George Mayer named Teacher of the Year

Mr. Mayer teaches American History and American History Honors this year. He has taught every course offered by the social studies department during his career.

Mr. Mayer joined the faculty of Gulf High School at the start of the 1976-77 school year. He believes he is in fifth place among the teachers with the longest tenure at Gulf. Gulf is the only school at which he has taught.

Mr. Mayer was born in Columbus, Ohio, although he grew up in Tampa. He graduated from Robinson High School in Tampa in 1964. He has a B. A. degree in History from Oral Roberts University and an M. A. degree in American History from USF. He served four years in the Navy as a corpsman.

In 1988, while living in Lutz, Mr. Mayer was a candidate for a seat on the Hillsborough County School Board. He came in second out of seven candidates in the primary election. In the runoff, however, he lost to Yvonne McKitrick. Several of his students walked the precincts in support of Mr. Mayer's candidacy. Because he taught at Gulf, he was referred to as a Pasco County schoolteacher in newspaper articles, even though he lived in Hillsborough County. His loss might be due to the fact that he was perceived as a "carpetbagger." Mr. Mayer said, "It worked for Hillary, but it didn't work for me."

Mr. Mayer and his wife Carol live in New Tampa. Carol is currently occupied with babysitting their granddaughter. Mr. and Mrs. Mayer have two children, Shauna, who is office manager for an accounting firm, and Andrew, who is a children's pastor.

Mr. Mayer sponsors the Teenage Republican Club.