tenholder said. “If you let things go, the dysfunction grows worse, the pain gets worse and the muscle atrophies. The farther you let it go downhill, the harder it is to climb back up and rehabilitate it.” EC
STAY LOOSE
When unstretched for extended periods, muscles shorten and become tight. Then, when you call on them for activity, they are weak and unable to extend all the way. That puts you at risk for joint pain, strains and muscle damage. Sitting in a chair all day results in tight hamstrings, which inhibits walking or running. Periodic stretching during the day is helpful. Source: Harvard Medical School
