ROBERTSDALE, Ala. – It has been 15 months since an oil rig exploded in the Gulf of Mexico spilling millions of gallons of crude into the water, but the incident and it’s aftermath is still very much on the minds of residents along the Coast.

It was very much on the minds of those in attendance at the Baldwin County Association of Realtors membership meeting on Thursday in Robertsdale.

It was on their minds in naming the 2011 Realtor of the Year with the selection of Gulf Shores Realtor Kevin Corcoran, who was instrumental in getting compensation for Realtors along the Gulf Coast.

“He went above and beyond the call of duty in getting compensation for Realtors,” said 2010 Realtor of the Year recipient Rance Reehl in his introduction of Corcoran Thursday. “Even though his efforts began in 2010, the efforts still continue to this day.”

In accepting the award, Corcoran gave an impassioned speech thanking others involved in the efforts to receive compensation from BP for the disaster.

A few weeks after the disaster, Corcoran recalled first hearing that someone wanted to pull out of a Real Estate deal because of the BP oil spill.

“I remembered thinking, ‘Why would he want to do that. It was a tragedy, 11 people lost their lives, but what possible effect could that have on us,’” he said. “How naïve I was. None of us really understood at that time what kind of impact it was going to have.”

Corcoran also recalled being in the room with six or seven other people on July 1, 2010, meeting with Kenneth Feinberg , who was charged by the government to work with local residents and business owners to get compensation for those along the Gulf Coast affected by the oil spill from the parties responsible for the spill.

“That was the worst day of my life,” he said. “He basically told us that we were considered collateral damage and we weren’t going to be compensated at all. Essentially we were told, ‘Bad things happen to good people.’

“Bad things do happen to good people. They’re called hurricanes, earthquakes and tornadoes. These are bad things that happen to good people. This is something that happened where someone was responsible for it and we knew who that was and they were going to pay for it, not us.”

Corcoran said they came out of that meeting with one thing on their minds.

“We needed to talk to the governor,” he said.

After initially being told that it would be a difficult task to speak to then Gov. Bob Riley, who was busy himself with meetings in the area, the effort became easier, Corcoran said, when they spotted Riley coming out of the hotel where they had just come out of their meeting.

“Bob Riley may not make a good motorcycle tour guide,” Corcoran joked, “but we couldn’t have asked for a better person at the helm for us at that time.”

Corcoran and others were given a chance to talk to Riley about their concerns, he said, and what followed was a ‘spirited discussion,’ between Riley and Feinberg.

“Needless to say we were able to get our concerns heard,” he said. And thanks to the efforts of the Association of Realtors and others, those same concerns were later expressed in front of the cameras by members of Congress.

“I watched on television as all the questions we had were expressed by this Senator and that Representative,” he said. “And I watched as Feinberg came out of that meeting saying, “You know, Realtors are a powerful political force in this country.”

But, Corcoran said, without love, words expressed are just a banging cymbal. Corcoran singled out Randy McKinney, who was present at Thursday’s meeting. McKinney, he said, gave an impassioned speech that brought home many of their concerns.

“He put heart to the figures that I had compiled,” he said. “He put a face to my statistics and that did more for our cause than anything else could have.”

And now, 15 months later, after being told they would not receive any compensation, Realtors’ compensation has grown from $17 million, to $25 million, to now over $70 million for Realtors along the Gulf Coast from Texas to Florida.

“This whole experience has done nothing but reinforce my belief that this is the greatest profession and the greatest group,”Corcoran said.

Association of Realtors members also heard from Rickey Matthews, chairman of the Coastal Recovery Commission of Alabama, an organization created by Riley to help businesses on the road to recovery after the oil spill.

“A lot of the problems we were having before were exposed by the oil spill,” he said. “There are a lot of reasons we live on the Coast, from fishing, to beautiful sunrises and sunsets to beach living, but far too often we allow disasters to define us. The lessons we learned from the oil spill were the same lessons we learned along the Mississippi Gulf Coast after Katrina. One of the biggest lessons we learned is that we have to work together to ensure, not only recovery but being prepared for anything that might happen in the future.”

Matthews was called by Riley to lead the efforts along the Alabama Gulf Coast because he had participated in similar efforts in Mississippi as a resident of Biloxi when Katrina hit the Coast in 2006.

Matthews show portions of video presentations created at various stages of recovery along the Gulf Coast following the oil spill.

“From disaster can come great opportunity,” he said. “We went from fragmented efforts of recovery to creating a cohesive plan to ongoing efforts of rebranding the Gulf to ensure the future.”

In other business at Thursday’s meeting, the Association of Realtors announced the following upcoming events:

• There will be an ARPAC auction from 5 to 8 p.m. Thursday, Aug. 18 at the BCAR building on Highway 90 in Robertsdale. Full barbecue dinner will be provided by The Shed with entertainment provided by The Leavin Brothers Band. Live and silent auction items will be available. Tickets are $15 per person.

• The Alabama Association of Realtors Annual Convention will be held Sept. 13-16 at Marriott’s Grand Hotel in Point Clear.

• There will be a broker/manager roundtable meeting at noon Thursday, Sept. 22 at the BCAR building in Robertsdale.

• The Baldwin County Association of Realtors and Affiliate Council will host a Health & Safety seminar from 9 a.m. to noon Tuesday, Oct. 11 at the BCAR building in Robertsdale.

• CRS course, E-Marketing Strategies with Mark Porter will be offered Thursday, Oct. 13 at the BCAR building in Robertsdale.