IHSA Announcements

July 21, 1998

Board Concludes Annual Review

BLOOMINGTON — The annual three-day summer review of Illinois High School Association (IHSA) operations was concluded by the Board of Directors Tuesday (July 21).

"This regular summer meeting allows our board and staff to discuss a wide range of subjects that impact all facets of IHSA," said Executive Director Dave Fry. "Again this year, there was a good exchange of ideas regarding our state series, school and student eligibility rules, the business aspect of IHSA, and a number of other subjects."

Board Action

The Board took the following action regarding the general business of the Association:
  1. Approved the Wedgebury Soccer Complex in Loves Park as site for the 1998 Class AA Boys Soccer State Final Tournament. The two-day event will be there Friday-Saturday, Nov. 6-7, 1998.
  2. Approved an interpretation that allows a county-wide two-day meet or tournament to be considered as one date for purposes of the sport season by-laws for those sports in which the by-laws provide for competition on dates. Such events would be counted the same as two-day conference meets or tournaments.
    The interpretation does not apply to sports with by-laws that provide for limitations in tournaments. Under the new interpretation, two-day county-wide meets or tournaments could be conducted in the following sports: boys and girls cross country, boys and girls golf, boys and girls gymnastics, boys and girls tennis, boys and girls track and field, girls badminton and girls bowling.
  3. Appointed tellers for the annual nomination and election of members of the Board of Directors and Legislative Commission, and the annual referendum. The election of members to the Board of Directors and Legislative Commission is in October, while the annual referendum process for changes in the IHSA Constitution and/or By-laws is conducted over a six-week period during November and December.
  4. Approved changes in the IHSA staff and responsibilities within the administrative level. For the 1998-99 school year, these will be the activity and major administrative assignments:

    Executive Director
     Dave Fry, Executive Director: oversee staff and operations, including designated personnel to administer the state series in scholastic bowl, music, speech and chess.

    State Series Administrative Assistants
     These new state series management positions were created by the Board of Directors to embellish the administration of the activities. Personnel assigned to the positions will have authority and responsibility to manage all aspects of the respective activity. Included among the duties, but not limited to them, are site selection and school assignment, assignment of state tournament personnel, assignment of state series officials and/or judges, Terms and Conditions applications, and other functions. All positions will be filled by the start of the school year. All will be compensated. Named administrative assistants in charge of the non-athletic state tournament series are:
    Speech Individual Events: Fred Vogt, Pekin (Community) High School
    Speech Drama/Group Interpretation: Fred Vogt, Pekin (Community) High School
    Speech Debate: Bob Neuleib, Normal (University) High School
    Music Solo/Ensemble: Dan Dietrich, Chillicothe (IVC) High School
    Music Organization: Dan Dietrich, Chillicothe (IVC) High School
    Chess: TBA
    Scholastic Bowl: TBA

    Other Administrative Assignments
     Don Robinson, Associate Executive Director: football, basketball, track, Athletic Administrator and Sports Medicine advisory committees, coop teams, foreign exchange eligibility and budget oversight.
    Marty Hickman, Asst. Executive Director: golf, soccer, wrestling, badminton, strategic planning and supervision of support staff specialists.
    Susan Hinrichsen, Asst. Executive Director: cross country, volleyball, gymnastics, bowling, equity issues and IHSA facilities.
    Mary Struckhoff, Asst. Executive Director: tennis, swimming, Officials Department [recruitment, training, assignment and evaluation].
    Jim Flynn, Asst. Executive Director: baseball, softball, media, promotions, merchandise, corporate partners, special events.

  5. Did not approve an appeal that the Cuba-Spoon River Valley football coop be eligible for the 1998-99 school year. The two schools have applied to form a football coop team for the 1998-99 and 1999-2000 school years. Cuba is a member of the Prairieland Conference and London Mills (Spoon River Valley) is a member of the Bi-County Conference. The Bi-County Conference did not give approval for the coop team for the 1998-99 school year, but did approve for the 1999-2000 school year. Cooperative Team By-law 2.030 provides that approval must be received from the conference(s) of the schools seeking to form the coop team.
  6. Ice Hockey: The Board denied a request by the Crystal Lake schools for a two-year waiver of the by-law requiring that member schools may only against other school teams. The hockey conference in which the Crystal Lake schools are members is losing several members. While the Board does not have authority to set aside the by-law, it did indicate a willingness to discuss ice hockey issues with the membership.
  7. Licensing of Officials: The Board approved revisions in the policy pertaining to licensing of persons with criminal convictions.

Discussion Items

At each meeting of the Board of Directors, there are certain agenda items which the Board discusses but upon which it takes no action. Following is a report of those on the July, 1998, agenda:
  1. Water Polo: The Board discussed a report of meetings conducted by the Executive Director with the Water Polo committee to examine the prospects for establishing a state series for boys and girls in the sport.
  2. Volunteer Investigators: The Board discussed a review of the experience of the 11-person group during the past year, and plans to conduct additional training in the fall.
  3. Strategic Planning: The Board discussed a status report of Strategic Planning, past and future.
  4. Officials Fees: The Board discussed an overall concept of establishing and maintaining officials fees for state series contests. The concept creates a standard for all sports in which IHSA licenses athletic officials.
  5. IHSA Centennial Plans: The year 2000 will be the centennial year of IHSA. The Board discussed a number of preliminary ideas to promote it.
  6. Ticket Pricing: The Board discussed a number of ideas regarding ticket pricing as a means to fund future projects and operating expenses.
  7. High School Hall of Fame: The Board received a report of progress being made regarding the establishment of the Illinois High School Athletic Hall of Fame in Princeton. The Board held preliminary discussions regarding the impact of it for member schools and the IHSA Office.