Adrian Madison's Isom Leads at All Levels
By
Geoff Kimmerly
MHSAA.com senior editor
February 21, 2019
Over more than three decades, Adrian Madison athletic director Kris Isom has taken on responsibilities not only in her league and regionally, but statewide as a member of the MHSAA Representative Council – in addition to her athletic department responsibilities at the high school and junior high.
And yet, she still teaches multiple classes and coaches at least one of the district’s teams every year, serving and building relationships at the most local level of her wide influence on educational athletics.
She’s made those relationships a priority, also serving as class advisor to Madison students through last year when her daughter Rachel graduated. One year during the 1990s, in fact, the graduating class even dedicated its yearbook to her.
“I like being in the classroom and coaching because I still have a connection with kids, know who they are,” Isom said. “Being at a smaller school, you’re able to know who kids are, but at the middle school especially I don’t know a lot. Getting involved in coaching has helped me put a name with a face so I will know them coming up.”
She continues to impact students at Madison and beyond, and will be recognized for her many contributions with the 32nd Women In Sports Leadership Award during halftime of the Division 3 Girls Basketball Final on March 23 at Calvin College’s Van Noord Arena.
Each year, the 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.
Isom is in her 33rd year as athletic director at Adrian Madison, taking over athletics for the high school and junior high after serving as a teacher and coach for a year at Clinton. She has served as part of the MHSAA Representative Council since 2008, representing Class C and D schools from the state’s southeastern section.
“I’m very honored by this award, not only because it’s for women in leadership. I’ve been doing this 33 years and I’ve seen more and more women in this profession … that for all things considered is a man’s profession,” Isom said. “Having a daughter, who while she’s not following my footsteps, but getting her in the business world eventually, it’s a good feeling.”
Isom’s contributions to high school sports and its participants are many and at all levels. Within her district, she has coached basketball, volleyball, sideline cheer, track & field and softball – at least one sport every year, including as the eighth grade girls basketball coach this season.
At the league level, Isom has served as president of the Tri-County Conference since 2002 after previously serving as vice president and secretary/treasurer. Serving more of her neighboring districts, Isom has hosted numerous District, Regional and Quarterfinal competitions and MHSAA Coaches Advancement Program (CAP) sessions.
At the statewide level, Isom has provided her expertise as a member of the Representative Council and as a 33-year member of the Michigan Interscholastic Athletic Administrators Association and National Interscholastic Athletic Administrators Association. She also assists MHSAA staff annually in selecting members of the 16-student Student Advisory Council.
She was named the MIAAA’s Region 6 “Athletic Director of the Year” in 2000 and received the MHSAA’s Allen W. Bush Award in 2016 to recognize her many behind-the-scenes contributions.
“Kris Isom continues to provide a steadying presence on our Representative Council. She researches issues and really brings a voice of reason to the discussion – not only to the full Council, but to the Executive Committee as well,” MHSAA Executive Director Mark Uyl said. “She does a great job representing the southeastern corner of the state, bringing a small-school perspective to the table time after time. We’re thankful for her leadership and glad to present her with the Women In Sports Leadership Award.”
Part of leadership is being an example, and Isom has served as one for many. Of course that growing group included her daughter who this year left home to study in the dental hygiene program at Jackson College but has frequently been by Mom’s side for the many activities.
“Hopefully, (she learned) to be assertive, that she needs to be a good listener, and obviously you have to be a mediator,” Kris Isom said. “Hopefully seeing all those aspects, and dealing with situations and different issues, she’ll be a better problem solver, be more open (to the idea) that there is more than one side of a story.”
A graduate of Clinton High School, Isom received her bachelor’s degree in science and teaching certification in physical education and health in 1984 from Michigan State University. She earned her master’s in elementary education in 1986 from Eastern Michigan University and also has completed graduate courses from Fresno Pacific University.
In addition to the MIAAA and NIAAA, Isom is a member of the Michigan Association for Health, Physical Education, Recreation and Dance (MAHPERD) and the Michigan State University Alumni Association. She’s active with The Clinton United Church of Christ in various service projects, including an annual fundraiser for cancer research, and also participates in local Meals on Wheels, American Red Cross and Habitat for Humanity projects.
The first Women In Sports Leadership Award was presented in 1990.
Past recipients
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 Notre Dame Prep
2017 – Dottie Davis, Ann Arbor Huron
2018 – Meg Seng, Ann Arbor Greenhills
PHOTO: Adrian Madison athletic director Kris Isom, right, presents the Division 8 football championship trophy to Reading coach Rick Bailey in November at Ford Field.
Leland's Glass Childress Selected as 11th Michigan Inductee Into NFHS Hall of Fame
By
Geoff Kimmerly
MHSAA.com senior editor
March 9, 2026
More than two decades have passed since Alisha Glass took her final swing at a volleyball in a Leland High School uniform, and yet her accomplishments for her small-town school in Northern Michigan remain among the most notable in that sport’s history not just statewide, but at the national level.
Glass, now Alisha Glass Childress – who went on to star on three Penn State national championship teams and help the U.S. national team to a bronze medal at the 2016 Olympics – will have her record-setting high school career enshrined this summer as one of 12 honorees announced today as this year’s inductees into the National High School Hall of Fame by the National Federation of State High School Associations (NFHS).
Childress will be inducted as part of the 43rd Hall of Fame class at a ceremony during the NFHS summer meeting June 29 in Salt Lake City. The rest of the class is made up of four more athletes, three coaches, two game officials, one former state association administrator and one former fine arts educator. Childress was nominated by the Michigan High School Athletic Association.
She will become the Hall of Fame’s 11th inductee from Michigan, joining the MHSAA’s first full-time Executive Director Charles E. Forsythe (inducted 1983), River Rouge boys basketball coach Lofton Greene (1986), Warren Regina athletic director, softball and basketball coach Diane Laffey (2000), Fennville basketball and baseball standout Richie Jordan (2001), Grosse Pointe Woods University Liggett boys and girls tennis coach Bob Wood (2005), Bloomfield Hills Cranbrook hockey standout Jim Johnson (2007), Owosso football, basketball and baseball all-stater Brad Van Pelt (2011); Vermontville Maple Valley baseball national record holder Ken Beardslee (2016), retired MHSAA Executive Director John E. “Jack” Roberts (2022) and Dearborn Heights Robichaud football, basketball and track & field star Tyrone Wheatley (2024).
“My high school career at Leland, surrounded by such an amazing support system and community, was the essential first chapter of my story. It cultivated the grit and the fundamental love for the game that allowed me to reach the highest levels of athletics,” Childress said. “I’m proud of every medal and trophy, but I’m just as proud of the roots I planted back in high school that made them all possible.”
Childress graduated from Leland in 2006 with national high school career records of 3,584 kills, 680 blocks and 937 aces, and 296 aces for one season as a junior. Her aces records still stand, her career kills record stood until broken in 2024 by Shelby’s Navea Gauthier, and she remains third on the career blocks list. Glass continues to hold MHSAA records for single-season and career aces and also for her 48 kills in Leland’s 2005-06 Class D Final win over Battle Creek St. Philip. Childress also led Leland to a Class D runner-up finish in 2004-05 and the Semifinals in 2003-04. (All three tournament runs took place while girls volleyball was still played during the winter season before moving to the fall to begin the 2007-08 school year).
Childress earned the Miss Volleyball Award and Gatorade Player of the Year Award for Michigan as a senior, and her name is listed 19 times throughout the MHSAA girls volleyball record book. She also made Michigan's Class D all-state first team on the basketball court as both a junior and senior, averaging 18 points and 11 rebounds per game as a junior and 16 points, 10 rebounds and 3.7 blocked shots per game as a senior while leading her basketball team to Class D Quarterfinals both of those seasons.
“As our staff researched our first 50 years of female sports for our ‘Title IX at 50’ celebration during the 2021-22 school year, they told stories of several standouts who went on to collegiate, Olympic and professional stardom – and Alisha Glass stands out even among the greats,” MHSAA Executive Director Mark Uyl said. “Taking into account everything she accomplished individually and with her teams, and not just in volleyball but basketball as well, it’s a strong argument that Alisha Glass continues to set the bar as not only our state’s best female athlete all-time, but arguably the most accomplished volleyball player in national high school history. We are thrilled that she will be inducted into the National High School Hall of Fame.”
Also during high school, Childress played on the 2004 and 2005 USA youth national volleyball teams and helped the 2004 team to the North, Central America and Caribbean Volleyball Confederation (NORECA) championship, and was named Best Server at that event. After high school, she started all four seasons at national power Penn State and set the Nittany Lions to three straight NCAA championships, being named to the American Volleyball Coaches Association (AVCA) All-America first team twice and second team once.
Childress continued her career professionally and internationally, playing professionally in the United States and Puerto Rico, Italy, Turkey, Poland and Brazil and being named USA Volleyball Indoor Female Athlete of the Year for both 2013 and 2014. She led the U.S. national team to bronze at 2016 Olympics and was named Best Setter of the tournament, after being selected as an alternate for the 2012 Olympic team.
Most recently, Childress played for the Pro Volleyball Federation's Vegas Thrill in 2024 and 2025 and played in the league's first All-Star Match last season. She’s currently the head coach of the San Diego Mojo of Major League Volleyball and last summer also completed her first season as a coach with Athletes Unlimited. She previously served as an assistant coach with the Stanford University women’s volleyball program from 2019-21 – including during the team’s run to the Division I national title in 2019 – and also served as an assistant for the gold medal-winning U.S. national team during the 2018 Pan American Cup.
Childress is the daughter of Laurie Glass, who retired from coaching Leland after the 2023 season and ranks seventh in MHSAA girls volleyball coaching history for victories with a career record of 1,259-410-124. Glass led Leland to three Class D championships and five runner-up finishes. Childress’ grandfather Larry Glass ranks on the MHSAA girls basketball coaching victory list with a 388-110 record and led Leland to three straight Class D titles from 1980-82. He also coached the Northwestern University men’s basketball team for six seasons.
Additionally, Childress is married to past Stanford basketball star Josh Childress, who went on to play eight seasons in the NBA and several more overseas. They have three daughters, Maya, Mina and Amara.
The National High School Hall of Fame was started in 1982 by the NFHS. The 12 individuals were chosen after a two-level selection process involving a screening committee composed of active high school state association administrators, coaches and officials, and a final selection committee composed of coaches, former athletes, state association officials, media representatives and educational leaders. Nominations were made through NFHS member associations. Also chosen for this class were athletes Joe Carter (Oklahoma), Jordan Larson (Nebraska), Krissy Wendell-Pohl (Minnesota) and Patrick Willis (Tennessee); sport coaches Jan Barker (Texas), David Gentry (North Carolina) and Flo Valdez (New Mexico); game officials Burney Jenkins (Kentucky) and Mary Lou Thimas (Massachusetts), former state association administrator Steve Savarese (Alabama) and former fine arts educator Craig Ihnen (Iowa).
For more on this year’s Hall of Fame class, visit the NFHS Website.