Hall of Fame Induction Day Honors Four Trail Legends

(L to R) Hawk Metheny, M.C.; Karen Lutz, accepting for Lester Kenway; Brian King; Barry Webb, accepting for Harry Rentschler & Nimblewill Nomad

​A large crowd honored the 2023 Appalachian Trail Hall of Fame inductees at the A.T. Hall of Fame Induction Ceremony, held on September 10, 2023. The venue for the event was the Army Heritage Education Center in Carlisle, PA. Emcee for the Banquet was Hawk Metheny, Vice President of Regional and Trail Operations for Appalachian Trail Conservancy.
The 2023 Hall of Fame class is M.J. Eberhart of Olean, Missouri; Lester Kenway of Bangor, Maine; Brian B. King of Molers Crossroads, West Virginia; and the late Harry Rentschler of Reading, Pennsylvania.
 

Nimblewill Nomad at Hall of Fame Induction

M.J. Eberhart is universally known within the trail community as Nimblewill Nomad. By age 61, Nimblewill had retired from the practice of optometry and moved to north Georgia, just south of Springer Mountain, southern terminus of the A.T. Then one day, he took a walk on the Trail. He kept on walking, from the Florida Keys up the eastern seaboard to the northern tip of the Gaspe peninsula in Canada, 4,400 miles. Over the next 15 years, he hiked 34,000 miles including the Triple Crown of long-distance trails (A.T., Pacific Crest and Continental Divide), and the rest of the 11 national scenic trails. At age 83, the Nomad started the A.T. yet again, for a third time. In November, 2021, he finished the Trail, and became the oldest known person to hike it in one year. It was fitting that Nimblewill was met at the end by his friend, Dale “Greybeard” Sanders, the previous record holder. The two Trail champions toasted each other with glasses of champagne. Is the Nomad done hiking? No one who knows him would bet that he is.

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​Every hiker who summits Mount Katahdin, the northern terminus of the A.T., knows the iconic sign that graces the mountaintop. Lester Kenway is one of the volunteers who put that sign in place. Although he’s climbed Katahdin three times with that sign, it represents just a small part of Lester’s volunteer efforts on behalf of the A.T. Lester’s first trail crew experience was in 1972. Now a member of ATC and the Maine Appalachian Trail Club (MATC) for more than 45 years, Lester has chaired the sign committee, managed MATC’s Trail crew program, built shelters and trails and served as MATC’s President. Lester says his goal is to “build things once, and build them to last,” primarily using stone. He was a pioneer of using the Griphoist and other methods for moving stone that are now widely used on the A.T. and other trails. The late Bob Proudman called Lester “…the quintessential crew leader, always prepared with decades of trail-building experience”. Lester says building and maintaining trails “creates something good for people and something good for the earth.”

Lester Kenway was unable to attend the Induction. Karen Lutz, member of the Hall of Fame Committee and retired Regional Manager for ATC, accepted for Lester.
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Harry Rentschler grew up in southeastern Pennsylvania. A physician practicing in Reading, PA, Dr. Rentschler and some friends founded the Blue Mountain Eagle Climbing Club in 1916. A decade later Dr. Rentschler learned of Benton MacKaye’s dream to create a trail stretching through the wilderness from Georgia to Maine. Under his leadership, BMECC stepped up to build 102 miles of the A.T. from the Susquehanna to the Lehigh River. Dr. Rentschler led the work trips during the five years that it took to build the Trail. Rentschler’s property in the Reading suburb of Bernville became the headquarters for BMECC’s construction of their portion of the A.T. and later maintenance projects. Two A.T. shelters were constructed there and then transported to the Trail. Dr. Rentschler died in 1942. He willed his property to BMECC and today the Rentschler Arboretum is the headquarters of that club, by far the oldest one based in the Keystone State maintaining the Trail.

Dr. Rentschler passed away in 1942. Barry Webb of BMECC accepted induction for him.
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Brian King (right center), with, l to r, Jim Foster, Hall of Fame Committee Chair; Ron Tipton, former ATC CEO & HoF Comm. member; and Hawk Metheny, M.C. & Vice President, ATC

​Brian B. King of Molers Crossroads, W.Va., began work for ATC in June 1987, after eight years working as a volunteer. For decades, he was responsible for ATC’s publications, sales program and the archives. He is the author of the award-winning Trail history, The Appalachian Trail: Celebrating America’s Hiking Trail. Brian is widely considered to be the Trail’s greatest living historian. Brian retired from ATC in 2022. Brian is a graduate of Georgetown University, and previously attended the University of the South and Northwestern University’s National Journalism Institute. Prior to joining ATC, Brian worked for the Charleston (S.C.) Evening Post, the Colorado Springs Sun, the Associated Press, the U.S. Department of Agriculture and the Ford Foundation.
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Jay Sexton, center, with Hawk Metheny, left and Museum Founder & President Larry Luxenberg

Museum Founder & President Larry Luxenberg presented the Lifetime Achievement Award to Jay Sexton. Sexton, a CPA and emeritus partner with the accounting firm Winthum Smith+Brown PC, is the longtime Treasurer of the Museum.
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Each Hall of Fame honoree or representative received a hiking stick custom carved by John “Bodacious” Beaudet. The Induction Weekend also featured informal interviews of 2022 Inductee Tom Speaks; Barry Webb, representing BMECC and Dr. Harry Rentschler; Brian King and Nimblewill Nomad, a reunion of the 1983 class of A.T. thru-hikers, along with guided tours of the Museum and the Ironmasters Mansion.
 
The Induction ceremony and interviews were recorded. The Induction video is available to view HERE. The interviews are available HERE.