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Sometime in August of 1982, the University Hills Rotary Club of Denver asked Robert W. Tschappat to explore the possible formation of Rotary Club
that would be called the Smoky Hill Rotary Club of Aurora. The new club would have boundaries from roughly Gun Club road to the east; Louisiana Street to the north; of Cherry Creek Reservoir to
the west; and the Arapahoe & Douglas County the south.
After meeting in several prospective locations, the club was chartered with 27 new Rotarians and began meeting on Monday at DeBeau's Restaurant in
the vicinity of l-225 and Parker Road in the Heather Gardens complex. The Smoky Hill Charter was presented to Charter President, Cliff Walker, on Saturday, January 22, 1983 at the Hilton Inn
South, by Cliff Dochterman from Rotary International.
By July of 1983, Bob Tschappat reported to the University Hills Club that the new club was doing well and was expecting "to do big
things." . During its second year, with more than 30 enthusiastic members, SHRC was to plan and execute its first fundraiser, which has become know as the "Great Pumpkin Sale."
Enterprising Rotarians with hand lettered signs, their kids, and a lot of enthusiasm, parked their rented truck full of pumpkins at a location that is now the site of Cub Foods on Parker Road. The
club coaxed passers-by to stop and buy Rotary pumpkins. After spending the entire Saturday working, paying for the truck rental and gas, and paying the farmer for his pumpkins, this historic
fund-raiser had netted a total of $80.44 profit. While future fund-raising events would do far better financially, none would exceed the great team effort and enthusiasm of this early attempt at
raising money to help the community.
In 1983, the Smoky Hill Rotary Club "banned" singing and fining as a part of the meeting. If you are unsure of what that means, attend
another Rotary Club as a make-up and you will find that they may raise funds by fining their membership. The Sergeant-at-Arms of Smoky Hill Rotary started the World Famous Smoky Hill
"RotoLotto" in 1983...and has been a tradition since, with singing and fining left to other Rotary Clubs.
The distinctive Smoky Hill banner and unique make-up card was designed and presented to the club in 1984. A local Smoky Hill High School student
designed the banner.
Also in 1984, Smoky Hill Rotary began its sponsorship of Boy Scout Troop 641. This troop later became the largest Boy Scout Troop in Aurora,
numbering as many as 70 young men and more than 25 volunteers. Club sponsorship continues today with an exceptional number of young men earning the rank of Eagle Scout each year.
In May of 1984 the board established the Robert W. Tschappat Award in recognition of the outstanding support Bob provided to the club. This annual
award would be given to the non-board member of the club whose participation had the greatest impact on the club during the year. It was in 1985 that Bob suddenly passed away, giving even greater
meaning to this annual award.
In October of 1984, the membership approved the move of the meeting place to the Doubletree Hotel located at l-225 and Iliff Avenue in Aurora. The
club still meets at this location each Monday.
In December of 1985, the club began its annual support of Gateway Battered Women's Shelter. After a number of different fundraising attempts,
including the sale of Omaha Steaks and a joint silent auction with the University Hill Club, a special group of Rotarians were assigned the task of finding a major, youth oriented, annual project
that the club could rally behind. Another group was charged to find a means of raising a significant amount of money for the project and one that would involve all the membership and a large
segment of the community.
In September of 1986, the membership approved the funding of a co-ed Career Awareness Exploring program to be implemented in four Aurora high
schools in support of counselors, to be managed by the Exploring Division of the Boy Scouts of America. The method of funding such an ambitious program would come from a gala event called, "Puttin'
on the Ritz".
In May of 1987, there were 45 members in Smoky Hill. These members and their families raised almost $8.000 at what was to become the annual Puttin'
on the Ritz Silent Auction. Since that first Ritz, more than $150,000 has been raised for Aurora School programs, the Aurora D.A.R.E. program, and other important causes in Aurora. Some of the
other community gifts include:
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Video equipment and cellular phones, to support the Aurora Gang/Drug Task Force
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Support for the Kid's Day Program in the Cherry Creek and Aurora middle schools
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Christmas gifts for Excelsior School for Girls
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The Gateway Battered Women's Shelter
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Support for the Comitis Crisis Center
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...and many other local projects.
In May of 1987, Smoky Hill Rotary approved a bylaws change to remove any reference to gender. Within a month, Smoky Hill Rotary became the second
club in Colorado to accept female Rotarians, one of which was the wife of a Smoky Hill Rotarian. This was done even though Rotary International did not change the national bylaws for more than a
year later.
In addition to many other accomplishments, Smoky Hill Rotarians raised almost $13,000 for PolioPlus. In 1989 the corporate sponsor group was
formed to find large donors for the Ritz. In May of 1993 with a goal of $15,000 and a funding shift to the D.A.R.E. program, Smoky Hill Rotary raised over $21,000 at the Ritz. The 1997 Ritz netted
over $35,000 and broke all records for attendance. The Ritz has been characterized as a "premier fund raiser" in District 5450, surpassed only by the Denver Club's Artists of America,
which is in a class by itself.
Membership has hovered around 45-50 members. In 1989-90 and 1995-96, the Smoky Hill Rotary Club was awarded the Bemis Award for the Best
Newsletter of District 5450. In 1991 Smoky Hill sponsored its first inbound Rotary exchange student, a young man from South Africa. In 1992 Smoky Hill had its first woman President. The Smoky Hill
Club has a tradition of leadership in District. At the 1997 District Conference, Smoky Hill Rotary Club presented the first annual Club Youth Award to the Denver Club for its commitment to youth.
As with any organization the membership changes. Yet, several original members (Charter members) are still active with the club. Charter members
still active with Smoky Hill Rotary include Gary Fletcher, Jeffrey Kaes, Bill Maclay and Terry Remigio. Every charter member still active in Smoky Hill Rotary is a past President. These Charter
Members who remain in Smoky Hill, know that it is this sharing of Rotary that would make Bob Tschappat very proud the Rotary Club he helped to begin in 1982.
In August of 1997, Past President Talee Crowe was nominated to be District Governor for District 5450 during the 1999-2000 Rotary year. As one of
the first women in Rotary International, District 5450 and Smoky Hill Rotary Club, it is only fitting that Talee became the first woman District Governor for District 5450. Talee was also the very
first District Governor nominated by Smoky Hill Rotary Club membership.
During the 1998-99 year, Smoky Hill embarked on a major international project initiative in Romania. This project involved paying for the complete
refurbishing an old building, to be used by young people with alcohol and drug problems. In conjunction with a Rotary club in a nearby Romanian town, Smoky Hill co-sponsored the charter of a new
club in the city where the building is located. The club was recognized for its efforts with a District award presented at the 1998-99 conference in Estes Park, Colorado.
During the 1999-2000 Rotary year, Smoky Hill Rotary Club was extremely proud to have been the Home Club Of District Governor Talee, at a time when
we saw a century change. As the home club, there were many activities that would require the dedicated efforts of club members during that memorable year. While the world was holding it’s
breath, in hopes that Y2K would not shut down computers around the globe, members of Smoky Hill were enjoying the success of having put on one of the best attended and flawlessly executed District
Assemblies for more than 300 Rotarians from around the District.
All the computers made it through just fine, and as the new millennium rolled in, planning had already begun on what was to be the greatest
challenge yet for Smoky Hill members. In May of 2000, the District Conference would be held at the Antler’s hotel in Colorado Springs and Smoky Hill was responsible for the event. Talee put
together a team of Smoky Hill Rotarians, who started early breaking some traditions. They began by changing the name from a "conference" to a "convention" in order to send the
message it was going to be fun, and cutting the time for awards at the convention from the three hours, to less than one. The very first District Convention website was unveiled and had up to the
minute news for the 3,300 District Rotarians. It was clear from the beginning that Convention 2000 was to be a spectacular event.
The list of Smoky Hill members who were involved in planning and implementing the convention is too long for the space here. Let it be said
however, the very best thing Convention Chairman, Past President Steve Cantrell did was to appoint Past President Jeff Kaes as the Sgt. At Arms for the Convention. Jeff devoted countless hours and
made things happen, just as he had done months before as Chairman for the District Assembly, right down to ensuring Talee had a box of tissues for tears at the podium.
There was excellent planning and flawless execution. Virtually the entire membership of Smoky Hill Rotary Club attended Convention 2000 and did
whatever they were asked. It was a record-breaking event, which set a new standard for future events. Attended by almost 600 people, those present were treated to a classy, fun and educational
weekend that met the vision Talee expected from her home club and exceeded the expectations of those attending.
On Saturday night of the Convention (April 29, 2000), there was to be a celebration of the new Rotary century. It was only fitting the opening
flag ceremony was performed by young men from Boy Scout Troop 641, and the keynote speaker was Past Rotary International World President, Cliff Dochterman, who had celebrated a new Smoky Hill club
just 17 years earlier.
The timing of the convention required a change in the date of the Ritz fundraiser. Moved to September to allow members some time to recover from a
very busy year, the plan is to move it back to May in 2001. As we complete the seventeenth year, Smoky Hill Rotary Club has much to be proud and it’s 46 members continue to be leaders in their
community and in the world of Rotary. Congratulations to Talee Crowe for an outstanding year as District Governor, and to the membership of Smoky Hill Rotary Club for providing the leadership and
support that gave Talee the opportunity to have one of the most successful years in the history of Rotary District 5450.
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