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MHSAA Remembers Late Director Norris

By Geoff Kimmerly
MHSAA.com senior editor

February 12, 2018

Jack Roberts always was astonished at the amount of detail his predecessor Vern Norris could recall about the people he’d met over many years contributing to high school athletics at the state and national levels.

When the Michigan High School Athletic Association executive director last spoke with his predecessor, Norris had been in contact with past counterparts from Kansas, Iowa and the National Federation – although Norris had retired from the MHSAA more than three decades ago. 

“He was genuinely interested in people and their backgrounds and their families,” Roberts said. “He had good friends. He was good at being a friend, and colleague. I think he genuinely cared about relationships between people.”

And he built many over 23 years at the MHSAA office.

Norris, who led the MHSAA from the fall of 1978 through the summer of 1986, died early Monday morning in Lansing. He was 89.

Norris joined the MHSAA staff on July 15, 1963, as Assistant State Director of Athletics under longtime Executive Director Charles E. Forsythe and then-Associate Director Allen W. Bush. Norris was promoted to Associate Director when Bush was appointed Executive Director in 1968, then took over as Executive Director upon Bush’s retirement in 1978. Forsythe, Bush, Norris and Roberts are the only full-time executive directors to serve during the MHSAA’s 94-year history.

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. An award bearing Norris’ name is presented by the MHSAA each spring to a veteran official who has been active in a local officials association, has mentored other officials, and has been involved in officials’ education. The award has been given since 1992 at the annual Officials’ Awards & Alumni Banquet, which was begun during Norris’ tenure in 1980.

“Vern was respected and admired widely by contest officials, and it was because of that that I asked the Representative Council to approve an award for leaders who were especially involved in mentoring and training officials,” said Roberts, who succeeded Norris in 1986. “A total of 26 officials have received the Norris Award, and more than 10,000 officials have been honored at our annual banquet recognizing a group of contributors especially close to his heart.”

Norris shepherded a number of key advances during his tenures both as associate and executive director. The early 1970s saw the addition of MHSAA tournament events in girls sports, and football playoffs were added in 1975. Membership also grew during his time with the association; the MHSAA had 682 member high schools at the start of 1963-64, and 713 when Norris stepped down.

During his time at the MHSAA, Norris also served as a member of the NFHS Basketball Rules Committee from 1978-82, on the NFHS Constitution Revision Committee in 1979 and as a member of the editorial staff of the NFHS Rules Committee from 1980-82.

He served on the NFHS Executive Board representing Michigan’s section of five Midwestern states during a four-year term that concluded with his year as president, and he also served as chairperson of the NFHS Telecommunications Committee in 1972.

After leaving the MHSAA, Norris served as Commissioner of the Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference from fall of 1987 through the close of the 1991-92 school year.

In retirement, Norris kept in touch with MHSAA staff. He and Roberts spoke every few months throughout the years. And, “he could not have been more gracious when he retired and I was hired. He gave me total support and just the right amount of advice,” Roberts added.

When Norris announced he was leaving the MHSAA early in 1986, then-Lansing State Journal Prep Editor Bob Gross wrote “his integrity is beyond question. He has never shown favoritism to a school, and he has never bent the rules. It’s always been strictly business, exactly what it should be. … That’s why I liked Vern Norris so much. He has always been fair.”

A graduate of Grand Rapids Godwin Heights High School, Norris earned his bachelor’s degree in physical education from Western Michigan University and a master’s in school administration from the University of Michigan.

In addition to his MHSAA and NFHS work, Norris served as a football or basketball rules clinician in various states and multiple provinces of Canada, and served on amateur basketball’s rules-making body at the time – the National Basketball Committee of the United States and Canada – from 1972-76. He contributed during the late 1960s and 1970s on the National Alliance Basketball Advisory and National Alliance Football Rules committees. Norris also served on the United States Olympic Committee’s House of Delegates in 1985.

A Service of Coronation will be held at 11 a.m. Friday at Trinity Lutheran Church in Lansing, with family receiving friends from 2-4 and 6-8 p.m. Thursday at Estes-Leadley Greater Lansing Chapel and at 10 a.m. Friday at the church. 

PHOTOS: (Top) Then-Associate Director Vern Norris and Executive Director Al Bush hold up trophies to be awarded at the 1974 Boys Basketball Finals. (Middle) Bush, Charles E. Forsythe and Norris. (Below) Bush, current Executive Director Jack Roberts and Norris in 1988. 

Rep Council Wrap-Up: Spring 2012

June 28, 2012

In addition to authorizing a vote of its membership to allow for waiver of its maximum age rule under certain circumstances, the Representative Council of the Michigan High School Athletic Association also approved a variety of regulations and sports activities policies during its annual Spring Meeting, May 6-7, in Gaylord.

 

The Spring meeting of the 19-member legislative body of the Association’s over 1,500 member schools is generally the busiest of its three sessions each year.  The Council considered 33 committee proposals and also dealt with a variety of eligibility rule, post-season tournament and operational issues.

 

A couple of the most visible changes will take place in ice hockey beginning with the 2012-13 school year, which will see longer games in the MHSAA post-season tournament and the addition of a regular-season contest. Tournament games will now have 17 minute periods, something which had been allowed by local adoption for regular season games previously.  The regular season game limit was also raised, as the Representative Council approved a Hockey Committee recommendation to reduce the number of scrimmages to one in exchange for the addition of a 25th contest.

Here is a summary of other actions taken at the Spring Representative Council Meeting which will take effect during the 2012-13 school year:

Handbook/Administrative Matters 

  • By prior mutual consent of competing teams, schools may agree to vary the color of game uniforms to commemorate events or causes important to those schools, provided all other uniform specifications are followed.  The wearing of pink and camouflage uniforms, for example, to show support for breast cancer awareness or members of our armed forces wounded in action, among others, have become popular; but previously required advanced approval from the MHSAA.
  • The Council approved a revision of the sections of the MHSAA Handbook addressing the sanctioning of meets conducted by non-school organizations or individuals and large interstate meets.  They now reflect the requirements of the National Federation of State High School Associations, as well as previously unstated policies and procedures of the MHSAA.
  • In junior high/middle school matters, the Council revised the Handbook so that schools may decide to allow student-athletes in the 7th and 8th grades to be members of an interscholastic team in more than one sport at the same time; and to allow a student who will exceed the maximum age limit as a 7th or 8th grader to apply for “Eligibility Advancement” while in 6th grade to begin a maximum of two years of junior high/middle school participation.

Sports Matters

  • Responding to situations where celebrations by student-athletes and spectators have resulted in property damage at MHSAA post-season tournaments, the Council approved the following language for inclusion in participating team and tournament managers materials addressing team and spectator conduct.
  • During contests, officials will penalize under applicable sportsmanship or playing rules those student-athletes or coaches who leave the field of play and contact or approach spectator areas for celebration.
  • Each tournament manager or the MHSAA Staff may determine an acceptable number of crowd supervisors necessary for each school, dependent on the situation, including inappropriate celebrations and other crowd control issues.
  • The cost for repair of replacement to facilities damaged as a result of participant and/or spectator conduct shall be paid by the school involved directly to the host facility within 30 days of the bill being submitted to the school.  MHSAA reimbursement or revenue sharing will be withheld until paid by the offending school.  Future tournament hosting privileges or school reimbursements to offending schools may be withheld if payment is not made.
  • In Golf, the Council approved a committee recommendation to allow coaching contact for one designated coach during MHSAA tournament competition on all areas of the course, except when players reach the green.  The school designated coach must be identified and approved by the school prior to the MHSAA tournament.  Coaching privileges may not be transferred to persons not approved and designated by school administration.    A committee recommendation to exempt one qualifying round of the Michigan Amateur Tournament from the limited team membership rule beginning in 2013, replacing the exemption approved in 2010 for the two U.S. Open qualifying stages, was adopted.
  • In Boys Lacrosse, a committee recommendation to limit entry in the MHSAA post-season tournament beginning in 2013 to those schools that play no fewer than 50 percent of their regular season schedule against other MHSAA member school teams was approved.
  • In Soccer, the Council did not adopt a National Federation rule adoption that eliminates a substitution for a player who receives a second yellow card.  This action affects the 2012-13 school year only during which the Soccer Committee will consider this rule change further and its impact on Michigan’s ten-minute sit-out rule following a yellow card. 
  • A second day of weigh-ins will take place at the MHSAA Team Wrestling Finals, which will be independent of the previous day’s weigh-in, and all competitors would be given a one-pound growth allowance for consecutive days of weigh-in.  The Council also approved a Wrestling Committee recommendation to permit wrestling practice to begin two Mondays before Thanksgiving.  The first day of competition does not change.

The Council also reviewed reports on membership, with 763 senior high schools and 768 junior high/middle schools in 2011-12; eligibility advancement applications, which totaled nine for the year; the use of Educational Transfer Forms, which was stable this year; school violations, which declined significantly; attendance at athletic director and coaches in-service workshops; officials’ registrations, topping the 12,000 mark again; rules meeting attendance; and officials reports submitted for the past three sports seasons.  The Association’s $9.8 million budget for the 2012-13 school year was also approved.

The Representative Council is the 19-member 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.