2026 MHSAA Bush Awards Honorees Exemplify Dedicated Service in Several Roles
By
Geoff Kimmerly
MHSAA.com senior editor
June 30, 2026
Athletic administrators must balance multiple roles no matter the size of their school districts or numbers of sports they direct, and St. Ignace’s Don Gustafson, Brethren’s Jason Kemler, Grand Rapids’ Jolinda Lucas and Greenville’s Brian Zdanowski have thrived while shouldering wide-ranging responsibilities to provide first-rate athletic experiences for their students.
Their dedication to school sports and those athletes – both locally and statewide – made them clearly deserving recipients of 2026 Allen W. Bush Meritorious Service Awards as selected by the Michigan High School Athletic Association’s Representative Council.
Al Bush served as executive director of the MHSAA for 10 years. The award honors individuals for past and continuing service to school athletics as a coach, administrator, official, trainer, doctor or member of the media. The award was developed to bring recognition to people who are giving and serving locally, regionally or statewide without a lot of attention. This is the 35th year of the award.
Gustafson has taught at his alma mater St. Ignace since 1982 and continued even after retiring from administration in 2021. In addition to his classroom work, he served as assistant athletic director his first three years, then athletic director for four, as junior high principal from 1994-2005, high school principal from 2005-11 and superintendent for the next decade.
He’s also been an MHSAA-registered game official since 1978, working six Finals in football, one in basketball and numerous in cross country, in addition to several more postseason events during his time officiating seven sports. He was named to the Basketball Coaches Association of Michigan (BCAM) Hall of Honor in 2021 as an official and “Friend of Basketball.”
Gustafson served on the MHSAA Representative Council from 2015-21. The Michigan State University grad also has served on St. Ignace’s city council, taking time away only during his tenure as superintendent.
“Don Gustafson’s contributions to school sports span nearly half a century and have included everything from behind-the-scenes support to being considered one of the state’s top game officials and a valued voice on our Representative Council,” MHSAA Executive Director Mark Uyl said. “He has long been a knowledgeable and positive voice impacting not only the Upper Peninsula but our community statewide.”
Brethren High School athletic director Jason Kemler recently completed his 20th year with the Kaleva Norman Dickson school district, where he has hosted several MHSAA Tournament events in a variety of sports including Regionals in track & field both at the high school and middle school/junior high levels. He’s also served on multiple MHSAA committees including the Junior High/Middle School Committee.
Kemler has done extensive work as well as part of the Michigan Interscholastic Athletic Administrators Association (MIAAA), serving as a regional representative, historical records chairperson and co-chair of the middle school/junior high committee, and also co-chair for the MIAAA’s 60th and 65th anniversary celebrations. He was named the MIAAA’s Region 3 Athletic Director of the Year in 2023.
Kemler is a graduate of Dansville High School and Albion College and received his teaching certificate from Michigan State University and master’s from Central Michigan University. He also serves as a captain for his local fire department.
“Jason Kemler’s stamp is all over the Brethren athletic department and community as a whole, as he’s embraced all of the roles that go with serving at a small school – teaching physical education and history and coaching as well as serving as athletic director and representing his school in significant ways among his colleagues statewide,” Uyl said. “His commitment and dedication are fine examples of what the Bush Award seeks to recognize.”
Lucas also has made an outsized impact at the middle school level during her 14 years serving in multiple roles for Grand Rapids Public Schools, including as middle school athletic director, director of all GRPS elementary sports and as athletic director for Grand Rapids University Prep Academy, whose students compete for either Ottawa Hills or Union High School. She has served on the MHSAA Junior High/Middle School Committee, contributing to an increasing emphasis at that level, and was selected as a meet manager for inaugural MHSAA Cross Country and Track & Field Regionals for junior high/middle school athletes.
Also a teacher at University Prep and an MHSAA-registered official the last six years for track & field and cross country – and the last two for volleyball – Lucas has served as sportsmanship chair for the MIAAA and as part of the MHSAA/Farm Bureau Insurance Scholar-Athlete Award Committee, and on the board for the Michigan-based Academy of Sports Leadership. She was named the MIAAA’s Region 14 Athletic Director of the Year in 2022.
Lucas graduated from Hobart (Ind.) High School and has a bachelor’s degree in physical education and health from Indiana State University, a master’s in educational leadership from Indiana University, and earned her certified athletic administrator designation from the National Interscholastic Athletic Administrators Association (NIAAA). She is a Red Cross instructor and has served on the GRPS health and physical education leadership team. Prior to coming to Grand Rapids, Lucas served in multiple athletic administration roles in Indiana, where she also taught for 24 years and earned a 30-year coaching and multiple 20-year service awards.
“Jolinda Lucas has brought a special dedication to our junior high and middle school sports and their important roles in educational athletics,” Uyl said. “She has provided valuable input on a variety of historic decisions, including the addition of sixth graders to MHSAA competition and creation of Regional competitions in cross country and track & field. Her foresight is impacting Michigan’s school-sports athletes at the youngest levels and making a difference that will continue to benefit them as they advance to high school programs.”
Zdanowski recently completed his 28th school year as athletic director at Greenville after previously serving as a teacher, coach and athletic director over a decade at Onaway and Midland Bullock Creek. As an athletic director, he has hosted more than 100 MHSAA Tournament events, including five 8-Player Football Finals and 13 11-Player Semifinals. He also has been an MHSAA-registered game official for 44 years, working five sports including Finals in baseball in 1995 and football in 2001.
The longtime administrator also has served on multiple MHSAA committees, including more than a decade on the MHSAA/Farm Bureau Insurance Scholar-Athlete Award Committee, and served as Ottawa-Kent Conference president for two years. He’s been a member of the MIAAA for 34 years, Michigan Association of Secondary School Principals (MASSP) for 28 years and National Association of Sports Officials (NASO) for 25. He was named the MIAAA’s Region 4 Athletic Director of the Year in 2008.
Zdanowski, a graduate of Standish-Sterling, has a bachelor’s degree in teacher education from Saginaw Valley State University and a master’s in athletic administration from Central Michigan University. He’s also completed 24 courses from the NIAAA Leadership Training Institute.
“Brian Zdanowski has created a program at Greenville that is the model of quality, and that was proven deservedly when his athletic department was named an Exemplary Athletic Program by the MIAAA in 2000, the first year of that prestigious recognition program,” Uyl said. “He has consistently shared what he’s built at home with the rest of the state for now several decades, and we continue to be thankful for Brian’s desire to serve and contribute to school sports in a variety of leadership roles.”
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.
Rep Council Wrap-up: Winter 2014
March 24, 2014
The addition of a training requirement for first-time high school varsity coaches and football practice policy changes focused on player safety highlighted actions taken by the Representative Council of the Michigan High School Athletic Association during its annual Winter Meeting on March 21 in East Lansing.
Raising expectations for coaches’ preparedness is one of four current thrusts of the MHSAA’s ongoing focus on health and safety issues in school sports. The Council voted to require every individual hired for the first time as a varsity head coach at an MHSAA member high school after July 31, 2016 to have completed the MHSAA’s Coaches Advancement Program (CAP) Level 1 or Level 2. CAP is a six-level MHSAA-administered educational regimen that aids coaches in their growth and development as they advance in the field of educational athletics.
This is the third action the Council has approved over the last year to enhance the preparation of coaches with respect to health and safety issues. The first action, adopted in May 2013, requires all assistant and subvarsity coaches at the high school level to complete the same rules and risk minimization meeting requirement as high school varsity head coaches beginning with the 2014-15 school year. The second, adopted during the Fall Meeting in December, requires all varsity high school head coaches have a current CPR certification beginning with the 2015-16 school year.
By adopting a series of football changes, the Council also advanced a thrust toward revising practice policies and game rules to improve player safety in all sports. The practice policy changes were proposed by a Football Task Force made up of coaches, administrators and MHSAA staff which met throughout 2013. The following were approved by the Council:
- During the first week of practice of the season, only helmets are allowed the first two days, only shoulder pads may be added on the third and fourth days, and full pads may not be worn until the fifth day of team practice.
- Before the first regular-season game, schools may not schedule more than one “collision” practice in a day. A collision practice is defined as one in which there is live, game-speed, player-versus-player contact in pads involving any number of players.
- After the first regular-season game, teams may conduct no more than two collision practice days in any week, Monday through Sunday.
- No single football practice may exceed three hours, and the total practice time for days with multiple practice sessions may not exceed five hours. Neither strength/weight training activities nor video/classroom sessions are considered practice for the purposes of the three or five-hour limits.
Additional details and explanations of the new football practice policies are found on the Football page of the MHSAA Website.
The Council also approved a series of proposals regarding the eligibility of international students, who by an estimate from the Council on Standards for International Educational Travel (CSIET) numbered more than 3,800 in Michigan in 2012. The Representative Council approved a change to a portion of the MHSAA’s transfer regulation to refer to international students, not merely “foreign exchange” students, and also approved a proposal that would grant an international student athletic eligibility at an MHSAA school only if that student is placed through an Approved International Student Program accepted for listing by CSIET or approved by the MHSAA.
Those international students placed through an Approved International Student Program would be eligible for a maximum of the first two consecutive semesters or three consecutive trimesters at any secondary school in the United States, after which the student is ineligible for interscholastic athletic competition at any MHSAA member school for the next academic year. International students who do not meet one of the residency exceptions recognized by the MHSAA or are not enrolled through an Approved International Student Program may become eligible to participate at the subvarsity level only.
Continuing its examination of athletics at the junior high/middle school level, the Council also approved changes to allow for longer competitions in two sports. The length of quarters in basketball may be increased from six minutes to a maximum of eight minutes, and the length of quarters in football may be increased from eight minutes to a maximum of 10 minutes.
The Representative Council is the legislative body of the MHSAA. All but five members are elected by member schools. Four members are appointed by the Council to facilitate representation of females and minorities, and the 19th position is occupied by the Superintendent of Public Instruction or designee.
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.