wfn.org | Notes about People

[PCUSA NEWS <pcusa.news@ecunet.org>]

21-July-1999 
99243 
 
    Notes about People 
 
    by Jerry L. Van Marter 
 
    The Association of Presbyterian Interim Ministry Specialists (APIMS) 
has given its inaugural "Governing Body Interim Practitioner of the Year" 
award to the Rev. John D. Sharick, executive presbyter for Eastminster 
Presbytery.  Sharick received his award during the APIMS annual meeting 
June 16 at Wheaton College in Illinois. 
    As noted in the proclamation given to Sharick, he is a leading advocate 
in the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) for intentional interim ministry.  As 
such, Sharick has helped establish standards for certification of interim 
ministers, has been active in the growth of APIMS and has served on 
numerous panels that have increased the church's understanding and 
development of interim ministry as a key ingredient of healthy churches 
during times of transition. 
 
                                  # # # 
 
    Ralph Tasker, a Presbyterian who was one of the winningest high school 
basketball coaches in history, died July 19 in Hobbs, N.M., after a short 
bout with cancer.  He was 80. 
    Over the course of a 49-year career as coach of the Hobbs High School 
boys basketball team, Tasker's teams won 1,122 games and 10 state 
championships, despite being one of the smallest schools in the state.  His 
teams were renowned for a relentless full-court press and wide-open 
offense.  One of his teams still holds the national record for average 
points scored - 114.9 per game - a record set before the advent of the 
three-point shot. 
    More importantly, Tasker was loved and respected for the 
character-building quality of his coaching.  He was a longtime member of 
First Presbyterian Church in Hobbs, but his July 22 funeral was held at the 
Methodist church in town because, according to lifelong friend and retired 
"Presbyterian Survey" editor Vic Jameson, "it was the only church around 
that could hold all the people who wanted to come." 
    Tasker, though repeatedly asked, was never ordained an elder in the 
Presbyterian Church.  According to Jameson, Tasker's consistent response 
was, "My job is coaching - if I tried to do both I wouldn't be any good at 
either one." 

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