In Tribute: William 'Larry' Erwin brought soap box derby to Clovis

For two decades, William "Larry" Erwin organized the annual Soap Box Derby in Clovis, in which kids coast home-built racers down a hill in hopes of winning a trip to Akron, Ohio, for a shot at a national championship.

Erwin, who died on Sept. 6 at the age of 76, introduced the Soap Box Derby to Clovis based on his memories of rumbling his own Soap Box Derby racer, the pieces of which were secured together with Elmer's Glue, down the hills of Owensburg, Ky., in 1960 and winning a trip to Akron.

His racer, he told The News in a previous interview, is still memorialized in a display in Owensburg.

Erwin was a member of the Clovis Rotary Club when he proposed the Soap Box Derby as a Rotary service project that the club could sustain over the years in 2001. He organized the annual race in Clovis until two years ago, when he passed the responsibility to younger Rotarians, including a former Clovis derby winner.

The younger Rotarians remember Erwin as dedicated to the derby, Rotary and anything else he set his mind to.

Eric Collings, who now owns the Zip Printing franchise in Clovis, remembered Erwin from the time Collings won the local championship in 2005.

He has nothing but praise for the experience.

" I remember my trip and its importance to my development," he said. "For some kids it's the first time they get out of Clovis. It's an opportunity give kids an experience they would not have otherwise."

Collings' younger brothers Andrew and Alex also built and raced in the Soap Box Derby, Eric Collings said. Alex won the local race in 2007.

Eric Collings remembered Erwin as "honest and passionate. He would tell you what he was thinking in a very good way."

He added, "Larry didn't do things halfway. He was passionate about his own kids and coaching, and making sure his kids gave it everything. There was not a thing he did that he did that was not fully thought out, and did not get his full commitment."

Sports was another of Erwin's passions, according to his obituary. He played baseball, football, and basketball, but pole-vaulting landed him in college sports at Western Kentucky University. 

Collings followed Erwin's example by joining Rotary. Last year, he said, "things came full circle."

For the past two years, he said, he ran the Clovis Soap Box Derby alongside Erwin.

This year's Rotary president, Alan Kinlund, who like Erwin was, is a financial adviser, remembered that the Soap Box Derby was a "passion" for Erwin for as long as Kinlund knew him.

Kinlund, too, worked with Erwin to organize the derby, but he also worked with Erwin as a member of the Rotary Club's Finance Committee.

Kinlund also worked with Erwin on Clovis' Economic Incentive Board and on the board of directors for the Clovis Economic Development organization in earlier days.

Kinlund also knew Erwin as a parishioner of the Central Baptist Church.

"I saw him at a lot of church functions," Kinlund said.

Erwin "was a very passionate person," Kinlund said. "If he decided something was important, he did it very well. He gave it all of his time, effort and mental space."

Erwin came to Clovis through the U.S. Air Force, where he rose to the rank of Captain, according to his obituary.

He married his wife Mickey, who survives him, in 1972, while he was stationed at Cannon.

At the birth of his first son, Geoff, Erwin left the Air Force and started Erwin and Associates, his financial firm, which he operated for nearly 50 years.

Geoff Erwin now lives in Dallas, Texas. Another son, Erik, now lives in Cameron Park, Calif.