NTCA honors three with rings of honor

The National Tile Contractors Association (NTCA), the largest tile contractors association in the world, presented three Rings of Honor at the awards banquet during NTCA's annual Total Solutions Conference last October in St. Petersburg Beach, Florida. Ring of Honor recipients were Joe Tarver, NTCA executive director emeritus, Myra Lynn Cardwell, legendary NTCA employee, and Butch Woelfel, owner of Artcraft Granite and Tile of Mesa, Arizona.

The contractor Ring of Honor recipient, Woelfel, also named Tile Person of the Year in 1993, was instrumental in designing the tile patterns that were installed in the TileLetter Residential Grand Prize winning project this year. Along with Tarver, Woelfel was influential in negotiations for what the industry knows today as Coverings.

Ring of Honor Awards for associate members honored two bastions of the NTCA: both Tarver and Cardwell. Tarver celebrates his 50th year in the tile industry as NTCA executive director emeritus and the dual recipient of the NTCA Associate Ring of Honor. Executive director from 1972-2002, today, Tarver is still active with NTCA, and maintains the Reference Manual, which he created.

Having retired from NTCA in October of 2001, Ring of Honor recipient Cardwell worked with NTCA since 1964 and is one of only three women honored in the history of the association with the Tile Person of the Year Award, bestowed on her in 1989.

This year's master of ceremonies was Wally Adamchik, workshop presenter and owner of Firestarter Speaking/Consulting. The evening also included a presentation on the history of tile by Eric Astrachan, executive director of the Tile Council of North America, and a range of awards and recognitions.

NTCA is a non-profit trade association serving every segment of the industry, spearheading education for the professional installation of ceramic tile and allied products.  For more information, please contact NTCA membership director Bob Brown at bob@tile-assn.com, via telephone at (601) 939-2071, or visit www.tile-assn.com.