Practically since the day the first classes opened 40 years ago, Hawkeye Institute of Technology, now Hawkeye Community College, has been a success.

One of the people most universally identified with Hawkeye and that success over the years has been Harold Brock, who recently won regional and national awards from the Association of Community College Trustees, including the M. Dale Ensign Trustee Leadership Award for lifetime service.

An appropriate award indeed. In July, the 92-year-old, longtime member of the HCC Board of Trustees, announced he wouldn't seek another term.

In 1965, Brock was one of four community members who petitioned the Iowa Legislature to provide funding for a new two-year technical college in Northeast Iowa.

In previous interviews, Brock, the first chairman of the board, recalled taking out the first $500 loan to launch the college's operations.

"We started with nothing," he said.

In June of 1968, Hawkeye graduated its first class of 106 students. The most popular specialty was auto mechanics, which graduated 17 students. Other fields included welding, medical laboratory and drafting technicians, and police basic training.

In 1973, Gates Business College, which began operating in downtown Waterloo in 1884, closed and its business curriculum was merged into Hawkeye.

Brock saw the need for industrial and technical training in an industrial town such as Waterloo. That vision has served the area well.

"I can tell you, without his vision and dedication, Hawkeye would not be what it is today," said Kathy Flynn, vice president of advancement for HCC.

Brock was the director of engineering at John Deere's Waterloo operations in 1965 when he co-founded HIT. He served as chairman of its board until 1980. During that period, Brock co-founded the Iowa Association of Community College Trustees (IACCT), to help bring the 15 separate colleges in Iowa together to work for common objectives.

Today the school is a full-fledged community college. HCC is one of the community's major employers and provides vocational and college preparatory training for area residents, serving major employers such as Brock's former employer, John Deere.

Through the years, more than 90 percent of HIT's and HCC's students have been hired after they graduated from their vocational-technical courses.

In 2004, Brock ran for the Hawkeye board again, driven by an interest in ensuring proper training for industrial workers. He still feels that at least one person with an industrial or technical background should serve on the board.

Though the school's emphasis over the years tilted between technical training and liberal arts, it apparently has found a balance. In 1992, the school joined the trend followed by other Iowa area voc-tech schools and became a community college. It added two-year courses in arts and sciences. The credits are fully transferable to four-year institutions offering bachelor's degrees.

As Brock begins the transition from longtime board member to watchful taxpayer, the entire Cedar Valley owes Brock a debt of thanks. Because with comparatively little fanfare, HCC has been cranking out hundreds of well-trained, job-oriented graduates for four decades.