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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE --February 13, 2001
Contact: John Johnson or Andy Frushour-- 517.332.5046

EAST LANSING, Mich. - Feb. 13 - Norm Johnson of Bangor and George Lovich of Canton, two individuals who have served high school sports for a combined total of over 70 years as teachers, coaches and administrators, have been selected to receive the 2001 Charles E. Forsythe Award by the Michigan High School Athletic Association.

This annual award is in its 23rd year of existence and is named after former MHSAA Executive Director Charles E. Forsythe. One or two recipients are selected each year by the MHSAA Representative Council, based on an individual's outstanding contribution to the interscholastic athletics community. Johnson and Lovich will be presented the award on March 24 at the Breslin Student Events Center in East Lansing at halftime of the Boys Basketball Class B Final Game.

Johnson has served for 40 years at Bangor High School as a teacher, coach and administrator. He recently retired from the athletic director's position he held at the school for 32 years to become an administrative assistant for athletics at the school. He coached the boys basketball team at Bangor for 26 years, winning 327 games. He also coached cross country, football, girls basketball and track at the school.

As an athletic administrator, Johnson was a leader in developing Bangor athletic facilities that hosted numerous MHSAA events, including the Class C Lower Peninsula Track and Field Finals on four occasions, and the initiation of the girls sports program at the school. He also established Bangor's Athletic Hall of Fame.

Johnson has also played a major role as a leader in the Red Arrow Conference, and still serves as the league's executive director. He has also been active statewide as a 16-year member of the MHSAA Representative Council, with the Michigan Interscholastic Athletic Administrators Association and the Michigan Sports Sages. In his community, Johnson has also served as community recreation director and on the Bangor City Council.

Other awards Johnson has received include MIAAA's statewide Athletic Director of the Year Award in 1994, the Allen W. Bush Award from the MHSAA in 1992, induction into the Michigan High School Coaches Association Hall of Fame in 1993, and induction into the Bangor High School Athletic Hall of Fame in 2000. He is a 1957 graduate of Delton High School, and earned his bachelors degree from Western Michigan University in 1961.

Lovich served for 29 years in the Livonia School District as a teacher, football coach and athletic director. He was a junior high teacher and coach in Lincoln Park and Detroit for two and one half years prior to going to Livonia. He was named the Detroit News Coach of the Year at Livonia Franklin in 1974, and while he retired from full-time football coaching after that year, he stayed on as an assistant at Franklin, which won the Class A championship in the inaugural MHSAA Football Playoffs in 1975.

As a registered volleyball official, Lovich worked the MHSAA Finals in that sport the first three years it took place - 1976, 1977 and 1978.

Lovich has left a legacy as an athletic administrator, co-authoring an athletic department computer program in the early 1980's which is still in use across the country by schools in 39 states. He has been a speaker at numerous statewide and national athletic directors conferences on the computerization of athletic departments.

While an athletic director at Livonia Franklin, Lovich hosted MHSAA tournaments in three sports and helped sponsor the Association's Program of Athletic Coaches Education Program in his area.

Lovich has been a member of the MIAAA for over 20 years, still serving as its executive secretary/treasurer. He was honored with a state award of merit from the MIAAA in 1995 after winning honors as a regional athletic director of the year in 1985. He was also presented with an Outstanding Teacher Award from Livonia Public Schools in 1991, and was inducted into the Michigan High School Football Coaches Association Hall of Fame in 1993.

In his community, Lovich still coaches football for youth and church leagues. He is a graduate of Monessen, Pa., High School, and earned a bachelor's degree from California, Pa., State College, and a master's degree from Eastern Michigan University.

"Faithful service to their local schools and communities first, and then reaching out to contribute to the educational athletics community outside those borders, typify Forsythe Award recipients, and Norm Johnson and George Lovich are no exception," said MHSAA Executive Director John E. "Jack" Roberts. "These gentlemen are held in high regard for the work they have done with young people in their lifetimes, and they are people who continue to give back, even though both are retired from full-time roles in educational athletics. We're pleased to honor them as this year's Forsythe Award recipients."

Other recipients of the Charles E. Forsythe Award have been:
1978 - Brick Fowler, Port Huron; Paul Smarks, Warren
1979 - Earl Messner, Reed City; Howard Beatty, Saginaw
1980 - Max Carey, Freesoil
1981 - Steven Sluka, Grand Haven; Samuel Madden, Detroit
1982 - Ernest Buckholz, Mt. Clemens; T. Arthur Treloar, Petoskey
1983 - Leroy Dues, Detroit; Richard Maher, Sturgis
1984 - William Hart, Marquette; Donald Stamats, Caro
1985 - John Cotton, Farmington; Robert James, Warren
1986 - William Robinson, Detroit; Irving Soderland, Norway
1987 - Jack Streidl, Plainwell; Wayne Hellenga, Decatur
1988 - Jack Johnson, Dearborn; Alan Williams, North Adams
1989 - Walter Bazylewicz, Berkley; Dennis Kiley, Jackson
1990 - Webster Morrison, Pickford; Herbert Quade, Benton Harbor
1991 - Clifford Buckmaster, Petoskey; Donald Domke, Northville
1992 - William Maskill, Kalamazoo; Thomas G. McShannock, Muskegon
1993 - Roy A. Allen Jr., Detroit; John Duncan, Cedarville
1994 - Kermit Ambrose, Royal Oak
1995 - Bob Perry, Lowell
1996 - Charles H. Jones, Royal Oak
1997 - Michael A. Foster, Richland; Robert G. Grimes, Battle Creek
1998 - Lofton C. Greene, River Rouge; Joseph J. Todey, Essexviille
1999 - Bernie Larson, Battle Creek
2000 - Jerry Cvengros, Escanaba; Blake Hagman, Kalamazoo

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.

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