Pete Williams' flying career began at age 18 when he soloed a Piper Cub. His dream of becoming a Naval Aviator was realized with his first landing aboard an aircraft carrier at age 20 in 1947. In 1969, after a 21 year Naval Aviation career, he soloed an SGS-33 at Estrella Sailport, Arizona. Since then he has owned seven sailplanes, including two self-launchers.

He is the founder and first president of the Self-Launching Sailplane Pilot's Association, now known as the Auxiliary-powered Sailplane Association. The author of many articles, studies and surveys concerning powered sailplanes, he holds Certificates of Recognition from the Soaring Society of America and National Aeronautic Association for his efforts in organizing the powered sailplane movement in the United States. An active pilot with four U.S. Motor Glider Records, he has a total of over 8.000 flight hours. including 2.700 in sailplanes.

Written in 1998, the picture and text in this article are from Pete's book "Self-launch! Retractable Engine Sailplanes". He died in a traffic accident Feb. 11, 2005, on his way to the SSA convention in Ontario, California.

The plaque design, image and text were finalized in May with the help of many supporters including Pete’s wife Charm. We were unable to locate a picture of Pete’s glider with high enough image quality for reproduction so we lifted one from the cover of his book Self-Launch! Retractable Engine Sailplanes. This picture, which shows his glider during climb was then hand drawn in color by an artist and then applied to the top of the plaque by a process called ColorCast. As you can see from this picture of the completed plaque the process accurately copied the drawing in both detail and color. On October 15th the boulder and plaque were installed at the Minden Airport outside of the Soar Nevada facility. A formal dedication took place in 2011.

 Williams Trophy Winners 2017 - 2025

The Williams Trophy replaced the Stevenson Trophy as the space for inscription was full.

To see a map of the flights made by Clemens in the 2025 event click here.

The trophy is currently awarded at the Parowan Camp to the pilot who scores the best results in four different categories:

• OLC+
• Distance
• Triangle
• Speed

Stevenson Trophy Winners 1998 - 2017

The Stevenson trophy was retired as it no longer had space for new inscriptions. It was replaced by the Williams Trophy. The plaque is now held by the Stevenson family.