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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE -April 20, 2001
Contact: John Johnson or Jack Roberts-- 517.332.5046

EAST LANSING, Mich. - April 20 - Randy Allen, the former communications director of the Wisconsin Interscholastic Athletic Association, has been named to an assistant director's position with the Michigan High School Athletic Association, effective this summer.

With a single hiring, the MHSAA has tapped the resources of other enterprises and states to fill an immediate vacancy and address future needs for its headquarters office staff in East Lansing.

Allen's summer arrival coincides with the departure of communications assistant Andy Frushour, who is relocating to Arizona to pursue post-graduate studies, and the Association's preparation for the year-end retirement of veteran Associate Director Jerry Cvengros.

Allen comes to the MHSAA after eight years as communications director for the Wisconsin Interscholastic Athletic Association, which he left in 2000 to become a seven-state regional director for iHigh.com, the high school Internet arm of Host Communications based in Lexington, Kentucky.

From 1970 to 1992, prior to joining the WIAA, Allen was involved in virtually every aspect of radio and television: sportscaster, director and producer; news director; production, operations and station manager for various outlets in Wisconsin; and media buyer and general manager for a marketing and communications firm with radio and television clients in Madison.

Allen will expand the breadth and depth of MHSAA service and support in the fastest changing area of society, schools and sports, which is communications technology; and he is also experienced in the more traditional roles of state high school associations: competition rules and post-season tournaments. It is anticipated he will work most with the sports of baseball and softball, wrestling and ice hockey. Allen, who had a major role in the expansion of the football playoffs in Wisconsin, may also assist with the MHSAA Football Playoffs.

Allen has been a high school baseball and softball official for 25 years, working several Wisconsin high school tournaments, serving as a rules interpreter for the state high school association and conducting umpire clinics in Wisconsin.

MHSAA Executive Director John E. "Jack" Roberts is impressed with Allen's mastery of technology, his gifts as a communicator, his work ethic and his philosophy of school sports. "Randy knows
that the work of state high school associations is service, and he is experienced in serving officials, coaches,
administrators, media, advertisers and sponsors. He is very personable, an excellent speaker and writer, and a workhorse.

"Randy's exuberance for educational athletics and his respect for the work of high school associations cannot be hidden. He will be a terrific ambassador for school sports and the MHSAA."

Allen's arrival will lead to changes in responsibilities for other MHSAA staff, which will evolve over the next eight months.

Allen and his wife Mary, who have a college age son, are looking forward to their relocation from central Wisconsin to mid-Michigan this summer.

The MHSAA is a private, not-for-profit corporation of voluntary membership by over 1,300 public and private senior high schools and junior high/middle schools which exists to develop common rules for athletic eligibility and competition. No government funds or tax dollars support the MHSAA, which was the first such association nationally to not accept membership dues or tournament entry fees from schools. Member schools which enforce these rules are permitted to participate in MHSAA tournaments, which attract approximately 1.6 million spectators each year.

Farm Bureau Insurance and Little Caesars Pizza are year-round MHSAA Corporate Partners