HAMMOND | The Hammond Rotary Club on Tuesday gave its Robert V. Heinze Vocational Service Award to William "Bill" Beatty, of Beatty International, for his 15 years of service to the school district's robotics team.
Beatty, a mechanical engineer, first started with robotics when the school district invited business owners and engineers to form a group of advisers to help inaugurate the team.
Bill and his son Brian were the only two to show up. When they watched a video of the type of competition they were up against, Beatty had only one thing to say.
"Let's get the hell out of here," Bill Beatty revealed to an audience of about 60 people at Purdue University Calumet.
The Beattys committed to helping out one year. The team went undefeated in its rookie year and then headed to the world championship in 1996 at Walt Disney World in Orlando, Fla., where they lost.
"And that ticked me off," Beatty said.
The Beattys stuck with it, and the team won the world title in 1997. Of course, Beatty had to return to defend the title the next year.
And that began a 15-year partnership that has garnered the Hammond team four world championships and a 100 percent graduation rate among its 600-plus participants, said Judi Preissig, a coach for the Hammond team. Of those graduates, 98 percent go on to college, while the other 2 percent serve in the armed forces. A total of 80 percent study engineering, she said.
Five of the students under Beatty's tutelage became Eli Lilly grant winners, paying their way through four years at an Indiana college.
"He will leave a legacy that will never be matched again," Preissig said.
Beatty said it's more fun for him than the students.
"Watching and working with the kids, that's the big kick of the thing," he said. "We teach by example. They don't even realize it's happening to them. When that magic hits, it's extremely effective."
Robotics team members work together with Beatty and other mentors building a 120-pound robot that must perform certain tasks during competition. Beatty also has helped other high schools start robotics teams, namely Crown Point, Munster and Wheeler, Preissig said.
Hammond Mayor Thomas McDermott Jr. awarded Beatty the key to the city. Beatty is originally from Hammond and a product of its public schools. He earned his mechanical engineering degree from Purdue University.
U.S. Rep. Pete Visclosky, D-Ind., honored Beatty with a proclamation in Congress.
"All of us are given a finite amount of time in our lives. But to give our time, especially to young children, is one of the most generous things we can do," Visclosky told the crowd.
With characteristic humility and humor, Beatty downplayed all the praise when accepting his honor.
"I thought they were talking about somebody else," he quipped.
What is the Robert V. Heinze Vocational Service Award?
The Hammond Rotary Club first presented the honor in 1983. It was created to recognize local business and community leaders whose lives and careers represent the highest standards of professional and ethical achievement. Heinze was a Hammond resident and an inventor and industrialist whose discoveries helped produce modern asphalt and innovations in cold tar manufacturing. Heinze was associated with BP's predecessor companies and was a Rotarian for 42 years.
