“He’s a leader, he’s a learner, he’s a doer,” Webster County Supervisor Niki Conrad said Wednesday evening.

Conrad was one of 11 people who paid tribute to Clayton as he was presented the first Citizens Hero Award, a new honor from Freedom Pointe, a local mental wellness organization.

About 40 people gathered in the Opera House at the Fort Museum and Frontier Village for the presentation.

Conrad said that Clayton’s “unwavering dedication has profoundly changed our community.”

“Charles has worked tirelessly to provide hope and inspiration,” she added.

Local people may have first heard Clayton’s name when he was a member of the 1988 Fort Dodge Senior High School basketball team that won the 3A state championship, according to Conrad.

His later accomplishments were even greater, she said. She said he recognized the potential in local youth and realized the need for positive outlets, so he created Athletics for Education and Success.

AFES, as it is popularly known, offers after school and summer programs, conducts a youth diversion program to steer young people away from the criminal justice system, and offers in-school mentoring. Other AFES programs include gun violence prevention, a reentry program for former prison inmates, a food bank, the Community Christmas program, and cultural events.

Clayton also established the Leadership, Unity and Diversity Summit to bring together people of various cultural backgrounds.

“When our community needs unity, he leads with vision,” Conrad said.

Fort Dodge Police Chief Dennis Quinn said Clayton gives the most valuable asset a person has – their time.

He also reflected on the number of young people who have been positively influenced by Clayton.

“It would be interesting to try to put a number on that,” he said. “Hundreds? Thousands?”

Mayor Matt Bemrich said Clayton established an organization to serve his community rather than himself or his friends and family.

“That’s really what makes Charles above others,” he said.

Reflecting on Clayton’s accomplishments, Fort Dodge resident Judge Brown said “I often wonder why we can’t have more Charleses in the community.”

After all the tributes, it was Clayton’s turn to speak.

“Hope is important to me,” he said.

He then listed all the people who gave him hope, including the late Jerry Patterson, for employing him at Patterson Field, Phil Wormsley for hiring him as a teacher associate at the former Fair Oaks Middle School; the late Dr. Lee Berryhill for helping to pay for his college education; and Don Woodruff, president of Woodruff Construction for making it financially possible for AFES to build the Martin Luther King Jr. Recreation Center.

Clayton was presented with a basketball signed by most of the people in attendance.

Randy Hoover, director of Freedom Pointe, presented the Citizens Hero plaque to Clayton.

He said the idea for the award came out of some conversations he had with others.

“We said look at all these people that are doing these things and nobody pays attention,” he said.

“We hope to do more down the road,” he added. “There’s a lot of people that deserve credit. We’re just trying to bring people together and honor those that deserve it.”

He said Freedom Pointe, based in Fort Dodge, serves 1,000 people a month from 22 Iowa counties.