![From top left, Karen Jackson has been a mainstay of the MHSAA for decades – serving membership, working with administrators like Randy Allen and Gina Mazzolini or serving as assistant to executive directors like Jack Roberts (right) and Vern Norris.](/sites/default/files/2022-10/221005_Jackson_2H.jpg)
Jackson's Imprint on MHSAA Stretches 45 Years, Across 4 Executive Directors
By
Geoff Kimmerly
MHSAA.com senior editor
October 5, 2022
First impressions can be significant, as many a saying goes. And Karen Brown unknowingly provided one in 1978 that helped affect the course of athletics in this state over the next 40-plus years.
A Michigan State University student named Karen Leinaar had shown up at the Michigan High School Athletic Association for a meeting about a 5K road race she was planning that was unrelated to the MHSAA except that the building provided a good meeting place – and Brown, just a year out of high school, was the first person to greet her at the old Trowbridge Road headquarters.
Seeing someone her age immediately made Leinaar more comfortable. She ended up returning to that office several times over the years, registering as an MHSAA game official while still an MSU student and then starting a career in 1982 that has included nearly 40 years as a high school athletic director and two decades of shaping policy as part of the MHSAA Representative Council.
That’s the kind of impact that’s emanated from Karen Jackson, formerly Brown, and over the last 45 years as assistant to four of the five executive directors during the MHSAA’s 98-year history. Jackson finished that run with her retirement Friday.
“She was always one that would welcome you, and whether you walked into the office or called on the phone, she always had an answer that would calm you down or provide you with the information you needed,” said Leinaar, who currently is serving as interim athletic director at Frankfort High School in addition to her duties as executive director of the Michigan Interscholastic Athletic Administrators Association.
“I remember initially calling and needing something from Mr. Norris – it was always Mr. Norris – and she could answer the question,” Leinaar added, referring to retired MHSAA executive director Vern Norris, who served in that role from 1978-86. “You didn’t want to talk to scary Mr. Norris – Vern was a wonderful man, but he was like the superintendent or principal. Karen always had the answer. … It was always that smile that made you feel like you were more than welcomed, wanted in the office, and everything is going to be OK.”
Jackson began at the MHSAA in June 1977, two days before her graduation from long ago-closed Harry Hill High School in Lansing.
Her high school sports career amounted to about half a season on the Hill varsity volleyball team as a sophomore before she had to switch gears to begin working for the Lansing Regional Chamber of Commerce as part of a school co-op program.
Jackson graduated as a co-valedictorian of Hill’s Class of 1977. Despite her academic standing, she hadn’t received much guidance at school on the possibility of college. But she had a job offer from the Chamber – and also had heard from grade-school friend Deborah Norris (Vern’s daughter) about an opening at the MHSAA.
The MHSAA was offering more money, and Jackson was hoping to buy a car – and so at 18, she became the secretary for executive director Allen W. Bush.
The title has changed over the years, from secretary to the executive director, to executive assistant, to senior executive assistant. The MHSAA’s administrative processes obviously have changed, mostly because of technology, from everything done on paper and through the mail to just about everything conducted digitally over the internet.
But many of Jackson’s most important duties at the end of her tenure resembled those she was hired to carry out nearly half a century ago.
Setting Exemplary Expectations
Bush retired a year after Jackson began, and she then assisted Norris for his eight as executive director. She served with Jack Roberts through his 32 years as executive director from 1986-2018 and then for these first 3½ under current director Mark Uyl.
She was considered the “baby” of the MHSAA staff during her first 12 years, until she turned 30 and her support staff teammates declared she wasn’t the baby anymore during a Christmas party serenade. Just about 33 years later, she’s leaving as one of two people left who worked in the old offices before the MHSAA moved to another East Lansing headquarters at Ramblewood Drive in 1996.
School sports happen thanks to a Karen Jackson or two in every community -- people who provide the unseen support that makes these programs possible every day.
For the last 45 years, she’s provided a consistent anchor for service to 1,500 schools and millions of student-athletes across Michigan.
“She’s shaped so much of what we’ve done,” said MHSAA assistant director Kathy Vruggink Westdorp, who joined the staff during the 2003-04 school year after more than two decades working for Grand Rapids-area schools. “Her service to schools was imperative to what she was doing, and it was a valuable part for our membership. Hers was such a dedicated service, such an exemplary service – finding solutions, to do what’s needed.”
There are file cabinets and libraries and hard drives at the MHSAA office, the contents of which are known by only a handful of people on Earth – and Jackson perhaps the most as she did most of the sorting and maintaining of those files over the years.
For a 1996 Lansing State Journal feature on the MHSAA’s support staff, Jackson (then Yonkers) explained “there are always new challenges, new issues and controversies. It never gets boring. In the past 19 years, we’ve slowly shifted from dealing with athletic administrators, principals and superintendents to dealing with legislators, attorneys and courts.”
The last 25 years has seen much of the work swing back to providing service directly to schools. And Jackson’s mind has become part MHSAA library and part card catalog of where to find those few snippets she might not recall immediately from the last half century.
“I guess what I’m proud of is being able to find things, to know where to find things and how to find things that other people don’t,” Jackson said. “Yes, the technology has changed everything. … We used to have more schools – they used to have 40-some Detroit public schools – and there was a whole era of (litigation), but it’s calmed down now.
“I liked what I did, and it kept me on my toes – that’s for sure.”
The MHSAA is rooted in its responsibilities as a championship and eligibility rules maker, and Jackson was involved in just about every communication in those areas during her time. Tournament changes are made at Representative Council meetings, and she’s reported the minutes for at least 150 of those, including piles of special sessions as the MHSAA managed sports through the COVID-19 pandemic. Eligibility waivers are requested at Executive Committee meetings, and she’s prepared somewhere north of 505 sets of minutes for those monthly sessions even as those agendas have grown in content substantially over the years.
Then there’s all of the correspondence from those four executive directors – all with the initials “kb” or “kj” to go with “AWB” or “VLN” or “JER” and “MU.” She also was in charge of MHSAA election ballots for 35 years, served as the lead organizer of cooperative programs, helped with football tickets for a time and briefly was part of the program-selling crew at early Football Finals at the Pontiac Silverdome.
“I think I’m pretty lucky, being on the Council and Executive Committee, that I’ve been able to work with her a lot. And most athletic directors, they may not even know who she is because they may not have contact with her or do anything with her – but she’s obviously been the unsung hero of that office,” said Vic Michaels, who serves as director of physical education & athletics for the Archdiocese of Detroit and has served on the Representative Council since 2003.
“She just does so much that you don’t really know about, especially with the Council. Whenever I need anything, Karen’s the one I call. She is the history, really. She’s the keeper of that.”
Unprecedented & 'Never to be Replicated'
A longtime co-worker of Jackson, Shirley Hytinen, retired in 1998 after just a few months more than 43 years. She too had worked for four executive directors, as she began in 1955 during the Charles E. Forsythe era.
Jackson surpassed Hytinen’s tenure a few years into Uyl’s, and can readily recall some of what stood out from all four directors she’s assisted.
Bush was “really stern” – he had served in the U.S. Marines – and she said he didn’t smile much until the day he announced his retirement, when it was “like a switch turned. He was smiling and happy and joking around.”
Norris was “the sweetest guy in the world.” Jackson had bought her first house in her mid-20s and was preparing to move in with only her dad and his motor home to assist, when Norris showed up to help at 7:30 a.m. that morning to provide another set of hands.
Roberts is known by Michigan administrators and national colleagues for his writing, and Jackson said jokingly she still “cringes” when she sees a yellow legal pad. She was an important proofreader and spent the majority of her career serving with her desk just a few paces away from that of the recent National Federation Hall of Fame selection, and she attended his induction this past summer and San Antonio.
Roberts pointed out that during the 1980s, the MHSAA would conduct nine Executive Committee meetings, each averaging fewer than 10 requests for waivers. By the end of his 32 years, there were 11 Executive Committee meetings annually – with approximately 50 waiver requests presented on average. Still, he and Jackson were able to process the meeting minutes and continue to distribute those decisions within 24 hours.
“Over the more than three decades that Karen and I worked together at the MHSAA, the work became increasingly more voluminous and complicated – and Karen kept finding ways to increase our efficiency and maximize our output,” Roberts said.
Like Norris when Bush was executive director, Uyl had been part of the MHSAA staff under Roberts since 2004 before eventually moving into the corner office. After those first 15 years together, Uyl knew what a valuable person he had just a few yards away to assist in his transition, and “he just says to do this” and allows his staff to run with it, which Jackson enjoyed.
Her duties have been shifted confidently, mostly to Jamie VanDerMoere, another longtime administrative assistant who is best-known to Michigan school sports people for her leadership with the annual wrestling championship tournaments.
Jackson recently was married to Jim Jackson, and they have plans as they close in on their first anniversary – they’re hoping to travel to Italy at some point and also The Masters in Augusta, Ga., next spring. “I’m not going to miss coming to work every day, but the people,” Karen Jackson said.
And many in school sports across Michigan, although they may not realize it, will miss the contributions Jackson has made to their community over the decades including the context she’s provided as thousands of decisions have been made.
“Not only her understanding of our regulations and the processes of our regulations, but understanding why we have those things in place – when someone does something 45 years, you get a lot of historical context,” Uyl said. “What’s made her so effective is understanding the why – and that to me is something that’s almost impossible to replace.
“When an organization has been around 98 years with only five directors, it says something to have worked for four out of the five. That will never be replicated again.”
PHOTOS (Top) From top left, Karen Jackson has been a mainstay of the MHSAA for decades – serving membership, working with administrators like Randy Allen and Gina Mazzolini or serving as assistant to executive directors like Jack Roberts (right) and Vern Norris. (Middle) Jackson, sitting fourth from left, was the “baby” of the MHSAA staff after joining when she was 18. (Below) Jackson and husband Jim have plans to travel in retirement. (MHSAA archives.)
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Uyl Follows Roberts in MHSAA SUCCESSion
By
Rob Kaminski
MHSAA benchmarks editor
December 7, 2018
The strength of the MHSAA decade after decade has been solid local school administration under the direction of insightful leaders at the state office in Lansing. New Executive Director Mark Uyl is prepared to build on that foundation while meeting challenges old and new as his tenure begins.
Even if he didn’t know it while it was happening, Mark Uyl spent a great deal of his life honing skills that would lead to his selection as the fifth-ever executive director of the Michigan High School Athletic Association.
Growing up in the world of sports officiating, communication, conviction and the ability to enforce rules and regulations come with the territory. Those who can’t cultivate such skills quickly get out, or get found out.
A decorated and lengthy career in officiating at the high school and collegiate levels serve as testimony that Uyl indeed excelled in those areas.
Those traits, Uyl says, figure to serve him well as he trades in his 14-year-old assistant director’s chair for his seat at the helm of the Association.
“I think the biggest adjustment is that you have to have thick skin and the stomach for enforcement of regulations,” Uyl said. “As an assistant director, I worked with committees and forwarded ideas. Now, as the ultimate decision-maker, I know that some people are going to be happy and some will be upset. I understand that some of this comes with territory.
“I think my officiating background helps. At the end of the day, our members expect that we will follow our rules and enforce our rules. Everyone loves having rules until the day comes when those rules affect ‘our school,’ or ‘our community.’ That’s when the ability to stand firm by the rules determined by our membership will help guide us through the process.”
Officials also listen a lot, many times to people who aren’t happy. That, too, is a skill Uyl brings to the table, not only through his experience in stripes or behind the mask, but also from his years as an educator and assistant director with the MHSAA.
“One of the things I am most proud of since coming to the MHSAA is that I believe I served as a caring voice for officials. They are too often the last people to be defended,” Uyl said. “I think people knew they had a guy who could relate to them and was walking in those same shoes. The relationships I was able to build with many officials in our state is important, and I think that's still an incredibly important function today.”
Other satisfactions came from sports more unfamiliar to Uyl prior to his employment at the MHSAA. Again, listening proved valuable.
“Directing our cross country and wrestling tournaments for many years taught me to be a better listener. Some of the really good things we did in both those sports were improved because we listened to those in the trenches,” Uyl said. “It was a really good lesson. I was probably a better administrator in cross country and wrestling because I was less familiar with those sports and relied on committee expertise. I know baseball, and because of that maybe had too many sacred cows – so to speak – and maybe wouldn’t be as open to ideas.”
Prior to his time at the MHSAA, Uyl first taught and coached and then served as athletic director and assistant principal at Middleville Thornapple-Kellogg High School, the latter from 2001-04. Before becoming an administrator there, Uyl served as athletic director at Caledonia High School in 2000-01.
In his 20-plus years of involvement with educational athletics plenty has changed, some for better and some for worse. Ironically, Uyl cites the same catalyst for both ends of the spectrum.
“Where sports have changed for the better, there are more opportunities than there have ever been. The number of sports – not only in-season, but out-of-season – has increased. There are more options available than ever before. That is often a good thing for kids,” he said.
“But, one of the biggest threats to school sports is the non-school sports economy. More people are making more money at youth, travel and club sport levels. Teachers and coaches in school sports are there to help students learn and grow, to become better people – not just athletes. That’s not always the case outside school sports. Too often, there’s a business dynamic that comes with those sports programs. Parents are quicker to get upset because of the money they've invested; they perceive that their kids are shortchanged by coaches’ decisions or officials’ calls.”
Such experiences can put a dent in officials retention throughout the state, a trend that needs to be reversed.
Uyl knows first-hand the values of positive early experiences in officiating.
“My dad has now been a registered official for 50 years. I grew up seeing what it was like to be an official,” Uyl said. “He ran the youth football, basketball and baseball leagues, and when your dad runs the youth program, you become an emergency official. I’ve always been kind of a rules guy anyway, so I liked that aspect and I also liked the money it put in my pocket. That was my job. I never had a job in fast food, landscaping, or anything like that. It was officiating.”
Uyl officiated collegiate baseball from 1997 until last June, putting away the gear following his 11th NCAA Division I Regional assignment. Working major conference baseball across the United States already put Uyl in elite company, but the pinnacle came with his appointment to the 2014 and 2017 College World Series crews in Omaha. He served as a college football referee for 10 years with several NCAA postseason assignments, and was coordinator of officials for the Michigan Intercollegiate Athletic Association. He was registered with the MHSAA for at least three sports beginning in 1992 and worked the Baseball Finals in 1999.
Uyl graduated from Caledonia High School in 1992 and from Calvin College in 1996 with a bachelor’s degree in history and physical education. He later received a master’s in educational leadership from Grand Valley State University. At Calvin, Uyl was a four-year starter on the baseball team, earning all-conference honors twice and serving as team captain.
Following college, there was little doubt as to his career path.
“In high school, I was just very, very fortunate to have a handful of people who made a huge impact on me as role models. Those people were teachers and coaches,” Uyl said. “I thought, ‘These are pretty impressive people, and hopefully there will be a day when I can give others the same kind of great experiences I had.’ Those coaches and teachers at Caledonia were great motivators.”
His passion for education and athletics made it difficult to imagine ever wanting to make a change professionally, until the opportunity at the MHSAA presented itself. Again, it was officiating that helped tilt the scales.
“At that time it was probably the hardest decision I have had to make in my life because I enjoyed teaching and coaching so much, but saw this opportunity in 2004 as the chance of a lifetime,” Uyl recalled. “Being able to help train and support 10,000 officials statewide was too good of an opportunity. If I didn't like officiating so much, I'd likely have stayed in the school system.”
As a sport director, Uyl has sought to create the best experiences for Michigan high school teams, including with the move of the MHSAA Baseball and Softball Finals to Michigan State University in 2014.
“The foundation built here by Jack Roberts over the last 32 years is the strongest in the country, and I’m honored to have the opportunity to lead our staff in building on that foundation,” Uyl said. “There will be many ways we’ll continue to protect the same values of educational athletics, while also looking for new ways and new opportunities to best serve the students and our member schools in Michigan.”
As assistant director, Uyl was instrumental as the MHSAA became the first state high school athletic association to offer concussion care insurance, which provides gap coverage to assist in covering costs for athletes who are injured while participating in MHSAA-sponsored sports.
As the new school year is underway with more immediate targets such as the changing transfer rule for 2019-20 and football playoffs and scheduling, Uyl and the MHSAA staff will also keep the well-being of student-athletes in their scope.
“Shortly after beginning my new role here, I met with some folks in the medical community, and it was interesting to hear that mental health among adolescents has become a huge priority,” Uyl said. “I had a doctor tell me that where he used to spend most of his days treating injuries and illnesses, now it’s just as much – or more – depression, anxiety and other mental health issues among school-age children that he is seeing. This certainly is an area that we have to keep at the forefront; how can we assist or provide programs to heighten awareness?
“We always assume that kids who play sports are the most healthy because they are busy and engaged and have it together, but now we are hearing that there are real mental topics that we need to discuss.”
Another long-range and continuing point of emphasis focuses on participation and multi-sport participation.
“While we have decisions to make regarding football playoffs and scheduling, the conversation needs to turn to participation numbers in that sport,” Uyl said. “We are losing freshman teams, JV teams, and at the youth level the numbers are down, too. Communities that used to have three and four teams now have one. If we don’t get our arms around participation, then all the playoff and scheduling stuff won’t matter in a few years.”
Participation is a hot topic for more than just the traditional sports like football. The MHSAA will continue to focus efforts toward multi-sport participation to combat specialization trends, and also bolster its presence at the junior high/middle school level, where students get their first taste of school-based athletics.
And even with 18 sports available to MHSAA member schools, Uyl promises to evaluate changing interests of students, which could lead to expanded opportunities.
“We will look with an objective eye to determine whether what we've traditionally offered continues to fit, and also look at expansion,” Uyl said. “The one that gets eyes rolling to anyone over 35 is e-sports, but to 20-somethings that could be the next big thing. We will also continue to be an inclusive organization, working closely with organizations such as Special Olympics. Our goal and purpose needs to involve all kids as their interests change with the times.”
Uyl is the fifth full-time executive in the MHSAA’s 94-year history, following Charles E. Forsythe (1931-42, 1945-68), Allen W. Bush (1968-78), Vern L. Norris (1978-86) and Roberts (1986-2018).
Uyl resides in DeWitt with his wife Marcy, an accomplished educator who has served as a high school varsity basketball coach since 1994. They have three children: Jackson (17), Grant (15) and Madison (11).
“Mark was the obvious choice to become the next executive director of the MHSAA,” said Roberts, who passed the torch after 32 years, and whose name now adorns the Association’s headquarters on Ramblewood Drive in East Lansing. “Mark has the proper student-focused perspective of educational athletics, excellent person-to-person communications skills and a deep practical understanding of what is happening day to day in school sports here and nationally.”
As they say in officiating, it was a good call.
Leading State's Schools a Labor of Love
The names – Norris, Bush, Forsythe – at one time synonymous with school sports in Michigan, are sometimes today more connected to MHSAA awards or meeting rooms at the home office in East Lansing.
But before the Norris Award recognized excellence in officiating, or the Bush Award lauded contributions to the MHSAA, or the Forsythe Award heralded excellence in athletics, these were the men who captained the MHSAA ship ahead of recently retired Jack Roberts.
Charles Forsythe was the MHSAA’s first executive director, guiding the Association from 1931-68. He was followed by Allen Bush, who took the reins from 1968-78 after serving under Forsythe as an assistant director from 1960-63 and as associate director from 1963-68. Vern Norris succeeded Bush in 1978 and would direct the MHSAA until 1986. From there it would be Roberts, whose 32-year term was second in length only to Forsythe’s span. During Roberts’ final days in August, he enjoyed a ceremony during which the current MHSAA building was named for him.
The four former executive directors had in common the traits of leadership, vision and passion, and always placed the good of scholastic sports at the forefront when weighing proposals and decisions.
The MHSAA was founded in 1924, when a different Forsythe, L.L., began an 18-year term as president of its Representative Council. In 1931, Charles Forsythe became the MHSAA’s first full-time executive director, a post he would occupy for 37 years.
A native of Milan and graduate of University of Michigan, Charles Forsythe was the athletic director at Lansing Central High School from 1923 until 1929 when he became the assistant director of athletics with the MHSAA. Two years later, he became the first executive director, guiding the Association until 1968 for all but a 37-month tour during World War II as a Navy Commander.
Forsythe was one of the first and finest authors on the topic of interscholastic athletics, and his “Administration of high school athletics” was used by administrators around the globe at that time.
In 1951, he received the Honor Award for the American Association for Health, Physical Education and Recreation, and in 1965 Eastern Michigan University presented him with an honorary Doctor of Laws degree.
Forsythe died in December 1968, months after his August retirement from the MHSAA.
Bush served under Forsythe from 1960 until he began his 10-year term as executive director in 1968. Bush oversaw some of the most significant developments in MHSAA history, chiefly the addition of girls sports – MHSAA tournaments existed for nine girls sports when he retired – plus the addition of football playoffs in 1975, and MHSAA tournaments in baseball, ice hockey and skiing.
Bush was a graduate of Kalamazoo University and later earned multiple bachelor’s degrees from Western Michigan University and a master’s in school administration from University of Michigan. He was captain of the football team at WMU and received its Most Valuable Player and Athletic-Scholarship awards as a senior, and later was named Man of the Year in 1975 by WMU’s Alumni W Club.
Bush also studied at Princeton University and the University of Arizona and served six years of active duty with the U.S. Marine Corps during World War II and the Korean War. He was discharged with a rank of first lieutenant.
Bush died in 2013 at age 90.
Norris served under both Forsythe and Bush, beginning his work at the MHSAA in 1963. He would succeed Bush at the top in 1978.
Norris brought to the MHSAA a wealth of experience having coached at Traverse City, Rockford and Hillsdale high schools. He served as Assistant Director of Placement at Western Michigan University for the five years prior to joining the MHSAA staff, and during that time Norris built a reputation as a highly-regarded game official in the Kalamazoo area – and worked as a referee during the 1963 MHSAA Class A Boys Basketball Final.
Norris served on a number of national rules-making bodies during his 23-year tenure with the MHSAA, and as president of the Executive Board of the National Federation of State High School Associations (NFHS) during the 1983-84 school year. But he was best known for his work with Michigan’s coaches and especially officials.
Norris remained a frequent visitor to the MHSAA office prior to his death last February.
Roberts took the controls in 1986 at age 37, then the youngest leader of a high school athletic association, and would leave last August as the longest-serving active director in the nation after 32 years.
Under Roberts’ leadership, overall participation in high school athletics in Michigan increased 10 percent, and the MHSAA added more than 200 schools in increasing its membership by more than 15 percent at the high school and junior high/middle school levels combined. Most recently, in 2016, 6th-graders were allowed to compete for member schools for the first time as a push was made to increase junior high/middle school membership and serve the state’s students at an earlier age.
But the most significant and arguably lasting work influenced by Roberts came on topics not related to specific sports or competition. The MHSAA has led nationally in concussion care with its first programming in 2000 and return-to-play protocols enacted in 2010, and with concussion pilot testing, mandated reporting and insurance for those who suffer head injuries rolled out in 2015.
He is a 1970 graduate of Dartmouth College and previously served as an assistant director for the National Federation from 1973-80. He came to the MHSAA in 1986 from the Fellowship of Christian Athletes.
PHOTOS: (Top) MHSAA Executive Director Mark Uyl speaks during an in-service for new athletic directors this fall. (Middle) Jack Roberts stood this summer in front of the building that now bears his name. (Below) Al Bush, Charles Forsythe and Vern Norris.