INDIANAPOLIS, IN (June 26, 2023) — The National Federation of State High School Associations’ (NFHS) 104th Summer Meeting will be held June 28-July 1 at the Hyatt Regency Seattle in Seattle, Washington. This will be the third time Seattle has played host to the NFHS Summer Meeting, and the first time the event has returned to the Emerald City since 1983.
The national leader for education-based high school athletics and activities programs since 1920, the NFHS features a membership of 51 state high school associations – one in each of the 50 states plus the District of Columbia. More than 650 state association staff and board members, NFHS Board of Directors members, other national high school activities leaders and their spouses are expected to attend this year’s meeting, an increase of more than 250 guests from the NFHS’ first post-pandemic Summer Meeting in 2021.
For those unable to make the trip to Seattle, live streaming options for three of the meeting’s marquis events – the Summer Meeting Luncheon, the National High School Hall of Fame Press Conference and the Hall of Fame Banquet – will be available on the NFHS Network (
www.NFHSNetwork.com) at no cost.
The Opening Ceremony will begin the Summer Meeting festivities at 4 p.m. PT on Wednesday, June 28, and will be highlighted by the National High School Spirit of Sport Award and the National High School Heart of the Arts Award presentations.
Gabe Marsh, a para-athlete swimmer from Guntersville (Alabama) High School, will be honored with the National High School Spirit of Sport Award, while Adam Mewhorter and Casey Hubbard, a band director-student duo from Southmoore High School in Moore, Oklahoma, are the recipients of the National High School Heart of the Arts Award.
Following the Opening Ceremony at 5:15 p.m., acclaimed filmmaker and storyteller Brett Culp will headline the First General Session with a presentation focused on “Inspiring Performance and Potential in Work and Life.”
The Second General Session is slated for 9 a.m. PT on Thursday, June 29, and will provide important updates from NFHS CEO Karissa Niehoff, NFHS COO Davis Whitfield, NFHS Board of Directors President Sally Marquez and National Interscholastic Athletic Administrators Association Executive Director Phil Rison.
In lieu of a Closing General Session, the 2023 Summer Meeting will feature a Third General Session held at 3:15 p.m. on Thursday with guest speaker Dan Thurmon, a personal empowerment motivator.
Beginning at 12:15 p.m. PT on Friday, June 30, the Summer Meeting Luncheon will include the presentation of 14 NFHS Citations to individuals who have made extraordinary contributions to high school activity programs.
Eight Citations are awarded to outstanding state association administrators in each of the NFHS Sections, with Larry White of New Jersey (Section 1), Darren Bilberry of Kentucky (Section 2), Ernie Yarbrough of Georgia (Section 3), Todd Tharp of Iowa (Section 4), Jennifer Schwartz of Nebraska (Section 5), Mike Whaley of Oklahoma (Section 6), Roger Blake of California (Section 7), and Andy Barnes of Washington (Section 8) comprising the 2023 recipients.
Five additional Citations are being distributed to individuals who have shown exemplary service to the four NFHS professional associations. This year’s professional association winners are Harold “Pinky” Primrose of Iowa (NFHS Coaches Association); Mark Dreibelbis of North Carolina (NFHS Officials Association); Jennifer Brooks of Oregon (NFHS Music Association); and Jamelle Brown of Kansas (speech and debate) and Rebecca Meyer-Larson of Minnesota (theatre) – NFHS Speech/Debate/Theatre/Academics Association.
The final NFHS Citation will be presented to Bruce Howard, NFHS Director of Publications and Communications, who has overseen the production of virtually every publication the NFHS has created, as well as substantial growth in the organization’s communication efforts during his 38-year tenure.
Just like last year, 42 individual workshops will be offered at the 2023 Summer Meeting spread out over six workshop sessions beginning Thursday morning and concluding Saturday afternoon. Notable workshop topics for this meeting include mental health; working with state legislatures; Name, Image and Likeness (NIL); social media marketing; and engaging new sports officials.
The Legal/Sports Medicine Workshop, the meeting’s premiere forum for current legal and medical issues in high school activities and one of the highest attended workshops each year, will be conducted at 1:30 p.m. PT on Saturday, July 1.
The Hall of Fame Press Conference will be held at 12 p.m. PT on Saturday, and will set up the Summer Meeting’s signature culminating event, the Hall of Fame Banquet and induction ceremony, at 6 p.m. PT that evening.
(See full listing of live-streamed events at the end of this release.)
The National High School Hall of Fame will welcome its 40th class on the evening of July 1, with four outstanding athletes, five decorated coaches, one longtime state association administrator, one multi-faceted contributor and one distinguished music educator rounding out the 12-member cohort.
Class of 2023 inductees include (athletes) Carlos Boozer of Alaska, Maranda Brownson of Oregon, Tamika Catchings of Texas and Clarissa Chun of Hawaii; (coaches) Sue Butz-Stavin of Pennsylvania, Barbara Campbell of Tennessee, Ted Ginn Sr. of Ohio, the late Allan Trimble of Oklahoma and Sister Lynn Winsor of Arizona; (administrator) Dave Stead of Minnesota; (other/contributor) Dave Carlsrud of North Dakota; and (performing arts) Bill Webb of Minnesota.
Boozer was one of the top athletes in Alaska history during his years at Juneau-Douglas High School in Juneau before going on to play collegiate basketball at Duke University and 13 seasons in the National Basketball Association. Brownson was a dominant track and field performer at Yoncalla (Oregon) High School, where she won state championships in four different events in each of her four years – the maximum number of individual titles allowed under Oregon School Activities Association bylaws. Catchings split her high school basketball career between Illinois and Texas and was named Miss Texas Basketball and Naismith National Player of the Year at Duncanville (Texas) High School before receiving the college version of the Naismith award at the University of Tennessee and playing 15 years in the Women’s National Basketball Association. Chun became the first wrestler in the United States to win an official state high school girls wrestling title when she claimed the 98-pound Hawaii High School Athletic Association girls division crown, and later competed in both the 2008 and 2012 Olympic Games.
Butz-Stavin is the nation’s winningest high school field hockey coach by a margin of about 200 victories and has led her teams to 14 Pennsylvania Interscholastic Athletic Association state championships in 37 title-game appearances. Campbell sits atop the list for high school volleyball coaching wins in the state of Tennessee and ranks third nationally, and added 16 Tennessee Secondary School Athletic Association state championships during her 33-year career at Brentwood High School. Ginn Sr. has compiled a 240-60 record over his 25 years as Glenville (Ohio) High School head football coach and led Glenville to its first Ohio High School Athletic Association state championship this past fall – the first state title ever won by a school from Cleveland’s (city) Senate League. Trimble was the most successful high school football coach in Oklahoma history during his 22 years as head football coach at Jenks High School and set multiple Oklahoma Secondary School Activities Association 6A records including longest winning streak, most consecutive state titles and most consecutive playoff victories. Trimble’s wife, Courtney, will accept the induction honors on his behalf. In 48 years as the girls golf coach at Xavier College Preparatory in Phoenix, Arizona, Winsor has guided her teams to a national-record 37 Arizona Interscholastic Association state championships – including a stretch of 16 consecutive crowns from 1980 to 1995 – and to 285 straight regular-season match victories since 1996.
In addition to his 10 years of service to the NFHS Board of Directors and Strategic Planning Committee, Stead made a lasting impact during his 32 years with the Minnesota State High School League (MSHSL) as the association became the first nationwide to provide students with opportunities in girls ice hockey, Adapted Sports, robotics and clay target during his leadership.
Carlsrud served high school sports for more than 50 years as an assistant executive director for the North Dakota High School Activities Association (22 years), multi-sport official (53 years), coach and major contributor to the NFHS rules-writing efforts in the sports of football (22 years) and wrestling.
Webb was the band director in the Edina (Minnesota) School District for nearly 30 years, during which his bands performed at many local, national and international events – including performances in Singapore, Hong Kong and Beijing, China – and appeared at the prestigious Minnesota Music Educators Association Conference four times, a feat comparable to winning four athletics state championships.
The following events during the NFHS Summer Meeting can be watched live on the NFHS Network (
www.NFHSNetwork.com).
Link:
https://www.nfhsnetwork.com/events/nfhs/evt53f458f22c Hall of Fame Press Conference (Saturday, July 1, 12 p.m. PT) Link:
https://www.nfhsnetwork.com/events/nfhs/evtd830c6bfe2 Hall of Fame Banquet (Saturday, July 1, 6 p.m. PT) Link:
https://www.nfhsnetwork.com/events/nfhs/evte1eddef212 
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