Capt. Ransom J. Arthur M.D. Award
| Recipient: | Ed Saltzman |
| Year: | 2025 |
| LMSC: | Georgia |
Ed Saltzman was a major contributor to the USMS Officials program. He helped create the Official’s certification program still used today. He introduced the Officials Committee stipend program for staffing Nationals and providing Name Tags. He was involved in the early stages of a relationship between USA-S and USMS and he created a USMS Quick Reference card for USMS vs USA-S rule differences. He created LMSC minimum standards which emphasized attending clinics, doing apprenticeships, and requiring pre-meet briefings. Another of his significant achievements was that he created the Officials Committee section on the USMS website. He was an Official for 41 USMS National Championship Swim Meets and he was the Meet Referee for two of them. He was Meet Referee for 2 Open Water Nationals, and he was an Official at a FINA Masters Worlds. Additionally, he served as the USMS Officials Liaison for 6 Nationals.
Because of his established relationship with Georgia Tech as a USAS-S Official and for running the timing console at the 1996 Atlanta Olympics, he was instrumental in helping the facility to successfully receive the bid to host the 2010 USMS Short Course Nationals Meet. Following the 2010 meet he encouraged the use of the Nationals revenue to help his LMSC obtain rental equipment for open water events, offer a membership assistance supplement based on need, and provide seed money to host new meets.
Ed had served the Georgia LMSC in many roles since 1996. He was Treasurer, Webmaster, Records, Top 10, Officials, and Sanctions Chair.
Ed had many roles with the Southeast Zone, including Chair, Records coordinator, and Newsletter Editor. As Records coordinator, when there was no Zone championship, Ed compiled results of the Zone meets, and prepared a “Virtual Championship” report.
Ed’s volunteer efforts were vast and significant and he helped to grow our USMS organization at the Local, LMSC, Zone and National level. Ed exuded an air of humbleness, kindness and an ear for listening. He was always willing to lend a helping hand and to share his abundant knowledge of all things USMS. He was comfortable on the pool deck while officiating a meet as well as contributing to discussions during a House of Delegates session during the annual meeting. Ed brought a positive energy to everything he did. Ed embodied the essence of the RJA award and stood as an example of service and commitment.