Michigan High School Athletic Association - Promoting Educational Athletics
Michigan High School Athletic Association - Promoting Educational Athletics |
|
User Sections
|
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE - April 25, 2005 Bruce Moss Receives 2005 Norris Award EAST LANSING, Mich. – April 25 – A multiple-sport official who has also served his avocation well by his contributions as a local association leader, league assignor, and educator, Alma's Bruce Moss has been selected to receive the Michigan High School Athletic Association's Vern L. Norris Award for 2005.
In his 27th year as a registered MHSAA official, Moss works contests in baseball, girls and boys basketball, football and girls volleyball. His talents have earned him assignments at all levels of MHSAA tournaments in all of those sports, including Final assignments in each. He was recognized in 1999 by the National Federation's Interscholastic Officials Association as an Official of the Year in girls basketball. Moss has also contributed on the local level as a leader of the Heart of Michigan Officials Association, a group he is currently the secretary of. He has also been assigning officials in several sports for the Mid-Michigan Conference and the Central States Activities Association. The lessons learned on the playing surface are something Moss has freely shared with the officiating community as a speaker and a writer. He has contributed articles for MHSAA and other publications, and made numerous presentations to parents, officials, coaches and athletic administrators at camps, clinics and meet the team nights throughout his career. An attorney and Notary Public practicing in mid-Michigan, Moss is a 1974 graduate of Alma College, who earned master's degrees in Educational Administration, and Recreation and Parks Administration from Central Michigan University. His law degree was bestowed upon him by Cooley Law School in 1985. He was nominated for the Norris Award by the Central State Activities Association. "No one touches so many lives as one who can communicate, and that is a key attribute of our Norris Award winners," said MHSAA Executive Director John E. "Jack" Roberts. "Many officials contribute with their work between the lines, but the outreach Bruce Moss has accomplished in his career has assisted schools and mentored other officials in a manner few can match. Bruce is highly regarded as a professional, personable individual when working games; and that same touch has made him an effective administrator and educator in servicing his peers and our schools. He is an outstanding choice for the Vern Norris Award." Previous recipients of the Norris Award are: 1992 – Ted Wilson, East Detroit 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. -0- RL05-068
Farm Bureau Insurance and MEEMIC Insurance are year-round MHSAA Corporate Partners
|
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 official's 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 state and national levels. Moss was presented the award at the MHSAA’s 26 th annual Official’s Awards and Alumni Banquet on Saturday (April 23) at the Sheraton Lansing Hotel.