IHSA Announcements

September 14, 1998

Associate Executive Director Don Robinson To Retire


BLOOMINGTON — Associate Executive Director Donald K. Robinson informed the Illinois High School Association (IHSA) Board of Directors at its regular meeting Monday (Sept. 14) that he will retire effective July 1, 1999.

Robinson joined the IHSA administrative staff August 15, 1978. In July, 1991, he was named associate executive director. During a nearly 21-year career in the IHSA Office, the Warsaw, Illinois, native served as administrator in charge of football, basketball, wrestling , track and field and the Officials Department. He also has served as a rules interpreter in football, basketball and wrestling.

The Board authorized the Executive Director to begin the process to fill a position on the IHSA administrative staff. Information about the job description and the process may be obtained by contacting the Executive Director, IHSA Office, 2715 McGraw Dr., Bloomington, IL 61702-2715.

"In the 99 years of IHSA only 13 men have served on its administrative staff, and Don Robinson has carved a significant niche in the interscholastic activities program of our state," said Executive Director Dave Fry. "He has been a fair and impartial administrator of sports which capture much of the attention of the public eye. Basketball in our state is a huge sport and football under his leadership has become a model that many other states have emulated all or in part. His tenure on our staff accounts for one-fifth of IHSA's history. All of us in the IHSA Office are proud to have worked with him."

Robinson's career in education includes nine years as a teacher-coach. From 1963 to 1965, he was head football and wrestling coach, and assisted in track at Savanna. From 1965 to 1970, he was head football coach and assisted in track and golf at Ottawa (Marquette). For the next two years he was head football coach at Bradley-Bourbonnais. In 1972, Robinson became assistant director of student affairs at Bradley-Bourbonnais. He was named the school's director of student affairs in 1975.

He earned his bachelor's degree in education from Western Illinois University in 1963 and his master's in physical education from the University of Iowa in 1969. Immediately after graduating from Warsaw High School in 1956, he served until 1959 in the U.S. Army and was an instructor in computer electronics at Redstone Arsenal, Alabama.

Robinson was a Certified official in boys basketball and wrestling and also officiated football, track and baseball before he retired to Honorary status in the Officials Department in 1979. He first registered with the IHSA in 1961 and served as president and secretary of the Tri-Valley Officials Association.

He was a member of the board of control of the South Inter-Conference Association (SICA) from 1976-78, and served as SICA treasurer.

Robinson has been a member of the National Federation Football Rules Committee since 1979 and served on the National Federation Wrestling Rules Committee from 1988 to 1994. He was named chairman of the National Federation Wrestling Committee in 1990 and served through 1994.

Wrestling Terms and Conditions
Changes in the wrestling terms and conditions to comply with recent rules changes by the National Federation were approved by the Board. Among the changes are:
  1. Jan. 14 has been established as the weight certification date for all high school wrestlers in Illinois.
  2. Each wrestler shall be required to have at least half of his weigh-in during the entire season at the minimum weight he will wrestle during the state series.
  3. Wrestlers who do not compete in an interscholastic contest prior to Jan. 14 shall certify for state series competition on the date of their first match.
  4. If a wrestler's first contest is in the state series, the wrestler must wrestle at scratch weight.
  5. Third and fourth place matches in the regionals and sectionals will be six (6) minutes in length (2 minutes each period).
Eligibility Decisions
  1. Sustained the Executive Director's ruling that a student is ineligible for football this year at Streator (Twp.) for noncompliance with transfer by-law 3.042. The student was out for football at Ottawa (Marquette) and transferred to Streator (Twp.) two days after classes began without a move on the part of his parents.

  2. Sustained the Executive Director's ruling that a student is ineligible for the 1998-99 school term at Kankakee (McNamara) for noncompliance with transfer by-law 3.043. The student transferred from Bradley (B.-Bourbonnais) without a move on the part of his parents.

  3. Sustained the Executive Director's ruling that a student is ineligible at Rockford (Boylan) for noncompliance with the semesters of attendance by-law 3.051. The student attended Rockford (Guilford) for three years, transferred to Boylan for the 1997-98 school term, where he repeated his junior year. He is now in his fifth year of high school attendance.
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 September, 1998, agenda:

  • Sportsmanship Summit: The Board heard a status report of the upcoming two days of Sportsmanship Summit. The two-day, two-site summit will be held Monday, Sept. 28 at Northern Illinois University in Dekalb and Tuesday, Sept. 29 at Illinois State University in Normal. The daily schedule will run from 9:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. Registration will be from 8:00-9:00 each morning. As of Sept. 11, more than 300 reservations had been made for Sept. 28 and more than 250 for Sept. 29. It is anticipated more than 500 participants will be at each site. Opening session speaker will be Harvey Alston and luncheon speaker will be Merrily Dean Baker.

  • IHSA Annual Breakfast: The Board heard a report that former NFL Hall of Fame player and veteran college coach Bill Curry will be the guest speaker at the annual IHSA breakfast held in conjunction with the Illinois Principals Association annual meeting. The breakfast is scheduled for Tuesday, Oct. 20 at the Hotel Pere Marquette in Peoria. The breakfast begins at 8:00 a.m.

  • Strategic Planning: The Board received a general update of the process over the past year. Included in the update was a recap of the five strategies which have been addressed and the two still to be addressed. Those which have completed the action team process are: officials, non-school competition, equitable promotion, two-way communication and facilities. Those still remaining center on women and minorities, and educational and informational programs.