As the South Carolina Legislative Liaison for agricultural education, Earle launched a bill to fund renovations to the South Carolina FFA Leadership Center. He has been awarded SCAAE Outstanding Teacher five times since 1993, and has also been recognized as SCAAE Distinguished Teacher of the Year. The successes of his students are a credit to his outstanding work in the classroom – his FFA chapter earned the South Carolina FFA Governor's Citation, recognizing the Chapter as one of the top three in SC, sixteen times in the last 20 years. He has also had 14 students serve as one of six South Carolina State FFA Officers elected each year.
His lifetime dedication to education led to Earle being one of five teachers selected for the National Teacher’s Hall of Fame in Emporia, Kan. in 2011. He was only the second teacher from South Carolina, and the first agricultural educator to receive the honor. Earle was included in the book “American Teacher; Heroes in the Classroom” and gave the only agricultural educator’s perspective out of 50 teachers interviewed. This award is one more recognition of his life’s work as an educator and an advocate for agricultural education.
Each of the six regional Lifetime Achievement Award winners was recognized at the NAAE convention in New Orleans. Ford sponsors the Lifetime Achievement Award as a special project of the National FFA Foundation. NAAE is the professional association for agricultural educators. Its mission is “professionals providing agricultural education for the global community through visionary leadership, advocacy and service.” The NAAE office is located in Lexington, Ky.