Nagy Receives Norris Award

EAST LANSING, Mich. – May 14 – Twenty-five year official Ron Nagy of Hazel Park received the Vern L. Norris Award from the Michigan High School Athletic Association in a presentation at its 24th Annual Officials’ Awards and Alumni Banquet at the Sheraton Lansing Hotel on May 10.
Nagy has been a MHSAA registered official in wrestling for all 25 years, and is one of the statewide leaders in the growth and training of wrestling officials.

Ron Nagy (c), recieves the 2003 MHSAA Norris Award at the annual
Officials Banquet in Lansing, presented by MHSAA Executive Director John E. Roberts (r).
The award is named after former MHSAA Executive Director Vern Norris (l)

Nagy founded the All-American Athletic Association in 1991, an organization consisting solely of wrestling officials. That year, the MHSAA was encouraging all officials to commit to and organize Approved Associations, and Nagy spearheaded the AAAA. The charter group was made up of 15 men, and today has more than 60 men and women in its membership.

One of Nagy’s biggest accomplishments is serving the last five years as the manager for the MHSAA Lower Peninsula Individual Wrestling Finals, the largest high school tournament in the United States. He has also been an Official In Charge for the MHSAA Wrestling Finals and has served as a trainer of wrestling officials for 16 years at MHSAA Clinics.

In the community, Nagy has helped with the Foundation for Exceptional Children, a service he became aware of through a disabled nephew. He is also an avid bowler with several 300 games to his credit, and is well known in statewide and national softball circles as a Michigan Hall of Fame inductee as a coach and softball complex director through the United States Specialty Sports Association.

Nagy attended Hazel Park High School and earned his bachelor’s degree from Wayne State University. He is currently a representative for Sportscape Recreational Property Development.

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 local, statewide 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
2001 -- Herb Lipschultz, Kalamazoo
2002 -- Robert Scholie, Hancock

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.