So when Chuck Watson arrived in Salisbury this weekend, he willingly shared his “hero” status.

Figuratively, at least.

The Sporting Goods Manufacturers Association named Watson one of three national award winners to its annual SGMA Heroes program, which honors people for their lasting and meaningful contributions to community athletics. The Arkansas City, Kan., resident has spent the past 31 years training Special Olympians and, despite the impact he’s made in his home state, found the national award quite surprising.

“My mom told me, ‘Always be seen doing things that are good, but never do things just to be seen,’” Watson said. “In this business, if you do it for any other reason than for the athletes, you don’t fit in.”

On Sunday, Watson stressed the importance of the SGMA program to this year’s winners of the National Sportscasters and SportswritersAssociation awards. Watson’s hope is that when the winners leave Salisbury after tonight’s awards ceremony, they’ll spread the word about the SGMA Heroes program.

“It helps me believe in the struggle and to keep on trying,”Watson said. “I’m proud that I did enough to be found, but there are a million people likeCharles Watson in this world. Allow them to have the thrill and honor of being recognized as someone special.”

Watson worked with mentally handicapped kids at an institution in 1968 when the first Special Olympics program was started. He helped train Kansas’ first participants and was hooked when he saw how much the kids enjoyed competing. He came to North Carolina last summer for the Special Olympics World Summer Games, where Kansas’ bocce ball team took third place.

With the Heroes award came a check for $18,000, $15,000 of which went to Kansas Special Olympics. But to be recognized, first as one of 100 winners from the 50 states, then as one of three nationally, was worth far more.

“It enhances volunteerism. It already has in the state of Kansas since I’ve been selected,”Watson said. “It’s a tremendous honor, but as I told people in the state of Kansas, I could have sent in 10 names of other people. I’ll be sending them recommendations the next 10 years.”

That’s exactly the kind of thing Mike May wants to hear. The director of communications for SGMA knows every community, including this one, has people that work just as hard as Watson. But until the program attracts more attention, too many go unnoticed.

“Whenever a fellow hero, or volunteer, is recognized for their accomplishments, they can identify,” May said of the significance of Watson’s win. “They know they’re not a lone wolf in the woods, that they’re one of many unsung soldiers in sports that provides the opportunity to play.”

In its sixth year, theSGMA Heroes program has honored nearly 300 volunteers from all 50 states representing more than 30 sports. The two other national winners this year, who didn’t make the trip to Salisbury, were Whitey Smith and Dave Clark.

Smith, of Rogers, Ark., has worked as an official, scorekeeper and fundraiser for more than 30 years at Rogers High School. He’s missed only a handful of basketball and football games since 1956 and has raised an estimated $1 million for youth sports in the city.

Clark, of Corning, N.Y., opened the Southern Tier Physically-Challenged BaseballCamps in 1983, where hundreds of handicapped children compete on the baseball diamond. Clark, stricken with polio as a child, played baseball all the way to the professional level despite a leg brace and crutches.

SGMA heroes work with all types of people — adult sports programs, senior sports leagues. They’re the person that’s at every event, making sure everything runs smoothly. Those are the kind of people SGMA seeks out.