June 11, 2007
Twleve individuals with a long history of service to the Illinois High School Association will be honored tonight (June 11) at the inaugural IHSA Distinguished Service Award ceremony, held at the Chateau in Bloomington.
"The Distinguished Service Award winners are the embodiment of the can-do spirit of high school sports and activities," said Executive Director Marty Hickman. "In every case, they have been given a task and then taken it far above and beyond the job description. For their lasting commitment to IHSA sports and activities, we are happy to have the opportunity to honor each of them with this award."
The award winners are:
Brief biographies of the award winners follow.
Harry Bohn
Harry started his career as an IHSA official in 1967 with baseball and basketball and holds a certified rating in both sports, highlighted by serving as a basketball state final official for three years (1983-85). He has been Head Basketball Clinician for seven years, a basketball rules interpreter for 25 years, a member of the Officials Conference Committee for eight years, and has served as the Coordinator of Officials for the IHSA basketball state finals for both the boys tournament (seven years) and the girls (six). In 1999, Harry was inducted into the Illinois Basketball Coaches Association Hall of Fame and in 2007 he was named NFOA Official of the Year in boys basketball.
Dick Deitz
Dick has been an IHSA official for 50 years and is certified in four sports: basketball, football, baseball, and softball. He officiated the Boys Basketball State Finals in 1972, 1973, 1974, and 1996, highlighted by Class AA title games assignments in 1974 and 1996. Dick has also served as Head Official for the IHSA Football Playoffs. Off the court, he has remained involved with the IHSA as a rules interpreter in basketball and baseball since 1976 and as a clinician in basketball and football. Dick was inducted into the Illinois Basketball Coaches Hall of Fame in 1998 and was selected as the Football Official of the Year from Illinois in 2000.
Gene Drendel
Gene has worked at every IHSA Individual Wrestling State Tournament since 1972, serving as a bench official for 15 years and the public address announcer for the last 20. He has also served as the announcer at Naperville school district wrestling meets for over 20 years and at area track meets since the early 1980s. He is a former teacher, principal, and Associate Superintendent of Secondary Education for Naperville Community School Unit District 203. Although he retired in 1994, he remains active as an instructor in teacher education at North Central College.
Carol Floros
Carol and her schools (Streamwood, Jacobs, Plainfield, and Plainfield South) have served as the hosts for the IHSA Girls Bowling State Tournament for the past 14 years. During that time, Carol has helped chart the tournament's course by developing relationships with bowling proprietors, coaches, and organizations. She has also served as public address announcer at the IHSA Girls Volleyball State Final, a judge for the Girls Basketball Happening and the Girls Softball Hitting Derby, and a track official. Through the years, Carol has also served on numerous IHSA ad hoc, advisory, and strategic planning committees.
Kathy Krebs
Involved with girls gymnastics as both coach and administrator at Rich Central and Rich East, Kathy has made 27 state final appearances as an official, including eight as Meet Referee. She is an IHSA certified clinician and rules interpreter in girls gymnastics and served as a commentator for the IHSA Girls Gymnastics State Final telecasts from 1977-81. Kathy has also made contributions on the national level. She has served on the National Federation Girls Gymnastics Rules Committee and will chair the committee beginning with the 2007-08 school term. Kathy was inducted into the Illinois High School Gymnastics Coaches Association Hall of Fame in 1998.
Connie Link
Connie has been an educator, director and coach in Illinois for over 35 years. She developed a successful speech program at Heyworth High School and at one time had over half of the student body involved in either speech or drama. She is the state final manager for the IHSA Individual Events Tournament and has also hosted many regional, sectional, and state final speech events. While serving on the IHSA Speech Advisory Committee, Connie works annually with the IHSA staff to review the Terms and Conditions. In 2005, Connie received the National Federation Coach of the Year Award for Speech, Drama, and Debate.
Madelynn Martino
A longtime coach at Lane Tech, Madelynn was a pioneer of Illinois girls sports. In the 1970s, she made speeches in support of competition for girls to the IHSA, the Chicago Board of Education, and the state legislature. She was also a dedicated official, licensed for over 30 years in track, swimming, softball, and volleyball. In swimming and diving, she officiated 25 state final meets. She also served for 27 years as Head Umpire at the Girls Track and Field State Meet, where she was recognized as Honorary Referee in 2003. She worked the Goodwill Games, Prairie State Games, and NCAA indoor track championships, and among many honors, she received an Illinois Path Finder Award in 2004 from the American Alliance for Health, Physical Education, and Dance. Madelynn passed away on May 30 and her loss is felt deeply by the entire IHSA community.
Haig Nighohossian
Haig was a wrestling coach for eight years at East St. Louis before he set out to start soccer programs at Granite City and Belleville Althoff High Schools. When IHSA adopted boys soccer in the 1970s, he became an IHSA rules interpreter and later added head clinician to his duties. He has also served on the IHSA Officials and Soccer Advisory Committees. As an official, he's worked state finals in boys soccer (15 times), girls soccer (7), and wrestling (12). At the national level, Haig is a certified “Train the Trainer” instructor with NFHS accreditation and is a member of the NFHS soccer rules committee. Haig is the recipient of three NFIOA Service Awards for soccer officiating.
Rich Piatchek
As an Athletic Director at Andrew and Hillcrest High Schools, Rich has hosted various IHSA state series events. He has served on the state final bench crew in football for 15 years and baseball for 27 years. In addition, he has served as the coordinator for the IHSA Happening in boys basketball for 16 years. He was the President of the Illinois Athletic Directors Association in 2005-06, later serving as liaison to the IHSA Board of Directors. Rich also served as a member of the IHSA Athletic Administrators Advisory Committee. He received the Division 3 Athletic Director of the Year award in 2005 and was recently awarded the NFHS Spirit Citation for his active involvement in competitive cheerleading in the state.
Art Sievers
Art has served the IHSA in many capacities over the last 35 years. He has been the Media Coordinator for every state championship event held at Illinois State University, starting with the first soccer state finals in 1972 and including football, girls basketball, girls volleyball, and competitive cheerleading. Recently he has also performed those duties for the football championship games at the University of Illinois. Art has served as a table official at the Individual Wrestling State Tournament and since 1977, he has taken on multiple duties at the Boys and Girls Track and Field Meets. He has also provided many photographs for the basketball and track and field state final programs.
Hank Sundeen
For 30 years, Hank has shared his time and talents at numerous IHSA state championship events. He has served as the Press Conference Coordinator at boys and girls basketball as well as the Media Coordinator at the baseball and track and field state finals. He has also served as the IHSA Web site updater for many of the tournaments where he's worked. Hank has also enlisted his son and three grandchildren to assist with the media at various IHSA tournaments. As a freelance reporter for the Rock Island Argus and Moline Dispatch, Hank often wrote program notes for the IHSA state finals for teams he covered in the Quad Cities area. He is closing in on a 30-year career as a Supervisor of Logistics with the Department of the Army at the Rock Island Arsenal.
Michael E. (Fernandez) Zacate
Mike was instrumental in the establishment of the IHSA Chess State Tournament. As an instructor and chess coach at Evergreen Park High School in 1968, he sought IHSA guidance in how to start a statewide chess championship. Organizing the tournament himself for many years, Mike finally persuaded the IHSA to take over the event in 1975. Ever since, Mike has served as chairman of the IHSA Chess Advisory Committee and as Tournament Director, and he was instrumental in writing the Chess Terms and Conditions and IHSA Chess Rule Book. Now retired from teaching and coaching, he retains his IHSA duties and shows no signs of slowing down.