NFHS Introduces Updated Logo

July 17, 2019

Special from NFHS

As the National Federation of State High School Associations (NFHS) heads into the next 100 years of leading high school sports and other activity programs nationwide, it will be doing so with a new logo.

The new logo was unveiled to the membership earlier this month at the close of the NFHS Centennial Celebration. The NFHS and its 51-member state high school associations celebrated the organization’s accomplishments at the 100th Annual Meeting at the JW Marriott in downtown Indianapolis.

The organization will continue to be branded as the NFHS in the new logo, and the N and F are connected as has been the case since 1979. However, the entire acronym is together on one line as opposed to the previous logo with the NF and HS on separate lines. While red and blue will continue to be the predominant colors, the new logo mixes white with red and blue to suggest a flag waving in the wind. The direction of the flag is pointing upward to symbolize forward-thinking and advancement.

The new design maintains a resemblance to the shield that has been a part of the NFHS logo since 1997. However, the logo is flared at the top, and the bottom of the logo does not have definitive borders, which suggests the organization has moved past its first 100 years and is expanding its reach as the national leadership organization for high school sports and performing arts programs in the United States.

While the organization’s logo from 1952 had four stars to signify the four charter members of the NFHS, the four stripes within the new logo represent the four homes of the organization during the first 100 years. 

“We wanted to retain NFHS as the central component of the new logo because the organization’s national presence has continued to spiral upward in the 22 years since the NFHS acronym was adopted,” said Dr. Karissa Niehoff, NFHS executive director. “However, as we celebrated our first 100 years, we felt it was important to establish a new look that would signify our ever-increasing role as the national leader in high school sports and performing arts programs.”

Counting the Centennial logo that was used during the 2018-19 school year, the new logo will be 10th used by the organization since the first one was adopted in the 1930s. The new logo was created by Section 127, an Indianapolis-based design company.

The NFHS was started in 1920 and had offices in Chicago until 1971, when it moved to Elgin, Illinois. The organization moved to Kansas City, Missouri, in 1979, and then in 2000 to Indianapolis, where it remains today.

The Michigan High School Athletic Association is a member of the NFHS, and Michigan is one of the four founding states of the national association.

8 Members Elected, 2 Appointees Named to MHSAA Representative Council

By Geoff Kimmerly
MHSAA.com senior editor

March 1, 2021

Eight Members of the Representative Council of the Michigan High School Athletic Association have been re-elected to continue their service, and a ninth member has been re-appointed for a second team while a second appointee joined the Council beginning with its annual Fall Meeting on Dec. 4.

All eight re-elected members ran unopposed. Continuing their service as elected members of the Council are Midland High School athletic director Eric Albright, representing Class A and B schools from the northern section of the Lower Peninsula; Portage Northern High School athletic director Chris Riker, Class A and B schools from the southwestern section of the Lower Peninsula; Brighton High School athletic director John Thompson, Class A and B schools from the southeastern section of the Lower Peninsula; Calumet assistant principal and athletic director Sean Jacques, Class C and D schools from the Upper Peninsula; and Maple City Glen Lake assistant principal and athletic director Mark Mattson, Class C and D schools from the northern section of the Lower Peninsula.

Also elected to continue in their service were Grand Haven Area Public Schools assistant superintendent Scott C. Grimes as one of two statewide at-large representatives, Clare Middle School principal Steve Newkirk as one of two junior high/middle school representatives, and the Archdiocese of Detroit’s director of physical education & athletics Vic Michaels to represent private and parochial high schools. All eight were elected to two-year terms.

Additionally, Novi High School principal Nicole Carter was re-appointed for a two-year term. Appointed for a first two-year term was Judy Cox, who serves as principal at Bay City Western High School.

Grimes was re-elected as Council president, Newkirk as vice president and Michaels as secretary-treasurer all to serve through the 2021 Fall Meeting.

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. The Council meets three times annually, in addition to specially-scheduled meetings as have been frequent during the COVID-19 pandemic. Five members of the Council convene monthly during the school year to form the MHSAA’s Executive Committee, which reviews appeals of Handbook regulations by member schools.

Additional elections took place to select representatives to the Upper Peninsula Athletic Committee. West Iron County principal, athletic director and football coach Mike Berutti was elected to represent athletic coaches, and Lake Linden-Hubbell athletic director and boys basketball coach Jack Kumpula was elected to represent Class D schools.

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.