A snowmobiling visionary who saw trouble on the horizon in his native Wisconsin, Myron Herrick took action when leadership was needed to keep snowmobiling on track in the face of legislative threats in 1968. Moving quickly to get snowmobilers in his home state organized to face the threats, Herrick held a meeting with four Wisconsin Northwoods clubs. It was this meeting that led to a semiannual statewide organizational meeting in March of 1969.

Although the turnout at that first meeting had been small and local, Herrick organized a word-of-mouth and letter-writing effort that bore fruit when the second organizational meeting drew representatives from clubs all over Wisconsin. Among the hundred who attended the meeting held in Antigo, Wisconsin, were club members even from the southernmost parts of the state. This meeting became the venue that created the Association of Wisconsin Snowmobile Clubs (AWSC), the organization that protects and promotes snowmobiling in Wisconsin to this day.

As so often happens, the early visionaries in any new effort are also tapped for leadership. Herrick was true to this responsibility, accepting the job as AWSC’s very first president, a job he handled until 1973, presiding over three association annual conventions before handing over the reins to Bud Wieman that year. Back in 1969, lawmakers were on their way to passing a law banning snowmobiling after 6 pm until a man with a vision named Myron Herrick made sure Wisconsin snowmobilers had a strong, enduring voice in their own destiny.