John Novak with the Iowa Firefighters Association Sportsmanship award. Photo submitted.

Traer Volunteer Fireman John Novak became the first individual to be honored by the Iowa Firefighters Association (IFA) for their Sportsmanship Award during the IFA Convention on September 8 in Waverly.

“I felt overwhelmed because I did not know I was getting it,” Novak said. “My family and my department knew, but I had idea. I’m very honored to receive this award. There are 15,500 firefighters in our association and I’m the first to get it individually.”

The Traer resident was nominated by the Carrtoon Fire Dept out of Holland, last year’s winners of the Sportsmanship Award. Roger Carr is the fire chief of the department and the 5th Vice President of the IFA.

“There’s a big need for volunteers for our fire and ambulance departments and it takes a special kind of person,” Novak said. “I’ve enjoyed doing this for the past 33 years.”

Novak has been on the Traer Fire Dept for 33 years, joining to help out the Traer community and had grown up wanting to work as a fireman. In addition to his work in town, Novak has worked as a custodian that sets up IFA contests for the past 20 years and as assistant custodian for the five years before.

“It’s an honored award and I can’t think of anyone more deserving than John for his 20+ years of service to the IFA,” Traer Fire Chief Tyler Sell said. “He’s a hard worker and puts others before himself, a valuable quality for our team.”