Alvin Warnick knows the grades of every student he taught in his 37 years at UF — he kept the roll books.
The 94-year-old will be inducted into the Florida Agricultural Hall of Fame on Tuesday. The ceremony will be held at the Florida State Fairgrounds in Tampa at 7 p.m.
Warnick will be awarded, in large part, for increasing the number of cows that are birthing calves every year from 50 percent to more than 80 percent. To be considered profitable, cows must birth at least one calf per year.
The recognition is the most prestigious award anyone involved in Florida agriculture can earn, said Mike Fields, professor emeritus of reproductive physiology at UF. Fields was a student of Warnick’s in the 1960s.
“He’s a wonderful teacher,” Fields said. “I thought I was going to be a veterinarian, and I took his course in reproduction. And it just lit my fire. That’s what I made a career out of.”
Warnick taught at UF from 1953 to 1990, and he continues to work with animal science students and researchers.
Warnick said he is proud to be in the hall of fame.
“I don’t think I could have a higher honor, in any way, than that,” he said.
His passion for agriculture stems from his days on his family’s Utah farm, he said. Warnick’s father was “a true western cowboy” who knew a lot about livestock.
Warnick studied animal sciences at Utah State University where he earned his bachelor’s degree. Before graduating, he was offered a scholarship to the University of Wisconsin but decided to join the Eighth Air Force and fight in World War II.
When he came home, Warnick said he had the decision to work on his family farm or pursue a master’s degree.
“I loved the farm, but I also had this opportunity to go to graduate school in Wisconsin, which I did,” he said. “And that’s how I got started in research.”
While researching there he met his wife, who was a lab technician.
“That was probably more important than the degrees I got there,” Warnick said.
Although he said he is grateful for his nomination to the hall of fame, he doesn’t believe he should be the only person given the award.
“I’m very humbled by it, and I’m not sure the credit goes to me,” Warnick said. “It should go to my students and colleagues.”
[A version of this story ran on page 5 on 2/9/2015 under the headline “Professor inducted into agricultural hall of fame"]
