Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University will dedicate a campus park in honor of its first president, famed Navy aviator Jack Hunt, on Thursday, Feb. 20.  "As our country celebrates the Centennial of Flight, we at Embry-Riddle are celebrating our rich heritage in aviation education," said Bob Rockett, Embry-Riddle dean of campus development. "We're proud to pay tribute to Jack Hunt, the father of the modern Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University."

The 4 p.m. ceremony will be held at the Jack R. Hunt Aviator Park, located between the John Paul Riddle Student Center and the Capt. Willie Miller Instructional Center. The park includes a monument and plaque funded by a generous donation from Embry-Riddle alumnus Arnold Leonora. Benches and tables to be used as a gathering place for students will be added later. A biography of Hunt is also planned, as well as improvements and additions to the Hunt display in the Jack R. Hunt Memorial Library.

At the ceremony:

• Dr. John McCollister, co-author of The Sky is Home, the history of Embry-Riddle, will deliver a special prayer.
• Dr. George Ebbs, Embry-Riddle president, will welcome the attendees.
• Bob Rockett and Brig. Gen. William Spruance, chairman emeritus of Embry-Riddle's Board of Trustees, will speak on Hunt's contributions to Embry-Riddle. Those who would like to share their memories of him are invited to send their stories to Rockett at robert.rockett@erau.edu.
• Geoff Hunt, Embry-Riddle alumnus and son of Jack Hunt, will address the crowd.
• Dr. Irwin Price, chancellor of Embry-Riddle's Daytona Beach campus, will talk about the park and unveil the monument.
  Following the ceremony, a formal reception will be held in the atrium of the Aviation Building.

Hunt was president of Embry-Riddle from 1963 until his death in 1984. Under his leadership, Embry-Riddle moved from Miami to Daytona Beach in 1965, a move that was accomplished with money and trucks borrowed from a group of Volusia County civic leaders known as the Committee of 100. In the following five years, Embry-Riddle won accreditation and gained university stature. Embry-Riddle expanded under Hunt's direction when the site of a former college in Prescott, Ariz., became the university's Western campus.

Before joining Embry-Riddle, Hunt was a U.S. Navy commander who gained international fame as the pilot of the Navy airship ZPG-2 Snowbird, which made the first nonstop, round-trip flight across the Atlantic Ocean. From March 4 to 16, 1957, Hunt led the 14-man crew of the Snowbird in a journey of 9,448 miles that started in Massachusetts, reached Portugal, Africa, Puerto Rico, and Cuba, and ended in Florida. It was the longest nonrefueled sustained flight ever made.

For this achievement, Fleet Adm. William "Bull" Halsey awarded Cmdr. Hunt the Distinguished Flying Cross, and President Dwight Eisenhower presented him with the Harmon Trophy.

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