Indiana’s Bruce Whitehead to Receive NIAAA Award of Merit

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Contact: Frank Kovaleski

INDIANAPOLIS, IN (December 8, 2003) — Bruce Whitehead, CMAA, who spent more than 30 years as an athletic director in Indiana before joining the National Interscholastic Athletic Administrators Association (NIAAA) staff in 2001, is the 2003 recipient of the NIAAA Award of Merit.

Whitehead will receive his award Monday, December 15, at the Indiana Convention Center in Indianapolis, Indiana, during luncheon festivities at the 34^th annual National Conference of High School Directors of Athletics conducted by the National Federation of State High School Associations (NFHS).

The Award of Merit is the most prestigious award presented by the NIAAA to an individual who has shown outstanding leadership in interscholastic athletics or related areas.

Whitehead had a tremendous impact on high school athletics in Indiana as a teacher, coach and athletic director at Crawfordsville (Indiana) High School from 1968 to 2001. It is a task he continues today at the national level in Indianapolis, in his position as NIAAA administrative assistant.

An NIAAA member since 1977, Whitehead has attended the NFHS National Conference of High School Directors of Athletics since 1981 and was a member of the first class of athletic administrators to become Certified Athletic Administrators in 1988.

He was a member of the NIAAA Resolutions Committee from 1988 to 1993 and was the secretary-treasurer of the NIAAA from 1995 to 2001. On two occasions, Whitehead served on the Indiana Host Committee for the NFHS National Conference of High School Directors of Athletics, first in 1982 as vice-chairperson and again in 1992 as chairperson.

At the state level, Whitehead was a member of the Indiana Interscholastic Athletic Administrators Association (IIAAA) Board of Directors from 1979 to 1987, which included terms as second vice president, first vice president and past president.

From 1989 to 1998, Whitehead was a member of the Indiana High School Athletic Association (IHSAA) Board of Directors. Among his many committee assignments with the IHSAA, he was chairperson of the Committee to Study Feasibility of Multiple Class Sports and the Committee on Coaches Education.

After graduating from Purdue University in 1968, Whitehead became a coach and math teacher at Crawfordsville High School. In 1976, he became director of athletics, a position he held until leaving for the NIAAA in 2001.

Whitehead has received numerous honors during his career, including the NFHS Citation in 1992, the IIAAA Athletic Administrator of the Year in 1992 and the IHSAA Charles Maas Award for the state of Indiana in 2002.

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MEDIA CONTACT: Bruce Howard or John Gillis, 317-972-6900