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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE September 14, 1998
Contact: John Johnson or Mike Clifford 517.332.5046

EAST LANSING, Mich. - Sept. 14 - The registration limit of 1,200 has been reached for the Michigan High School Athletic Association's second Sportsmanship Summit, which will take place at the Lansing Center on Sept. 23.

The number of people registered for this year's conference is up 50 percent from last year. At the first Sportsmanship Summit, a crowd of between 500 and 600 was expected, over 800 showed up, and another 100 people were turned away. Attendees will primarily include administrators, coaches and student-athletes from MHSAA member schools.

"We're excited that the topic of sportsmanship is so important to our schools and their students," said John E. "Jack" Roberts, executive director of the MHSAA. "We hope that the interest expressed in the statewide conferences the Association has conducted for two years will translate into even greater efforts at the local level to improve sportsmanship in educational athletics."

Sportsmanship Summit II will feature three outstanding keynote speakers. Tom Osborne, retired football coach from the University of Nebraska; JoJo White, a Hall of Fame basketball star from the Boston Celtics; and nationally-recognized speaker Dr. Al Burr of St. Louis, Mo., will deliver the primary speeches in the morning portion of the program

The afternoon sessions will have tracks specifically designed for students and coaches; boosters, school board members and parents; and school administrators.
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. No government funds or tax dollars support the MHSAA, which does not accept membership dues or tournament entry fees from schools. Member schools may participate in MHSAA tournaments conducted in 12 sports for girls and 12 sports for boys which attract approximately 1.3 million spectators each year.