More than 2,400 athletic administrators, spouses, guests and exhibitors will be attending the 49th annual National Athletic Directors Conference (NADC) Friday through Tuesday (December 14-18) at the Henry B. González Convention Center in San Antonio, Texas. It is the third time – and the first since 2012 – that San Antonio has hosted the conference.
The country’s largest meeting of high school athletic directors is co-sponsored by the National Federation of State High School Associations (NFHS) and the National Interscholastic Athletic Administrators Association (NIAAA) of Indianapolis. The Conference Luncheon on December 17 and the Conference Banquet on December 18 will be streamed live on the NFHS Network (www.NFHSNetwork.com).
The 49th installment of the NADC begins Friday, with several NIAAA committee meetings, as well as early registration at 5:30 p.m. The full conference begins Saturday with registration at 8:30 a.m. in Hall 4 West Registration, and the Opening General Session will be held at 5 p.m. Saturday in the Hemisfair Ballroom.
Dr. Rick Rigsby, president and CEO of Rick Rigsby Communications, will be the keynote speaker at the opening session. Rigsby, a former award-winning journalist, had a passionate speech in 2017 reach more than 130 million people worldwide when it went viral. Following a television career, he spent two decades as a college professor, most of which came at Texas A&M University. Rigsby was twice named an outstanding professor in the College of Liberal Arts at Texas A&M. His first of many publications, a non-academic book titled Lessons from a Third Grade Dropout, reached best-seller status for USA Today, The Wall Street Journal and Amazon.
The Closing General Session at 1:15 p.m. on Tuesday, December 18, features keynote speaker Tamika Catchings. In addition to formerly playing for the WNBA’s Indiana Fever, Catchings is a four-time Olympic Gold medalist, and the recipient of the first ESPN Humanitarian Award. In 2011, she was named the WNBA MVP, and followed her standout season with a WNBA championship and WNBA Finals MVP Award in 2012. Since her retirement in 2016, Catchings has devoted more time to her “Catch the Stars Foundation,” which provides underprivileged children with access to basketball camps, fitness clinics, and mentoring and literacy programs.
The first workshop session at this year’s NADC gets underway at 8:45 a.m. Sunday. Key topics for the 40 workshops include risk minimization, coaching staff professional development, afterschool safety, social media use, accomplishment recognition, team travel, student team leadership and multisport participation.
In addition to networking opportunities, NIAAA Leadership Training Institute (LTI) courses will provide professional development opportunities for attendees. The first session of LTI classes begins at 12:30 p.m. Saturday and the final session takes place at 3:30 p.m. Monday.
Eight athletic directors will be recognized with NFHS Citations for their contributions to interscholastic athletics at the local, state and national levels. The Citation recipients will receive their awards on Monday during the Conference Luncheon.
NFHS Citation recipients include Anthony Amero, CMAA, athletic administrator, Forest Hills School, Jackman, Maine; John Cann, CAA, athletic director, T. L. Hanna High School, Anderson, South Carolina; Ray Moore, CMAA, retired athletic director, Vista Murrieta High School, Murrieta, California; Michael Morris, CMAA, executive director, Illinois Athletic Directors Association, LaGrange, Illinois; Scott Nordi, CAA, Lakes High School, Lakewood, Washington; Cliff Odenwald, CAA, executive athletic director, Garland Independent School District, Garland, Texas; Joshua Scott, CMAA, director of athletics, Springfield Public Schools, Springfield, Missouri; and Robert Stratton, retired athletic administrator, Glen Allen, Virginia.
The NIAAA will present its Distinguished Service Awards to 11 athletic administrators during the Conference Banquet on Tuesday, December 18. This year’s winners include Bill Clements, CAA, athletic director, Dakota Valley High School, North Sioux City, South Dakota; Lisa Corprew, CAA, student activities coordinator, Bayside High School, Virginia Beach, Virginia; Alfred “Bunky” Dow, CAA, student activities director, Mt. Desert Island High School, Bar Harbor, Maine; Scott Garvis, CMAA, athletic/activities director, Centennial High School, Ankeny, Iowa; Tol Gropp, CMAA, athletic director, Timberline High School, Boise, Idaho; Lorell Jungling, CMAA, executive director, North Dakota Interscholastic Athletic Administrators Association, Mandan, North Dakota; Ken Mohney, CMAA, principal, Hartford Middle School, Hartford, Michigan; Jamie Sheetz, CMAA, athletic/activities director, Park City High School, Park City, Utah; Marianne Shultz, CMAA, retired athletic administrator, Anne Arundel County Public Schools, Annapolis, Maryland; Kevin Simmerman, CMAA, activities director, North Star High School, Lincoln, Nebraska; and Dave Tikker, CAA, executive director, Washington Secondary School Athletic Administrators Association, Spokane, Washington.
Three other individuals will receive NIAAA awards during Tuesday’s banquet. Gary Stevens, CMAA, director of student activities at Thornton Academy in Saco, Maine, is the recipient of the NIAAA Frank Kovaleski Professional Development Award; Doug Killgore, CMAA, recently retired assistant principal and athletic director of Central Arkansas Christian School in North Little Rock, Arkansas, will receive the NIAAA Thomas E. Frederick Award of Excellence; and Phil Rison, CMAA, associate executive director of the NIAAA in Indianapolis, Indiana, is the recipient of the NIAAA Award of Merit.
The banquet and conference conclude with the induction of seven athletic directors into the NIAAA Hall of Fame. Those being recognized this year include Bruce Bowen, CMAA, retired athletic administrator of Hermitage High School in Richmond, Virginia, and currently executive director of the Virginia Interscholastic Athletic Administrators Association; Steve Duncan, CMAA, retired athletic director, Valley High School, West Des Moines, Iowa; Kevin Horrigan, CMAA, retired athletic director, Greenfield Central High School, Greenfield, Indiana; Allen Huestis, CAA, retired athletic director, Ponaganset (Rhode Island) High School; Don Riviere, retired athletic director, T. C. Williams High School, Alexandria, Virginia, and James Robinson High School, Fairfax County, Virginia; Roy Turner, CMAA, retired athletic director of Ashley High School in Wilmington, North Carolina, and currently executive director of the North Carolina Athletic Directors Association; and Bruce Whitehead, CMAA, retired executive director of the NIAAA, Indianapolis, Indiana.
