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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE - May 11, 2001
Contact: John Johnson or Andy Frushour-- 517.332.5046
EAST LANSING, Mich. - May 11 - Forty-five year veteran official Herb Lipschultz
of Kalamazoo will receive the Vern L. Norris Award from the Michigan
High School Athletic Association in a presentati
on
at its 22nd Annual Officials' Awards and Alumni Banquet, Saturday
evening, May 12, at the Sheraton Lansing Hotel. Lipschultz has
been an MHSAA registered official in boys and girls basketball,
football and softball for more than four decades, and is a member
of the Tri-County Officials Association.
A Bronx, N.Y., native, he earned his bachelor's
degree at Kalamazoo College and never left the area, obtaining
his master's from Western Michigan University before entering
the teaching profession with Kalamazoo Public Schools. Now retired
from teaching, Lipschultz is a part-time athletic director for
middle schools in Kalamazoo.
His officiating resume' includes an MHSAA Football Final assignment
at the Pontiac Silverdome in 1999, softball umpire-of-the-year
accolades in 1999, and Amateur Softball Association state finals
duties for men's and women's slow pitch softball.
The leader in founding the Kalamazoo/Portage
Middle School League, Lipschultz also serves the community as
an advisory member of the Kalamazoo Public School's athletic
board and for the local YMCA.
A lifetime member of the National Education Association, Lipschultz
once received a State of Michigan Legislative Resolution for
his work as a basketball official, and has 20- and 25-year awards
from the Michigan Interscholastic Athletic Administrators Association
for his efforts as an athletic director.
He remains active in the MIAAA, Kalamazoo Education Association,
and is a retired member of the Michigan Education Association.
The Norris Award is presented annually to a veteran official who has been active in a local officials association, has mentored other officials, and has been involved in officials education. It is named for Vern L. Norris, who was executive director of the MHSAA from 1978-86, and well-respected by officials on the and national levels.
Previous recipients of the Norris Award are:
1992 - Ted Wilson, East Detroit
1993 - Fred Briggs, Burton
1994 - Joe Brodie, Flat Rock
1995 - Jim Massar, Flint
1996 - Jim Lamoreaux, St. Ignace
1997 - Ken Myllyla, Escanaba
1998 - Blake Hagman, Kalamazoo
1999 - Richard Kalahar, Jackson
2000 -- Barb Beckett, Traverse City; Karl Newingham, Bay City
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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