June 25, 2009
Twleve individuals with a long history of service to the Illinois High School Association were honored June 15 at the 3rd Annual IHSA Distinguished Service Award ceremony, held at the Holiday Inn and Suites Airport 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.
Mike Biggs
Since 1992, Mike has served as the Girls Basketball State Final Volunteer Coordinator. During that time, he has worked with over 5,000 coaches, players, administrators and cheerleaders to guide them through their memorable trip to the Girls Basketball State Finals at Redbird Arena on the Illinois State University campus. He organizes and meets with the team hosts as well as the other volunteer coordinators months before the tournament begins. Mike has also volunteered his time to work the at the Girls Volleyball and Competitive Cheerleading State Finals and at the Boys Basketball Super-Sectional.
Mike has given exemplary service to the IHSA as well as to its member schools, coaches, players and fans throughout the girls basketball community.
Leanna Bordner
One of Leanna's first assignments when she came to ISU Athletics was to serve as the state final manager of the IHSA Girls Volleyball State Final. She also served as the state final manager of the IHSA Girls Basketball State Final. Her organizational, leadership and other skills have been instrumental in conducting first class tournaments at Illinois State University. Leanna has been instrumental in supporting the mission of the IHSA and has provided unparalleled experiences for our student-athletes.
She serves on the senior management team in the athletic department. She is the Senior Women's Administrator and supervises twelve sports in addition to the day-to-day operations for two other sports. She is the department liaison to the Missouri Valley Conference office, a member of the Officiating, Marketing and Conference Relations Committee, Chairs the Women's Basketball Marketing Committee. She also serves on the Athletic Council Gender Equity Committee and the Homecoming Steering Committee.
In the community, Leanna serves on the Red Cross Board, the McLean County Chamber Board and is a member of the Bloomington Kiwanis.
Anthony Clarke
Anthony has served the IHSA in many capacities. He began officiating wrestling in 1984 and achieved the rank of Certified Official in 1991. He has also served as a Wrestling Rules Interpreter and a Wrestling Clinician. In addition, he was a member of the IHSA Wrestling Advisory Committee. Anthony has served as the Wrestling Assignment Chairperson for the Mid-Suburban and West Suburban Conferences since 2000. For the last four years, he has served as a volunteer wrestling coach at Carmel Catholic High School in Mundelein.
He has worked 22 Wrestling Regionals, 18 Sectionals and 16 State Finals (3 Dual Team and 15 Individual). He served as the Head Official for the Dual Team State Tournament in 2003 and 2009 and as the Head Official for the Individual State Tournament in 2005 and 2008. Anthony received the NFOA State Service Award for Wrestling in 2000 and the IWCOA Official of the Year in Wrestling in 1996. He was inducted into the Illinois Wrestling Coaches Official Association Hall of Fame in 2005.
Dan Dietrich
A career educator, Dan has been a teacher in Bement and Chillicothe. Dan holds a Bachelor's and Master's Degree in Music Education. He has been in his current position at Illinois Valley Central High School since 1980. The IVC Band is well known around the state for its numerous appearances at state and national events. They have been Class State Champions from 1990-95 and in 1998, 1999, 2002, 2003, 2004 and 2006. The IVC Pep Band has been selected three times to perform at the IHSA Boys Basketball State Tournament. The Jazz group has placed in their class and produced several All State Musicians over the years, many of whom have gone on to professional careers.
Dan served on the IHSA Music Advisory Committee for two terms and was the IHSA Assistant to the Director in charge of Music until that position was eliminated. In 1999, School Band and Orchestra Magazine named Dan one of its "50 Directors that Make a Difference." He was awarded the Friend of Youth Award by the Chillicothe Optimists in 2003 and received the National Federation Outstanding Educator of the Year Award in 2006. In 2007, he received the Illinois Music Educator's Association Distinguished Service Award and the National Federation's Music Educator of the Year for the Midwest.
Bob Dollaske
Bob spent his entire thirty-five year career at Maine East High School as an English teacher, soccer coach and Director of Athletics. His 1975 team finished as runners-up in the IHSA Boys Soccer State Final. He also served as the first president of the Illinois High School Soccer Coaches Association which was established in 1971.
For thirty-eight years, Bob has served on the press box crew for Boys Soccer. He also served as the TV color commentator for both boys and girls soccer state finals for several years. Bob has been the recipient of the IHSSCA Coach of the Year, Man of the Year and was inducted into the IHSSCA Hall of Fame. He was a member of the IHSA Soccer Advisory Committee, the Board of Directors of the National Soccer Coaches Association of American and received the NSCAA National Coach of the Year award in 1975 and the Robert W. Robinson Award in 2005, the highest honor for a high school coach given by the NSCAA.
Win Eggers
Win has been an IHSA Licensed Official since 1997. She has served as a volunteer at both the Boys and Girls Sectional and State Final meets for the last 23 years. In addition, she served as an assistant coach at Downers Grove North High School for nineteen years. She officiated at the Special Olympics Regionals for six years and at the World Special Olympics for two years.
She received the U.S. Women's Track Coaches Association Service Award in 2000, the National Federation Track and Field Official for Illinois Award in 2000. In addition she has received the following USATF Awards: John R. Davis Humanitarian in 2002, Officials Chair award in 2005 and, President's Award in 2005.
Paul Herzog
Since 1996, Paul has been "the voice" of the IHSA Boys Basketball Tournament at Carver Arena. During that time, he has also served as the announcer of the IHSA's Boys Basketball Happening bringing the same passion and professionalism to those events as he does tournament games. For five years, he served as the Master of Ceremonies for the Boys Basketball Championship Tip-Off Banquet. Paul also serves on the March Madness Steering Committee. He also designed and implemented the game-by-game timeline which integrates pep band, video board, sponsorship commercials, public service announcements, half-time programs and game flow during the Boys Basketball State Final.
In addition to his many years serving as the announcer for the boys basketball tournament, Paul served as the Master of Ceremonies for the Cross Country State Final Awards Ceremonies for ten years.
Chuck Kessler
During his thirty-four year tenure at Maine East High School, Chuck taught English and also coached freshman and sophomore soccer. He has served as an announcer at the Boys Soccer State Final since the tournament's inception and only missed one year (1975 when he coached the Maine East team to a second place finish).
Chuck has also provided historical soccer tournament information as well as the statistical data that is available on the IHSA web site. To ensure consistency, he volunteered his time and expertise to the new bench official crews.
Debi Neff
Debi has served the IHSA in many capacities during her career. She has been a teacher, coach, athletic director and official. She coached basketball, volleyball and track at Northwestern High School. For the past fourteen years, she has been teaching and coaching at East Peoria High School where she serves as Lead Teacher for Health, Driver Education and Physical Education. She celebrated her 300th victory in softball and in 2007 received the Illinois Coaches Association coach of the year award.
For twenty-five years, Debi has been a licensed volleyball official, working five state finals, and serving as a rules interpreter since 1996. She received the National Federation Official of the year award in 1996 and 2003.
For the past eight years, she has served as the IHSA Girls Softball State Final Tournament Director and as a member of the Girls Softball Advisory Committee. In addition, she has served the IHSA as a scorer at the Boys Golf State Final, an Announcer at the Boys Volleyball State Final, an Assistant Announcer at the Boys and Girls Track and Field State Finals, a Presenter at the IHSA Officials Conference and a Train the Trainer for the Certified Clinician program.
Chris Perry
Chris began his teaching and coaching career at Woodruff High School in January of 1978. During his career, he coached Cross Country, Boys Soccer and Boys Track and Field. He served as the Dean of Students at Peoria High School beginning in 1987 and in 1992, added the duties of Activities Director. At that time, he took over the job of Manager of the IHSA Boys and Girls Cross Country State Final.
He has served the IHSA by being a member of the Boys/Girls Cross Country Advisory Committee, the All-State Academic Selection Committee the Steering Committee for March Madness. He has been a Certified Track and Field Official since 2003 and has served as a Starter, Assistant Starter or Referee at nearly sixty cross country and track and field sectionals. He has also served as a member of the officials crew at the Boys Track and Field State Final for over thirty years.
Gary Slettum
Gary began working the IHSA Boys Soccer State Final in 1978 during his student teaching experience at Maine East High School. He has served as a statistician and press box liaison. He taught middle school physical education and coached soccer and baseball at Waukegan East and Waukegan West High Schools. In the early eighties, he transitioned to a business career where he has served as a Human Resources Executive in the metro Chicago area.
For over thirty-one years, Gary has retained his passion for high school soccer and has continuously volunteered his services at the IHSA Boys Soccer State Final.
Marty Woerter
Marty taught English at Westchester High School for three years and then at Maine East High School from 1969-2002. He served as an assistant boys soccer coach for twenty-three years. He was also a licensed official in soccer at the high school level.
Since 1972, Marty has served as an announcer at the Boys Soccer State Final. He helped create the standard which the Class 1A Boys Soccer and the Class 1-3A Girls Soccer bench crews follow. He has been instrumental in providing historical data and statistics to the IHSA web site. When the new bench crews were formed for the boys and girls tournaments, he volunteered his time to ensure there was consistency in the way statistics were recorded.