Contact: Geoff Kimmerly
517.332.5046 or [email protected]
EAST LANSING, Mich. – March 25 – Over the last 27 years, Livonia Stevenson athletic director Lori Hyman has not only led athletic departments at two of Michigan’s larger high schools but also served as a voice of leadership, education and mentorship for her colleagues statewide. To celebrate her many contributions to school sports, Hyman has been named the 35th recipient of the MHSAA Women In Sports Leadership Award.
Each year, the Representative Council considers the achievements of women coaches, officials and athletic administrators affiliated with the MHSAA who show exemplary leadership capabilities and positive contributions to athletics.
Hyman is in her 22nd year at Stevenson after previously serving her first five as an athletic director at Dexter. She also is a graduate of Stevenson High School and continued her education and basketball careers at Michigan State University, then served as a women’s college basketball coach over 17 seasons before transitioning into school sports administration in 1995.
Hyman will receive the Women In Sports Leadership Award during the MHSAA Division 1 Girls Basketball Final on March 19 at Michigan State’s Breslin Center.
“Every part of my career I’ve been happy with, and honored, and just thoroughly enjoyed it,” Hyman said. “It’s been a passion of mine, every aspect.
“(Playing at Michigan State) was one of the best times, if not the best time, of my life as a youngster. And then being an athletic director has probably been the most rewarding as an adult. And being at Stevenson, coming back home, has been quite an honor and just a very rich experience for me.”
Hyman has hosted a multitude of MHSAA Tournament events while at both Dexter and Stevenson and has served on the MHSAA’s girls tennis, girls basketball and boys basketball committees. She also has served as the girls and boys tennis commissioner of the Kensington Lakes Activities Association, of which Stevenson is a member.
She has served as a Leadership Training Institute instructor for the Michigan Interscholastic Athletic Administrators Association (MIAAA) and as a presider and speaker at the MIAAA’s annual conference. She also has spoken at the MHSAA’s Women In Sports Leadership Conference.
Hyman was named her region’s Athletic Director of the Year by the MIAAA in 2014 and received its Jack Johnson Distinguished Service Award in 2015.
“Lori has been a leader and pioneer in the world of athletics, and in particular as an advocate for females and girls sports,” MHSAA Executive Director Mark Uyl said. “When she left coaching basketball to work as an AD, it was an incredible victory for kids in our state. She’s been dependable, loyal and just a model of consistency in running a first-class program.”
Hyman is a 1975 graduate of Livonia Stevenson, where she also played softball and competed in track & field. She was named MSU’s Outstanding Athlete of the Year for women’s basketball in 1979, after serving as co-captain of the team that season but rarely playing because of an injury. She graduated with a bachelor’s degree in physical education and health in 1980 and also has a master’s in athletic administration from Wayne State University.
Hyman served as a women’s basketball graduate assistant at Ferris State University after graduating from MSU and then as head coach at Northwood Institute (now University) from 1981-82 – when she was only 23 years old – through 1985-86. She then served as an assistant coach at University of Illinois before returning as head coach at Ferris State from 1989-90 through 1994-95.
She received her certified master athletic administrator designation from the National Interscholastic Athletic Administrators Association (NIAAA) in 2006. In addition to her vast school sports responsibilities and contributions, Hyman has volunteered with Special Olympics, Livonia’s Newburg United Methodist Church and Rotary Club.
The first Women In Sports Leadership Award was presented in 1990. Past recipients are:
1990 – Carol Seavoy, L’Anse
1991 – Diane Laffey, Harper Woods
1992 – Patricia Ashby, Scotts
1993 – Jo Lake, Grosse Pointe
1994 – Brenda Gatlin, Detroit
1995 – Jane Bennett, Ann Arbor
1996 – Cheryl Amos-Helmicki, Huntington Woods
1997 – Delores L. Elswick, Detroit
1998 – Karen S. Leinaar, Delton
1999 – Kathy McGee, Flint
2000 – Pat Richardson, Grass Lake
2001 – Suzanne Martin, East Lansing
2002 – Susan Barthold, Kentwood
2003 – Nancy Clark, Flint
2004 – Kathy Vruggink Westdorp, Grand Rapids
2005 – Barbara Redding, Capac
2006 – Melanie Miller, Lansing
2007 – Jan Sander, Warren Woods
2008 – Jane Bos, Grand Rapids
2009 – Gail Ganakas, Flint; Deb VanKuiken, Holly
2010 – Gina Mazzolini, Lansing
2011 – Ellen Pugh, West Branch; Patti Tibaldi, Traverse City
2012 – Janet Gillette, Comstock Park
2013 – Barbara Beckett, Traverse City
2014 – Teri Reyburn, DeWitt
2015 – Jean LaClair, Bronson
2016 – Betty Wroubel, Pontiac
2017 – Dottie Davis, Ann Arbor
2018 – Meg Seng, Ann Arbor
2019 – Kris Isom, Adrian
2020 – Nikki Norris, East Lansing
2021 – Dorene Ingalls, St. Ignace
The MHSAA is a private, not-for-profit corporation of voluntary membership by more than 1,500 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 more than 1.4 million spectators each year.
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