As John Zupan prepared to graduate from Southern Oregon College in 1972, he figured he would take some time off to see the world and have a bit of fun, then probably take a teaching job that had been offered him in Philomath.

Instead, at spring break he met another student from SOC who changed his plans. Rather than teach school, he would stay in the Rogue Valley and go into real estate with his father. That other student, Marilyn Tunnicliffe, would become his wife and 33 years later, the change in plans seems to have worked out just fine.

Friday, Zupan was named Realtor of the Year by the Rogue Valley Association of Realtors, winning the top real-estate honor for the second time in his career. Zupan is the designated broker with Windermere Van Vleet and Associates, where he remains partners with his father, Leo.

Zupan remembers making after-college plans to travel abroad and maybe take an extended ski vacation with some friends. Instead, within three years of graduating, he was the youngest real estate broker in the state of Oregon.

He went into the business with his father, who switched from a traveling sales job to real estate in 1963 in order to spend more time with his growing family. In 1965, Leo Zupan became partners in the real estate company and in 1974 he and John purchased the Ashland-based company from Bob Van Vleet and Louise Myers.

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Windermere Van Vleet now has offices in Ashland and in Medford, where the main office just recently was doubled in size as the company works to stay up with the still-hot real estate market.

The nature of the market in the Rogue Valley makes involvement in the Realtors organization critical, Zupan said.

"The industry has changed so much — and keeps changing — that’s why I got involved (in the association)," he said. "It helps you stay out front so you can see what’s coming. It’s not so scary that way."

This is Zupan’s second Realtor of the Year award. He won the honor from the Medford Board of Realtors in 1985, before the Medford and Ashland boards merged. He is the current president of the local Realtors’ association and was also president in 1980. He was the Southern Oregon Multiple Listing Service president in 1997 and has been involved with Oregon Association of Realtors as a board member and a member of the Executive Committee.

He also has worked on the public policy side of real estate as chairman of the Legal Action Committee, a member of the Strategic Planning and Land Use Committees and as a trustee for the Oregon Realtors’ Political Action Committee. He was recently awarded the 2004 Oregon Association of Realtors’ Distinguished Service Award.

He and his wife have two children, Chelsea, 29, and Devin, 22.