AHSAA’s Mitchell Receives NFHS Award
Alabama High School Athletic Association Assistant Director Alan Mitchell was one of 12 leaders in high school activity programs across the country to receive National Federation of State High School Associations (NFHS) Citations Friday at the 92nd NFHS Summer Meeting in Philadelphia, PA.
An award designed to honor individuals who have made contributions to the NFHS, state high school associations, athletic director and coaching professions, the officiating avocation and fine arts/performing arts programs, the NFHS Citation is one of the most highly-regarded achievements in high school activities.
“Alan Mitchell is part of the foundation from which this association was established,” AHSAA Executive Director Steve Savarese said. “Alan has exemplified loyal service to AHSAA member schools while providing professionalism to all he encounters. The AHSAA is honored to have Alan as a recipient of this most prestigious honor.”
Mitchell was reared in Montgomery where he attended Robert E. Lee High School and Huntingdon College, joined the AHSAA staff in 1979 as director of publicity and publications. In his current role as AHSAA assistant director, Mitchell is responsible for championship awards, spring sports sites, sports committee meetings, building maintenance and Web site development.
Now in his 32nd year with the AHSAA, Mitchell joined the organization after 14 years in the newspaper business and five years in college public relations. He started as a part-time sportswriter for the Montgomery Advertiser during his senior year of high school and continued on to full-time employment in its sports department. While attending Huntingdon College, Mitchell served as the school’s sports information director from 1960 until his graduation in 1964.
After two additional years of study at Huntingdon, Mitchell became director of publicity at Tennessee Wesleyan College from 1966 to 1971, and he then returned to the newspaper business as Montgomery Advertiser sports writer and then sports editor of the Alabama Journal for eight years before joining the AHSAA.
Mitchell is a member of the Huntingdon College Athletic Hall of Fame and has served on the committee to select its future members. He has held membership in the National Sportscasters and Sports Writers Association, the National Association of Baseball Writers and Sigma Delta Chi (The Society of Professional Journalists).
Mitchell was the AHSAA’s first full-time director of publicity and publications and recently became the association’s web site coordinator. In this capacity, Mitchell coordinates the production and layout of most AHSAA publications and web site updating. He has also been involved with many facets of the state association’s Hall of Fame since its onset in 1991.
Eight of the 12 award winners represent the NFHS-member state high school associations. The other four Citation recipients represent NFHS professional organizations for officials, coaches, music and speech/debate/theatre.
In addition to Mitchell, other state association recipients were Carol Parsons, retired associate director of the New Jersey State Interscholastic Athletic Association; Lora Bickley, administrative assistant, Virginia High School League; Nate Hampton, assistant director, Michigan High School Athletic Association; George Blase, retired assistant executive director, Missouri State High School Activities Association; David Jackson, associate executive director, Oklahoma Secondary School Activities Association; Chuck Schmidt; chief operating officer, Arizona Interscholastic Association; and Michael Janecek, retired athletic director/coach, Palmer (Alaska) High School.
Other Citation recipients were John Summervill, contest official, Hutchinson, Kansas; Sam Tipton, executive director, Texas Girls Coaches Association; David Circle, retired fine arts/performing arts director, Overland Park, Kansas; and Douglas Springer, retired debate coach, Winnetka (Illinois) New Trier Township High School.