INDIANAPOLIS, IN — Seven individuals who have made outstanding contributions to interscholastic athletics have been named recipients of the 2009 Distinguished Service Awards given by the National Interscholastic Athletic Administrators Association (NIAAA).
These individuals will be honored December 15 in Dallas, Texas, during the banquet at the 40th annual National Athletic Directors Conference conducted jointly by the National Federation of State High School Associations (NFHS) and the NIAAA.
The Distinguished Service Award is presented annually to individuals from within the NIAAA membership in recognition of their length of service, special accomplishments and contributions to
interscholastic athletics at the local, state and national levels. Nominations are submitted by state athletic director associations, screened by the NIAAA Awards Committee, and selected by the NIAAA Board of Directors.
This year’s winners include Maurice “Bud” Campbell, retired athletic director, Murray (Utah) High School; Barbara Deichl, CAA, retired athletic director, Waterford (Wisconsin) Union High School; Dennis Fries, CAA, retired district athletic director, West Irondequoit (New York) Central School District; Paige Hershey, CMAA, director of athletics, Spring Branch Independent School District, Houston, Texas; Mike Maghan, CMAA, athletic director/assistant principal, McNary High School, Keizer, Oregon; Michael Purdy, CAA, executive director, Nebraska State Interscholastic Athletic Administrators Association; and Bill Schumacher, CMAA, athletic director, Richfield (Ohio) Revere High School.
Following are the biographical sketches of this year’s award winners:
Maurice “Bud” Campbell, former athletic director at Murray (Utah) High School, is now retired after an outstanding 28-year career as an athletic administrator. Prior to entering athletic
administration, Campbell coached football, basketball and baseball and was selected Baseball Coach of the Year in 1967, 1968 and 1971.
Campbell was a huge contributor to the Utah Interscholastic Athletic Administrators Association (UIAAA), serving as chair of the UIAAA Publications Committee and the UIAAA Board of Directors. He was UIAAA president in 2007-08 and past president in 2008-09.
Campbell has received numerous awards from the UIAAA, including Athletic Director of the Year in 1997, and induction into the UIAAA Hall of Fame in 2001. Currently, Campbell continues his work as president of the UIAAA Retired Athletic Directors Association, which he has done for eight years.
Campbell was active in providing athletic opportunities to the community and organized numerous camps and clinics to reach kids. He has hosted basketball camps in conjunction with the National
Basketball Association, and was the director and host of the Utah Junior Jazz Clinic for six years. Many of the camps helped support the Murray athletic budget.
Campbell also was involved in numerous civic activities, including the Boy Scouts of America (B.S.A.), where he has served as a scoutmaster for 34 years. He has served on the B.S.A. Council Executive Board and Council Leadership Board. He received the Silver Beaver Award and the district Award of Merit.
Barbara Deichl, CAA, retired as athletic director at Waterford (Wisconsin) Union High School this past June after 17 years in the position. She was a teacher for 30 years at Union High School and served as the head volleyball coach for 19 years, the girls basketball coach for 10 years and the head track and field coach for two years.
Three of Deichl’s volleyball teams qualified for the Wisconsin Interscholastic Athletic Association (WIAA) state championship. As an assistant basketball coach in 1985, Deichl helped Waterford Union win the WIAA state championship.
While athletic director at Waterford, Deichl wrote a “Coaches Handbook,” established three additional varsity sports, and started a Three-W Award for three-sport varsity athletes.
Deichl has been active in many professional organizations. She served on the Wisconsin Athletic Directors Association (WADA) Board of Directors for 12 years, and was one of four regional mentor coordinators for southeast Wisconsin. She was the first woman to serve as president of the WADA in 2002, and was a member of the first WADA Strategic Plan Committee.
Deichl has served on the WIAA Volleyball Coaches Advisory Board and the WIAA Sports Advisory Board, where she was chairperson for two years. She was tournament manager for numerous WIAA regional and sectional tournaments, including sectionals in gymnastics, track, wrestling and golf.
Diechl, who earned her bachelor’s degree from the University of Wisconsin, Stevens Point, and her master’s from the University of Wisconsin, Whitewater, has served on the NIAAA Credentials Committee and has been NIAAA liaison for Wisconsin five years. She has attended 10 national conferences and has served on the NIAAA Delegate Assembly five times.
Dennis Fries, CAA, who earned master’s degrees in both education and educational administration from Brockport (New York) State College, retired in 2006 after 39 years as a teacher, coach and administrator in the West Irondequoit Central School District in New York.
From 1984 to 2006, Fries was district director of physical education and athletics in West Irondequoit. After his first two years with the district, Fries was promoted to assistant athletic director, a position he held for 15 years before becoming district director.
Fries has taught workshops at state and national athletic administrators conferences regarding Internet surfing, computer office program management and personal data assistant use.
At the state level, Fries served as president of the New York State
Athletic Administrators Association (NYSAAA) in 1996-97, and has
been the organization’s treasurer since 1998. From 1987 to 1996,
Fries was the Section V representative to the NYSAAA, and he was
president of the NYSAAA’s Chapter 5 from 1989 to 1991. In 1992,
Fries was named Section V Athletic Administrator of the Year, and a
year later, he received the Section V Distinguished Service Award.
In recognition of his achievements in athletic administration, Fries
received the New York State Director of Physical Education of the
Year award in 1998.
Fries has served as the executive director since 1997 and as
treasurer since 1989 of Operation Offense, Inc., a national,
award-winning drug and alcohol prevention program for scholastic
athletes. He served on the NIAAA Board of Directors from 2002 to
2006, culminating with a one-year term as president. He served six
years on the NIAAA Publications Committee from 1997 to 2003 and was
selected to the Finance Committee of the third NIAAA Strategic Plan
in 2009. Since 2004, Fries has been co-director of the Section 1
NIAAA Summer LTC Institute.
Among his other awards, Fries received the NIAAA State Award of
Merit in 2000 and the NFHS Citation in 2003.
Paige Hershey, CMAA, has served the Spring Branch Independent School
District in Houston, Texas since 1984. She was a highly successful
girls basketball coach for 14 years at Spring Woods High School, and
also coached softball, cross country and volleyball.
In 2001, Hershey was appointed director of athletics for the Spring
Branch Independent School District. She oversees athletic programs
for seven middle schools, as well as high school volleyball,
basketball and softball. She handles staff development for 200
coaches and is responsible for hiring all new coaches.
Since 2007, Hershey has served as site director and chair of the
planning committee for the Texas Girls’ Coaches
Association-University Interscholastic League (UIL) Houston Team
Sports Clinic. She also has been tournament director for UIL
regional volleyball and basketball tournaments for eight years.
Hershey has been involved with athletic administration on the state
level for many years. In 2003, she served on the registration
committee at the Texas High School Athletic Directors Association
state conference, and in 2006, she worked on the state conference’s
planning committee. As a state faculty member for Leadership
Training Courses since 2006, Hershey has also contributed her
talents by educating other athletic directors.
Hershey has continued her dedication to interscholastic athletics
through her involvement with the NIAAA. She served on the NIAAA
Publications Committee for four years, and is currently vice chair
of Leadership Training Course 511. She is a member of the Leadership
Training National Faculty and has had several articles published in
Interscholastic Athletic Administration magazine.
After a highly successful 14-year coaching career, Mike Maghan,
CMAA, has become one of Oregon’s top high school athletic directors
and is a state and national leader in the promotion of coaches
education.
Since 1995, Maghan has served as assistant principal/athletic
director at McNary High School in Keizer, Oregon, after six years in
a similar position at Dallas (Oregon) High School. He started his
career as a teacher, coach and athletic director for four years at
Sacred Heart Academy in Salem and 10 years in a similar position at
Gervais Union High School. Overall, he has been a high school
athletic director for 31 years.
During his coaching career, Maghan led the girls basketball and
girls softball teams to Oregon state championships. He has named
1987 Oregonian A/AA Coach of the Year and he was chosen 1988 Girls
Basketball Coach of the Year by the Oregon High School Coaches
Association.
Maghan, past president of the Oregon Athletic Directors Association,
has tirelessly promoted and supported coaches education in Oregon.
He is responsible for the certification of more than 4,000 coaches
and 300 leadership trainers throughout the state, and he was also
instrumental in securing $50,000 in funding from the Oregon
Legislature to help with funding of coach education programs.
Maghan, former chair of the NFHS Coach Education Committee, is also
leading efforts with the NFHS Coach Education program in Oregon
through coordinated instructor training and course scheduling for
the entire state. He was instrumental in the development of the NFHS
Fundamentals of Coaching Instructor Guide.
In addition to his coaching awards, Maghan was selected Oregon
Athletic Director of the Year in 2004 and, in 2005, he received the
NIAAA State Award of Merit. Earlier this year, he was the recipient
of the NFHS Coach Educator Award. Maghan earned his bachelor’s
degree from Oregon State University and his master’s from Oregon
College of Education.
After an outstanding 17-year career as activities director at
Bellevue (Nebraska) East High School, Michael Purdy, CAA, has served
as executive director of the Nebraska State Interscholastic Athletic
Administrators Association (NSIAAA) since 2004.
Purdy began his career as a teacher in 1974 at Bellevue (Nebraska)
Logan Fontelle Junior High School. He later served as dean of
students, athletic director and assistant principal. Purdy, who
received his bachelor’s degree from Emporia (Kansas) State
University and his master’s from the University of Nebraska, is
active in the Bellevue community and received the Champions of
Children Award in honor of his contributions.
Among his achievements at the state level, Purdy serves on the
Nebraska School Activities Association’s (NSAA) Sportsmanship
Committee and as membership coordinator for the NSIAAA Board of
Directors from 1996 to 2001. He was NSIAAA president from 2002 to
2004, prior to assuming the position of executive director.
Purdy, who has been a member of the NIAAA for 20 years, hosted many
NSAA district contests at Bellevue East, served as tournament
director of the NSAA State Baseball Championship and has worked the
state track meet for 22 years. Purdy has been appointed to the
National Conference Advisory Committee and is a member of the
National Executive Directors Council.
Purdy’s dedication to interscholastic athletics at the local, state
and national levels has earned him many accolades. In 2002, Purdy
received the NIAAA State Award of Merit and, in 2005, he was honored
with the NSAA Distinguished Service Award.
Currently the athletic director at Richfield (Ohio) Revere High
School, Bill Schumacher, CMAA has many accomplishments during his
28-year career as an athletic administrator. While athletic director
at Beachwood (Ohio) High School, Schumacher made many improvements
to the school, including a new all-weather track, new bleachers, a
new weight room, new softball and soccer fields, and major
renovations to its two gyms.
In addition to his accomplishments at Beachwood and Revere,
Schumacher has dedicated much of his time to the Northeast Ohio
Interscholastic Athletic Administrators Association (NEOIAAA). He
has been a member of the NEOIAAA Executive Board since 1995 and has
chaired several committees. Schumacher has served on the Ohio High
School Athletic Association (OHSAA) Northeast District Athletic
Board since 1997.
Schumacher, who has received both his CAA and CMAA certifications,
was a member of the Ohio Interscholastic Athletic Administrators
Association (OIAAA) Executive Board from 1999 to 2007. From 1999 to
2000, he was president of the OHSAA Board of Control, and in 2003,
Schumacher served a two-year term as OIAAA president. Schumacher
also taught various Leadership Training Courses (LTC) at several
OIAAA conferences.
During his 18 years as an NIAAA member, Schumacher was a delegate to
the National Athletic Directors Conferences from 1999 to 2007 and
was a member of the LTC national faculty. For eight years, he was
the Ohio contact for the NIAAA National Emergency Network.
Schumacher, who earned his bachelor’s and master’s degrees from John
Carroll (Ohio) University, has received several well-deserved
awards, including the NEOIAAA Athletic Director of the Year in 2000,
the OIAAA Athletic Administrator of the Year in 2002, and the
NEOIAAA Award of Merit in 2003.
ABOUT THE NATIONAL INTERSCHOLASTIC ATHLETIC ADMINISTRATORS
ASSOCIATION (NIAAA): The NIAAA is the largest national organization
for high school athletic administrators with more than 7,000
individual members. The NIAAA consists of athletic director
organizations in the 50 states plus the District of Columbia and
provides an efficient system for exchange of ideas between the
National Federation of State High School Associations (NFHS) and
state athletic administrators organizations as well as individual
athletic administrators. The NIAAA, located in Indianapolis,
Indiana, strives to preserve the educational nature of
interscholastic athletics and the place of these programs in the
curricula of schools. The NIAAA is a full and equal partner with the
NFHS.
About the National Federation of State High School Associations
(NFHS) thee NFHS, based in Indianapolis, Indiana, is the national leadership
organization for high school sports and fine arts activities. Since
1920, the NFHS has led the development of education-based
interscholastic sports and fine arts activities that help students
succeed in their lives. The NFHS sets direction for the future by
building awareness and support, improving the participation
experience, establishing consistent standards and rules for
competition, and helping those who oversee high school sports and
activities. The NFHS writes playing rules for 17 sports for boys and
girls at the high school level. Through its 50 member state
associations and the District of Columbia, the NFHS reaches more
than 19,000 high schools and 11 million participants in high school
activity programs, including more than 7.5 million in high school
sports. As the recognized national authority on interscholastic
activity programs, the NFHS conducts national meetings; sanctions
interstate events; produces publications for high school coaches,
officials and athletic directors; sponsors professional
organizations for high school coaches, officials, spirit coaches,
speech and debate coaches and music adjudicators; and serves as a
national information resource of interscholastic athletics and
activities. For more information, visit the NFHS Web site at
www.nfhs.org.
