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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE-October 9, 2003
Contact: John Johnson, Andy Frushour or Randy Allen
517.332.5046 or www.mhsaa.com

EAST LANSING, Mich. – Oct. 9 – Seven individuals have been elected by member schools to serve on the Michigan High School Athletic Association’s governing body, the Representative Council.

The newest members of the Association’s board are Detroit’s Lafayette Evans, interim director of athletics for Detroit Public Schools; and Vic Michaels, director of physical education and athletics for the Archdiocese of Detroit. Evans was selected to a two-year term representing public high schools in the city of Detroit, while Michaels was selected to a one-year term representing private and parochial schools statewide.

The Representative Council meets three times annually to discuss and pass legislation concerning the interscholastic athletic activities of the Association's 1,200-plus member senior and junior high/middle schools.

The Council is made up of 19 members, with all but seven elected by a vote of member schools to represent different geographic regions, different sizes of schools, private schools, and junior high/middle schools. Two members are elected to statewide at-large positions. Four members are appointed by the Council to facilitate representation of females and minorities, and the 19th position is occupied by the Superintendent of Public Instruction or designee.

From the Council, three officers are elected. These officers and two other representatives form the MHSAA's Executive Committee, which meets on a monthly basis during the school year to review eligibility appeals from member schools and other current Association business.

In addition to Evans and Michaels being added to the Council, five individuals were re-elected to two-year terms which expire in December, 2005. Winning re-election bids were: Dan Flynn, faculty member/coach, Escanaba High School, representing Class A and B schools in the Upper Peninsula; Ken Dietz, athletic director, Hartford High School, representing Class C and D schools in the southwestern part of the Lower Peninsula; Randy Salisbury, principal, Britton-Macon High School, representing Class C and D schools in the southeastern part of the Lower Peninsula; Karen Leinaar, athletic director, Benzie Central High School, a statewide at-large position, and Paul Ellinger, superintendent, Cheboygan Area Schools, representing junior high/middle schools.

Ellinger was elected to the Representative Council for the 10th time; his service on the board since 1985 is the second longest of any active member. Flynn was elected to his ninth term on the Council; Salisbury will be serving his seventh term on the board, and Leinaar won election for a third time.

In addition, the Council will have the opportunity at its upcoming Fall meeting to replace one of its four appointed members, Mel Atkins, director of athletics for Grand Rapids Public Schools, who has served the maximum of two terms as an appointee. Appointed members supplement the election process to assure fuller representation by females and minorities, as well as better geographic representation than the election process might create.

Three positions on the Upper Peninsula Athletic Committee were also filled by a vote of U.P. schools. Don Edens, athletic director, Kingsford High School, won an appointment representing Class A and B schools on the committee; Bruce Horsch, athletic director, Houghton High School, was chosen to a position representing Class C schools, and Russell Bailey, superintendent, Ewen-Trout Creek Public Schools, won a position representing Class D schools.

The MHSAA is a private, not-for-profit corporation of voluntary membership by over 1,200 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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