The story
After Jacques-Yves Cousteau introduced the Aqua-Lung to the market, there followed a growing interest in scuba diving by the public and a subsequent need to codify the training.
In 1951, Jim Auxie Jr and Chuck Blakeslee started a magazine called The Skin Diver (later renamed Skin Diver Magazine). Two-year dive teacher Neal Earl Hess contributed to its "The Instructors Corner" column to inform readers about scuba. He soon established a column called "The National Diving Patrol" as a section to name new skin and scuba diving "instructors".
Still, no official training and certifying agency existed, except for the training and resources provided by the military (Underwater Demolition Teams) and dive clubs.
In 1952, Al Tillman, the director of sports for the Los Angeles County Department of Parks and Recreation, said in a letter to Parks and Recreation director Paul Gruendyke, "A new sport—skin diving—is becoming popular in the area. Recently while diving in Palos Verdes, I ran into several divers in the water with me who didn't know what they were doing. One had one of the new underwater breathing units that allows divers to stay under for long periods of time... I propose that my department get involved in this sport and provide training classes. I believe that diving will grow in the future and we have an obligation to make the sport as safe as possible."
In 1955, Tillman and L.A. County lifeguard Bev Morgan created the L.A. County Parks and Recreational Underwater Instructor Certification Course (1UICC) in an effort to respond to the growing number of diver requests. It was the world's first civilian training program to certify recreational divers and soon began granting Provisional Certification to instructors across the country.
In the May 1960 issue of Skin Diver Magazine, the creation of The National Diving Patrol was announced as an official, national organization. Its purpose and function was "to insure competent underwater instruction and to reduce diving accidents through education." In 1959, the name was changed to the National Association of Underwater Instructors (NAUI).
Hess, Blakeslee, Auxier, and Tillman met in August 1960 to discuss and organize NAUI's first Instructor Certification Course. It was held at the Shamrock Hotel in Houston, Texas on August 22–26. During the six-day course, 72 candidates attended from the U.S. and Canada, but only 53 graduated. The 53 graduates along with their staff instructors became the first instructor members of the National Association of Underwater Instructors. The NAUI ICC became the first course to make diver certification available worldwide.
A year later, the second NAUI ICC was held in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, under the direction of Ben Davis.
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In October 1961, NAUI was incorporated in the State of California as a non-profit educational organization, with Al Tillman as the President and Neal Hess as the Executive Secretary.
NAUI's first elected Board of Directors included Al Tillman, John C. Jones Jr., Neal Hess, Garry Howland, Jim Auxier, and James Cahill. A Board of Advisers was appointed and included Captain Albert Behnke Jr., Commander George Bond, Captain Jacques-Yves Cousteau, and Dr. Andreas Rechnitzer.
The number of NAUI ICCs grew throughout the 1960s in central locations throughout North America. The association's conduct of business relied on volunteers and the board regional leaders, all administered out of Al Tillman's home. Skin Diver Magazine published the "NAUI Page" as a regular feature to help the organization grow, to accumulate a salary and, later, to provide office space.The first International Conference on Underwater Education was held in 1969 at Santa Ana College, where it served as a venue for NAUI members from all over could meet and exchange ideas. It was also used as a forum to present information on diving skills and safety, teaching, diving physiology, physics, and other diving and marine sciences.
The US Internal Revenue Service determined that NAUI be a tax-exempt nonprofit educational organization in 1971.
Soon, NAUI membership began to expand internationally, with an ICC being held in Japan in 1970 and NAUI Canada being organized as a separate corporation in 1972.
NAUI instructors certified more than 40,000 entry-level scuba divers in 1970 alone; 1979 was a year with over 5,000 newly certified NAUI scuba instructors. By the time 1989 came around, over 12,000 NAUI instructors were certified. NAUI Worldwide had established a network of 20 service centers in 1998.
From 1981 to 1997, NAUI headquarters facilities remained in Montclair, California. It was during these years (in 1987) that the NAUI Board of Directors elected its first woman president, Nancy Guarascio.
In 1997, NAUI Worldwide headquarters was moved to Tampa, Florida and included Board of Directors members from Europe and Asia for the first time.
NAUI hired Jim Bram as its president in June 1995. Bram renamed NAUI to do business as NAUI Worldwide, with the intent to provide business support to members everywhere via licensed service centers.
On January 20, 2015, the Ohio Board of Pharmacy amended Code 4729-21-06: Sales of medical oxygen to scuba divers. The code authorized individuals who completed courses from NAUI to purchase and possess medical oxygen for the purpose of emergency care or treatment at the scene of a diving emergency.
In November 2015, NAUI released a series of announcements during the 2015 DEMA Show in Orlando, Florida. Its first podcast series, the "Dive Team Report", released once per week. The podcast was designed to inform the general public and divers on trends and issues affecting the sport of diving. The first full episode aired on November 12, 2015.
A series of other announcements included its new marketing campaign "The Definition of Diving", its demo version of its new website interface (version 1.0), and its alliance with the Divers Alert Network and Performance Freediving International. For the first time, NAUI and DAN came together to offer DAN's first-aid programs to NAUI divers and members. NAUI established and incorporated the co-branded DAN-NAUI first-aid courses into their curricula.
NAUI Green Diver Initiative
In 2010, NAUI Worldwide formed the NAUI Green Diver Initiative (GDI). GDI was implemented to "empower individuals to preserve and conserve the ocean planet with the common goal of taking action to protect the environment." With stagnant progress, it was not until July 2015 that NAUI renewed its commitment to the Initiative, unveiling its first manager, Sam Richardson, who entered the full-time position with over 10 years of non-profit experience. GDI remained a U.S. registered 501 (c) (3) non-profit that relied on the support of donors to fulfill its mission.
From Wikipedia’s article on National Association of Underwater Instructors, shared under CC BY-SA 4.0.3