Pearson was awarded the Department of Commerce's Gold Medal in 1974 for "...forecasting of severe local storms...which included the Super Outbreak of April 3–4, 1974".
The original high school was destroyed by an F5 tornado on April 3, 1974, during what was dubbed as the Super Outbreak, and was later rebuilt in the north of the city.
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As a weatherman, Whitney is best remembered for his timely warning on April 3, 1974 of a Category F5 tornado that went through Xenia, Ohio during the 1974 Super Outbreak.
Overall, the tornado outbreak resulted in 184 deaths, 6 of those non-tornadic, making it second only to the April 25–28, 2011 tornado outbreak as the deadliest since 1974, and the second costliest tornado outbreak in US history behind that same April 2011 outbreak, with insured damage estimated at $4–7 billion.