Bill deserves this award! He works very hard and he is also extremely nice…Congratulations Bill!
Way to go Bill, you deserve it!
GO 1403!!!
I had the pleasure of meeting Bill for the first time at the 2005 SoCal regional. I’d heard lots about Bill from Karthik, and was assured that as the only team from Canada, we could count on Bill if we ever needed help while in SoCal.
On his own accord, he provided us with information about other teams, strategy and scouting info, and even differences in the style of play at the regional - especially compared to what we had witnessed the weekend before in Waterloo. It didn’t take me long to realize that Bill was the real deal, and everything and more than what Karthik had told me.
Thank for all your help in SoCal Bill! You may not remember, but we appreciated all the ways you helped us out!
-SlimBoJones…
Hey Bill, you’ve finally made it to the front page! Good job buddy!
Looking at Bill getting the UFH award makes me think back to the good old times when the two of us were just fresh out of high school and barely started digging the surface of the FIRST craze, visiting the chief delphi forum in its earliest form, and looking up to big names like Joe Johnson, Andy Baker, Bill Beatty, Chris Hibner, and the younger ones like Kate Leach, Andy Grady, and Nate Smith.
Now Bill is one of the heroes of the younger, newer generation of FIRST-a-holics! Boy, time sure fly really fast!
As I say in many of my messages, everyone is who they are because of the steps they took. There is no magic there. So, allow me to take you back in time and show you all the steps Bill has taken that lead him to where he is today (that and give me a chance to embarrass Bill a little bit 
).
2000 : During the second year of NASA Ames regional (Ames was the first west coast regional ever held), Bill was part of a very young team, team 258 Sea Dawgs of Lincoln High School, experiencing the competition for the first time. Little did he knew how much trouble he’s going to get into by joining this “robotics team” of his high school.
2001 : I met Bill for the first time in the Rambots chat room (good old Anton’s chatroom) to talk about a webcast with a few other people, and met him at the LA regional with 258’s impressive big ball robot. We quickly became good friends, both being younger guys around all these cool people and so overwhelmed by the experience. At that point we were just starting to be introduced to the bigger community of all the bay area teams. Little did he knew how much trouble he’s going to get into by being my friend ;-).
Later that year we worked together at Cal Games 2001 being volunteers (that’s when we tried unsuccessfully at 6am in the morning to open a can of coffee with a Swiss-army-knife and proceeded to try to smash it open with a wrench for car tires.) Bill gave me a lot of rides to and from the competitions.
2002 : That was year with the worst luck at LA regional (Bill and I were volunteers) when a series of events lead to our car breaking down at LA and getting stuck for a day. Bill had to stay around another day and load the playing field into the truck with Jim and Ken Krieger. It was the worst but most interesting regionals we’ve ever had.
Bill started teaching robot design at the WRRF workshops that year, and became one of the WRRF board as the assistant for organizing workshops. Again, Bill gave me lots of rides to and from the competitions as I still didn’t know how to drive.
2003 : The summer before 2003, Bill worked with Mike of Wildstang over the internet on the swerve drive that will eventually be built for the 03 competition. It was one of the first professional level designs he has done, and that drive system came off beautifully at the 03 game. Over night Bill became one of the best robot builders of the bay area.
We traveled to the LA regional yet again, and to the first non-Disney Nationals at Houston. Those were some of the most interesting experiences as volunteers of FIRST events. We learned a lot about running the events and met a lot of very cool FIRST people all over the nation.
Later that year Bill and I and John Lawton worked together on the motor/drive train workshops for the WRRF workshops, after swearing the previous year we were never going to do it ever again. Also, at that point, Bill gave me so many rides to and from competition that I actually started to consider getting a driver’s license.
2004 : Bill took on the responsibility of running team 258 and designing their robot for the 04 competition as well. I was in awe of the tremendous responsibility he had to handle as a college student. I could tell it was a very stressful job, but again and again Bill gave everything he got and showed a lot of passion for this program.
That was the year when Bill helped me out tremendously for Cal Games, and the both of us took on the responsibility of workshop organizers in the fall. By then I was so tired of asking for rides that I finally got my own driver’s license.
2005 : Team 258 finally died, and Bill became a mentor on team 254 because of his incredible machining and design capability, and that’s the Bill Gold you see today winning the UFH award.
So, there you are. Bill and I shared a lot of the past 6 years’ FIRST experience; we shared a lot of good times as well as the bad times of struggling to grow up in this community. It was some of the best and most important years I’ve ever had, and Bill was always there to help me out when I needed a hand. I am proud to say Bill is one of the best friends I have in FIRST.
Congratulation on this award, Bill! You are famous, buddy! You are now one of the heroes of FIRST!
Good job, and thanks for all the rides !
Congratulations Bill! You deserve it!
Congratulations Bill!! Well deserved. Every activity and relationship you touch has benefited by your involvement.
Ceal
Thank you all so much for your kind words. I really don’t know what to say, other than that. I’m looking forward to many more years of participation in this worthwhile cause. I’m very thankful that I’ve met so many great people and had so many great experiences in this program. Thanks to all of you for being here.
It is great to see Bill recognized like this. He deserves it greatly. Bill has the ability that every good mentor needs: he listens to people.
Bill has been an asset to FIRST since he was a student. He has shown other students how to be team leaders and he has made a (mostly) smooth transition from student to mentor. From what I hear of peers his age, this can be incredibly hard.
I am proud to have Bill as a friend since 2001, and for many years to come.
Sincerely,
Andy Baker