Feburary 9, 2009
The Illinois High School Association (IHSA) announced at its regularly scheduled Board of Directors meeting on Monday, February 9 that it will accept nominations for the third annual IHSA Distinguished Service Awards through April 15. The nominations will be reviewed in late April and the 12 winners will be honored at a banquet on June 15, 2009.
The Distinguished Service Award was originally developed at an IHSA Board of Directors Meeting on February 12, 2007. To be eligible, a nominee must have displayed exemplary service to the Association for a minimum of 10 years. Nominations are compiled by the IHSA staff and Board of Directors.
“This award is a great way to pay tribute to the folks around the state who go above and beyond to help serve the high school students in Illinois,” said IHSA Executive Director Marty Hickman, “This has been an outstanding program during the two first years and we look forward to honoring another exceptional group in 2009.”
The first two IHSA Distinguished Service Award winner classes are listed below:
2008 2007
John Bailey, Jr. Harry Bohn
Blaise Blasko Dick Deitz
Jerry Bretag Gene Drendel
Al Cornish Carol Floros
Geza Ehrentreu Kathy Krebs
John Elder Connie Link
Carol Koszola Madelynn Martino
James “Jimmie” Lewis, Jr. Haig Nighohossian
Joe Pedersen Rich Piatchek
John Polka Art Sievers
Phil Salzer Hank Sundeen
Jean Walker Mike Zacate
OTHER ACTION ITEMS
1. The Board approved the Advisory Committee recommendations and Consent Items for Boys/Girls Golf, Boys/Girls Tennis, Boys/Girls Volleyball and Sports Medicine. The approved recommendations are broken down by committee below:
Boys/Girls Golf
A. New “wave” foursome pairings will be used to assign foursomes during the State Series. No more than one player from a school will appear in a foursome with the intent of having groups with each schools #1 players, #2 players and #3 players, etc. grouped together.
B. Boys’ Class 1A will return to the team and individual Regional to Sectional advancement it used in 2007-08, with three teams and eight individuals advancing from each Regional. This will create larger Sectionals in Class 1A, but will not affect the number of team or individual qualifiers from sectionals to the state finals.
C. During state series play, atomic clocks will be placed strategically around courses to ensure a steady pace of play.
D. Add language “skirts or skorts designed for golf that are no more than five inches above the knee” to better clarify dress codes.
Boys/Girls Tennis
A. Eliminated Item VII-A-2-b to return to original scoring system that begins scoring in Round 1.
B. Added a provision to allow for apparel adjustments due to weather.
Boys/Girls Volleyball
A. Changes pre-match warm-up procedure to consist of 4-4-4-4 period allowing the visiting team and home team to rotate between a pair of four-minute warm up periods when they would have the whole court to themselves.
Sports Medicine
A. A survey will be developed to assess usage of performance-enhancing drugs among students at IHSA schools, as well as to gauge the current procedures used in IHSA testing.
B. The Board accepted the minutes of the Athletic Administrators Committee.
ELIGIBILITY HEARINGS
1. The Board sustained the Executive Director’s ruling on a student from Crete (C.-Monee). The student was originally ruled ineligible for non-compliance with IHSA By-law 3.042.
DISCUSSION ITEMS
At each meeting of the Board of Directors, there are certain items the Board discusses, but upon which no action is taken. The following is a report of those items from the February 9, 2009, agenda:
1. The Board heard a report on a special Principal’s Rules Meeting held at the IHSA office on January 21. The meeting was attended by four schools, bringing all member schools in compliance with By-law 2.130.
2. The Executive Director updated the Board on a special meeting of the Legislative Commission that took place on January 29. The Legislative Commission approved two items at their meeting that the membership will vote on.
3. The Executive Director updated the Board on the first meeting of the Student Advisory Committee (SAC), which met at the IHSA office on February 8.
4. The Executive Director updated the Board on a ceremony, which was attended by the Governor of Illinois, in Collinsville on February 6 that honored those who saved the life of IHSA official Gary Gustafson. Gustafson was refereeing a basketball game in Collinsville in January when he suffered a heart attack and was resuscitated by game personnel using a defibrillator.