Welcome to No. Calif./W. Nevada Chapter of ACI

A BRIEF CHAPTER HISTORY

A dinner meeting was held on the evening of January 15, 1958 at the Athens Athletic Club in Oakland for the express purpose of establishing a sponsoring committee to develop plans for formulating a local ACI Chapter. The persons present at this meeting were as follows: Joe Kelly, Ed Howard, Orville Jack, Lewis Rural, Ben Gerwick Jr., Al Klein, Mez Newman, Carl Rollins, Milos Polivka, Frank Killinger, Sam Burks, Dick Allen and Harry Thomas. This meeting was presided over by S. D. Burks and resulted in the formation of various task groups to pursue chapter formation and chartering by ACI.

As a result of the work of the task groups, a charter was granted by ACI on November 5, 1958. The Northern California Chapter was the number two chapter founded. The first meeting of the newly formed chapter was held at the Leopard Cafe in San Francisco. President S. D. Burks presided with a featured presentation by T. Y. Lin on the topic "Observation on Concrete in Russia".

A long lasting tradition of meeting at Spengers Fish Grotto in Berkeley started with the Second Annual Meeting in March 1961. (Dinner $3.25 per person tax & tip included.) Speaker for the evening was Ellis L. Armstrong of the Better Highway Development program. The tradition was interrupted in 1998 with the closing of the restaurant, but resumed in June, 2000, after Spengers re-opened.

The hardest working chapter member has always been the Secretary-Treasurer. The list of dedicated members holding this position include Wilbur Moulton, Eli Medvedy, Dave Bearden, Gary Vondron, Bill Humphrey, Bob Adams, Everett Osgood, Jack Cedarblade, Dave Holman, Carl Sundquist, Roy Ashworth and currently Ted Allured.

ACI International Conventions have been hosted by the chapter on three occasions -- 1974 local chairman, Everett Osgood; 1986 local chairman, Claude Trusty; and 1993 local chairman, Chris Crouch. Three members have attained the Presidency of ACI International, Joe Kelly (1961), Louis Tuthill (1962) and Sam Burks (1970).

The chapter was incorporated by the State of California on April 25, 1961 as the Northern California Chapter of the American Concrete Institute signed by President Milos Polivka and Secretary-Treasurer Wilbur Moulton. The charter was amended in 1984 to change the name and sphere of influence to "Northern California and Western Nevada Chapter American Concrete Institute" signed by President Al Kaufman and Secretary Bob Adams.

The chapter has been involved in numerous educational and promotional activities over the years. Certification has been a prominent activity of the chapter since Everett Osgood put on the first program at the San Jose Materials Yard in 1984. Heidy Braverman was the first Field Technician Chairperson. A formal certification committee was formed in 1988 with Jim Van Nest as Chairperson. Successor chairmen have been Bob Cox and currently, Cliff Craig. In 1999 almost 600 individuals took advantage of the certification programs offered by the Chapter.

The most popular subject for dinner meeting talks has been "Drying Shrinkage" with at least 10 programs devoted to the subject starting with Don Spellman in March, 1962.