News

The Board of Directors of the Indiana High School Athletic Association, Inc. approved 17 proposals and defeated two others during its annual review of the Association’s by-laws on Monday.

Most significant among the items for Board action were:

• Approved 18-0 to reformat the boys and girls soccer state tournaments into two classes based on school enrollment beginning with the fall of 2011. Both sports have been of a single class structure since the Association began sponsoring the sport in 1994. Plans for the new tournaments will be announced in the spring of 2011 following the next classification realignment. 

• Approved by unanimous vote to re-classify schools every two years beginning in 2011-12 in the sports of baseball, basketball, softball, volleyball and now soccer. It was believed that more frequent re-classifications were needed to account for the fluctuating enrollments of many schools across the state. Since 2003-04, the classified team sports had been on a four-year cycle. Football is already classified every two seasons.

• A proposal that would have restricted transfer students when their school closes was unanimously defeated by the Board. However, the current conditions of Rule 19-6.3 remain in effect allowing a student whose school closes to enroll at the public school or private school serving the district in which they reside. 

• Also, the group approved requiring the head coach in each sport to attend the annual rules interpretation meetings in his or her sport either in person or via an on-line meeting. With the advent of on-line rules meetings, it was determined that it was reasonable to require the head coach to attend whereas a minimum of one member of each coaching staff was required to attend previously.

• The elections for next year’s leadership of the Board and Executive Committee also were held. Castle Principal Phillip DeLong was voted Board President for 2010-11 and North Knox Principal Tim Grove was selected as Vice President. Geoff Penrod, Columbia City Athletic Director, was named Chairman of the 2010-11 Executive Committee and Mike Whitten, Boonville Principal, was confirmed as Vice Chairman. 

Following the Board meeting, the IHSAA Executive Committee conducted its monthly meeting.

Girls gymnastics, which is reviewed annually given that less than 25% of the membership participates in the sport, was approved by all to continue sponsorship.

The host site of the girls basketball state finals for 2011 was also discussed. With no Indianapolis venue scheduled to be available again next season, the Committee agreed to request bids from interested parties with a site selection to be announced this summer. In February, the state finals were held at the Allen County War Memorial Coliseum in Fort Wayne.

The Board of Directors, comprised of 19 seats, has four options on each proposal: affirm, deny, table or amend. A simple majority is necessary to act on any measure. All items passed during the meeting go into effect July 1, 2010. A copy of the agenda used by the Board is available in PDF from the IHSAA website. A copy of the current by-laws also is available in PDF. All proposals are considered in the order that the affected rule appears within the current by-laws.

About the Board of Directors
The IHSAA is governed by its legislative body, the Board of Directors. Composed of 19 individuals elected by member school principals from three legislative districts, they serve staggered three-year terms. Twelve board seats are filled by any qualified individual (open seats), and seven board seats are filled by two qualified female representatives, two qualified minority representatives, two qualified urban school representatives and one qualified private school representative. The Board of Directors meets annually with the responsibility of establishing the Association’s By-Laws and regulations.

NEWS & NOTES FROM AROUND THE STATE

Have an interesting note? A conference or school record, coaching milestone or something else of interest? Please e-mail IHSAA Sports Information Director Jason Wille at jwille@ihsaa.org for consideration.

Five Indiana sports journalism legends were inducted into the Indiana Sportswriters & Sportscasters Association Hall of Fame on Saturday, April 17. The 15th Hall of Fame class included Jerry Birge of WITZ-Jasper, WTVW-Evansville and the Jasper Herald; Paul Condry of Regional Radio Sports Network; Walt Ferber of WITZ-Jasper; Lynn Houser of the Bloomington Herald-Times and; Jack Lorri of the University of Notre Dame. The ISSA also has annually honored Indiana sports journalists since 1946. The following award winners were also recognized: Dan Egierski, WYFX-Evansville (Marv Bates Indiana Sportscaster of the Year); Doug Zaleski, Muncie Star-Press (Corky Lamm Indiana Sportswriter of the Year); Jim McGrath, Butler University (Bob Williams Helping Hand Award) and; Henry Rosenthal, WASK/WLFI-Lafayette (Lifetime Service Award).

The Indiana Football Coaches Association and Region 7 recently announced its 2010 Hall of Fame Class. The list set to be inducted includes Bart Burrell (Carmel High School and Purdue University), Mark Herrmann (Carmel High School and Purdue University), Dr. Art Rettig (Methodist Sports Medicine, North Central High School and the Indianapolis Colts), Ken Leffler (Deceased Head Football Coach, Scecina High School), George McGinnis (Indianapolis Washington High School), Dwight Wallace (Head Football Coach, Ball State University) and Blake Ress (IHSAA Commissioner). The induction will take place June 17 at Primo's South with social hour at 6:00 pm ET, dinner at 6:30 pm, and ceremonies at 7:15 pm. The cost for the banquet is $35.00 per person or a table of eight is $300.00. Contact Paul Loggan at 317-259-5359 for more information.

The 2010 HickoryHusker.com Player of the Year Award has been awarded to Oak Hill High School senior Courtney Moses.  The George K. Evans Award is presented each year by HickoryHusker.com to the senior basketball player in Indiana whose citizenship, skill, competitiveness, and dedication to the game have helped make them a shining example of what Indiana high school basketball best exemplifies. For the season, the Purdue-bound Moses averaged a state best 31.7 points, tallied 761 points her senior year and finished her career with 1956. Her four year run at Oak Hill resulted in an astounding 97-9 record and two State Runner-up finishes.  Moses is the second female to win the award in its sixteen year history.

Peru High School brothers Travis, Taylor and Terry Smith finished 1-2-3, respectively, in the recent Peru Boys Golf Invitational. Ironically, they finished in reverse order of their ages with sophomore Travis, the youngest of the three winning by six strokes thanks to a career-best 68. He sank five birdies and hit par 12 times. The golf blood lines runs deep in the family as the boys’ uncles include PGA player Chris Smith and Rock Hollow Golf Pro Todd Smith; Ohio State golfer Brad Smith is a cousin and their father is a former state finalist with Rochester High School.

Ross Stephenson, the longtime South Bend Central Athletic Director, passed away last week in Edwardsburg, MI. He was the school’s athletic director from 1947 until the school closed in 1970. Services were held Friday, April 30, in Edwardsburg.

IHSAA Assistant Commissioner Theresia Wynns is one of six new members to have been elected to the Indiana Sports Corporation Board of Directors. Wynns will be joined by Allison Melangton (2012 Indianapolis Super Bowl Host Committee), Michael Mohr (Union Savings Bank), Paul Okeson (Keystone Construction), State Representative Greg Porter, and Chuck Williams (Butler University).

The Second Annual Indiana Class Basketball All-Star Classic and the Indiana Class Basketball Junior Games are set for June 18 and 19 in New Castle, Indiana. More information, including players and coaches participating, may be found at www.excelhsports.com under the Indiana Class Basketball All-Star Classic tab.