Olympic Run Leads to Northern Michigan
July 8, 2013
By Rob Kaminski
MHSAA benchmarks editor
To a generation of sports fans, Lake Placid, NY, will always conjure images of the “Miracle on Ice” orchestrated by the 1980 US Olympic Hockey Team and the voice of Al Michaels counting down the seconds and asking, “Do you believe in miracles?”
Maureen Whidden grew up a sports fan in a sports household. She, too, has a memory of Lake Placid, but it’s unlike those of most other people in the world, let alone this country.
“Right from college I went to Lake Placid, NY, and was an intern for the Olympic Training Center, working operations and events,” she said. “I got to go down the bobsled run, which was awesome. We started from about halfway up and I clocked about 45 miles per hour. It was just cool.”
Now beginning her fourth year as athletic director at Houghton Lake High School, Whidden maintains a pace which on most days during the school year must feel like twice her speed down the icy track in Lake Placid.
A self-proclaimed gym rat, she wouldn’t have it any other way. Her father, Rick Radulski, was the varsity boys basketball coach at Utica High School. When she was not in the gym, she was, “watching game film with the guys. That’s how I grew up.”
After earning a master’s degree in sport administration from Central Michigan University, it was off to Lake Placid, and on the fast track – literally – to launching her career.
The unexpected bobsled run opened Whidden’s eyes in more ways than the obvious thrill of the moment.
“It was my introduction to non-traditional sports such as luge, skeleton; just awesome sports. Those athletes are so strong. Real power and strength athletes,” Whidden said.
Following her internship, Whidden was hired by USA Taekwondo in Colorado Springs, where she worked for a year and a half while in the process being exposed to yet another sport.
Her path then led to operations with the US Olympic Committee, working at the headquarters for three years. Whidden was involved with National Governing Bodies, coordinating events and processing athletes’ stays at the headquarters from start to finish.
Though vastly different than the sports she followed growing up, she could easily see a common thread in the people who participated.
“All athletes have the same goals and the same values; the same drive,” Whidden said. “Not all of them get the same publicity. Taekwondo, for instance, didn’t get the publicity that basketball or soccer got.”
It was that type of experience that helped in her transition to heading up a high school program of 15 sports, a couple of which were in their infancy for the 2012-13 school year. Whidden called upon her USOC experience as she welcomed bowling and cross country to Houghton Lake.
“Bringing new students into the athletic world, or exposing others to a new sport, really opened my eyes,” Whidden said. “On the bowling team we have 12 kids who may have never played another sport in their lives, and they just went to the Regionals. It’s not just mainstream sports – football, basketball, baseball – that can succeed .”
The two additional sports were a welcome addition to Whidden’s workload, at a school where 23 percent of the student body participates in at least one sport, and only 11.5 percent suit up in two different uniforms.
She wishes the numbers were higher, but several factors are at play for the Class B school of 468 students in one of Michigan’s prime resort towns – with the economy and funding posing the highest hurdles.
“We’re one of the poorest counties in the state of Michigan, based on average income,” Whidden said. “Our student count has dropped in recent years. People come here during peak seasons and support our businesses, and that’s great, but people aren’t moving here.”
Some, in fact, are moving away, which has left Whidden looking for football and boys basketball coaches in each of her three years.
Yet, if there’s one thing clear when meeting Whidden, the challenge is not too daunting. It is worth noting that the recent additions of bowling and cross country came to fruition through old school dedication and heart; the programs are self-funded, and the coaches are not paid.
Whidden knows all about paying dues. This is just her first year as a fulltime staffer at the high school, after starting as a half-time employee and then moving to three-quarters-time.
“Our community support has been the most amazing aspect of this job,” Whidden said. “We don’t have the budget to pay our event workers: ticket takers, announcers, scorebook ... anybody. But, I’m never scrambling to find workers. That’s amazing to me.”
Whidden often brings extra “volunteers” along – twin 5-year-olds, Troy and Blake – to afford them the same opportunities she had as a child and start them down the right track.
PHOTO: Houghton Lake athletic director Maureen Whidden stands in front of the press box at her school's football stadium. This fall, she'll begin her fourth year guiding the athletic programs.
This is the third installment of a series, "Career Paths," focusing on the unsung contributions of athletic directors. See below for earlier installments.
WISL Honoree Leads by Making Connections
By
Geoff Kimmerly
MHSAA.com senior editor
January 29, 2020
Nikki Norris received her life’s education from professional educators. Her father Howes Smith served as an assistant principal and then principal at Ithaca High School, and her mother Maple was a teacher. Howes’ mom also taught.
Their influence and example certainly rubbed off on Nikki and her siblings. Norris has worked in education for more than 30 years, while her sister is a school guidance counselor and their brother a college professor.
In fact, Norris has impacted educational athletics in nearly every role possible as a teacher and athletic director at multiple schools, coach at various levels and game official. She is in her second year as athletic director at East Lansing High School after eight in that position for Corunna Public Schools. She previously taught for six years at Carson City-Crystal and then 11 at Corunna before taking over the Cavaliers’ athletic department during the summer of 2010.
She also coached volleyball at multiple levels over more than 15 years including Corunna’s varsity from 1999-2002 and 2006-09, and coached high school basketball for a combined eight years during her time at the two schools where she taught. Before and between her volleyball coaching stints, Norris also has served as an MHSAA registered volleyball official for a total of 12 years.
Norris’ many and continuing contributions will be celebrated Sunday, Feb. 2, when she receives the Michigan High School Athletic Association’s 33rd Women In Sports Leadership Award during the WISL Banquet at the Crowne Plaza Lansing West.
“I try to connect with all students, athletes or not, because there are so many kids who just need a connection," Norris said. "And if we can find it through sports, or through clubs, or teaching – I do look at them all as my own children, to a certain extent. We used to say in Corunna, 'They're all our kids.' And I want them to be successful in whatever it is they want. And if I can help them, that's what I'm there for.
“So many people did it for me. Coming from a family of educators, and my dad an administrator, I knew what that entailed as far as how they get into your heart. I want to do that for kids.”
Each year, the MHSAA 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.
Those who wrote letters recommending Norris for this year’s WISL Award especially noted that personal impact she has on students, staff and colleagues.
Fowlerville athletic director Brian Osborn – one of her former coaches – wrote of how Norris goes above and beyond to care for and connect with her student-athletes. Owosso athletic director Dallas Lintner wrote of Norris’ dedication to children’s safety and educational values. Fenton athletic director Mike Bakker noted how fortunate her students are that Norris made the decision to leave coaching for administration, where she can have an even larger impact.
“Someone asked me once, why do you want to be an athletic director? Well, I can go from impacting 100 kids a day, at that time (as a coach and teacher), to maybe 600 kids a day, to now 1,200 kids a day (at East Lansing),” Norris said, then quipping, “Well, maybe (not all) 1,200 every day.”
But she does continue to lead on wide-ranging levels, both at her much larger school and beyond.
While at Corunna, Norris served as master scheduler and part of the constitution committee for the Genesee Area Conference. Her schools have hosted various MHSAA Tournament events in multiple sports, in addition to local invitationals and conference meets. She’s served on every type of MHSAA Committee, providing input on a variety of sports, site selection, officials selection and the Scholar-Athlete Award. She also annually volunteers as a tournament administrator at the MHSAA’s Volleyball Finals in November and Baseball/Softball/Girls Soccer Finals in June.
A certified Red Cross instructor, Norris has provided CPR/AED training to coaches, bus drivers and staff members. Corunna in multiple years received the state’s HEARTSafe School designation recognizing preparedness to respond to cardiac emergencies.
As a member of the Michigan Interscholastic Athletic Administrators Association (MIAAA), she has facilitated sessions and presented at its conferences and served on the newsletter committee.
She was named the MIAAA’s Region 7 “Athletic Director of the Year” in 2016. She also has received “Certified Athletic Administrator” designation from the National Interscholastic Athletic Administrators Association (NIAAA).
“Nikki is one of the most genuine, caring and hard-working people I’ve ever met in athletics,” MHSAA Executive Director Mark Uyl said. “She has worked extremely hard in both Corunna and East Lansing to develop a first-class program that produced high-character people. Nikki is truly a role model to everyone in the world of athletic administration.”
A 1987 graduate of Ithaca High School, Norris received her bachelor’s degree in biology with a minor in exercise health science from Alma College – where she also competed as a runner and thrower in track & field – and then earned master’s degrees in biological sciences from Michigan State University and educational leadership from American College of Education.
Norris lives in Bancroft and is the mother to two daughters, Meredith and Elizabeth Norris. Neither is planning to go into education – but sports is a big part of both their current lives and likely futures, and no doubt the impact of growing up in a sports family has played a significant part. (Their dad, Dr. Robert Norris, played basketball at Alma College and serves as physician for the MSU hockey, volleyball and baseball programs and Lansing Lugnuts.)
Meredith was named the state’s Miss Volleyball Award winner in 2017 as a senior at Corunna and plays currently at Michigan State. Elizabeth is a senior at Corunna and was a finalist for the same award this past fall, and will continue her academic and volleyball careers at University of North Dakota. Meredith is majoring in kinesiology, and Elizabeth is planning on orthopedic surgery.
“I look at the names that are on the (WISL Award) list, and there are so many deserving women who over my career I've looked up to and aspired to be like when I 'grow up,'" Norris said. "So to even be considered in that group is amazing, humbling. It's an honor."
Past recipients of the Women In Sports Leadership Award
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
PHOTOS: (Top) East Lansing athletic director Nikki Norris confers with Grand Ledge athletic director Steve Baker during a 2018 football game. (Middle) Norris with daughters Elizabeth, left, and Meredith, after Nikki presented the Cavaliers with a District championship trophy won in 2016. (Top photo courtesy of the Lansing State Journal; middle photo courtesy of Nikki Norris.)