NFHS's Gardner Announces Retirement
January 9, 2018
Special from NFHS
Bob Gardner, executive director of the National Federation of State High School Associations (NFHS) since May 2010, has announced his retirement, effective Aug. 1, 2018. Gardner notified the NFHS Board of Directors of his retirement plans at the NFHS Winter Meeting on Jan. 3 in Scottsdale, Arizona.
Gardner is the fifth full-time executive director of the NFHS, following H.V. Porter (1940-58), Cliff Fagan (1958-77), Brice Durbin (1977-93) and Bob Kanaby (1993-2010).
Gardner’s eight-year run as head of the national organization for high school athletics and performing arts activities will conclude a 48-year career in secondary education, including the final 18 years on the NFHS staff in Indianapolis.
Since assuming duties as NFHS executive director in 2010, Gardner has vigorously promoted the values of high school activity programs and expanded opportunities for participation by boys and girls nationwide. During his eight years as executive director, participation in high school sports has increased by almost 400,000, including the expanded opportunity for students with disabilities in high school sports.
Gardner has led the organization’s focus on risk minimization in high school sports, with particular emphasis on concussion awareness, and has brought a heightened national presence to the work of the NFHS and its member state associations. In addition to the continual expansion of the NFHS Learning Center during his tenure, Gardner is credited with starting the NFHS Network, the first-of-its-kind digital coverage of high school sports with more than 25,000 events covered during the 2016-17 school year.
In addition, during his eight years as chief executive of the organization, operating revenue for the NFHS increased by $4 million.
Ironically, Gardner’s entire 48-year career was spent in the state of Indiana. He was a teacher and coach at three schools for eight years and also served as an athletic director for a period of time. In 1978, Gardner became principal of Milan Junior-Senior High School, followed by a stint as superintendent of the Milan Community Schools.
After serving on the Indiana High School Athletic Association (IHSAA) Board of Directors during his time at Milan, Gardner joined the IHSAA staff in 1985 as assistant commissioner. He served 10 years in that role prior to becoming commissioner in 1995.
During his five years as IHSAA commissioner, Gardner led the change in the IHSAA football playoffs to permit participation by all schools, negotiated the association’s largest corporate sponsorship agreement in history with Indiana Farm Bureau Insurance and led the transition to multiple classes in team sports.
Gardner joined the NFHS staff in 2000 as chief operating officer and served in that position for 10 years prior to becoming executive director. During this time, he chaired the NFHS Rules Review Committee and was responsible for day-to-day operations of the organization.
Gardner earned his bachelor’s degree from the University of Evansville (Indiana) and his master’s and education specialist degrees from Ball State University in Muncie, Indiana. He has served on the Board of Directors for USA Football, USA Basketball and the Indiana Sports Corporation. He is a member of the Indiana High School Wrestling Hall of Fame.
Following the March 1 application deadline, finalists for the position will be interviewed by the NFHS Board of Directors April 17-18 in Indianapolis, with the new executive director expected to begin duties Aug. 1.
Survey Shows Small but Steady Rise of Multi-Sport Participation at MHSAA High Schools
By
Geoff Kimmerly
MHSAA.com senior editor
December 16, 2025
The Michigan High School Athletic Association’s seventh Multi-Sport Participation Survey, conducted last spring for the 2024-25 school year, showed small but continuing growth of multi-sport participation among athletes at member high schools.
The annual Multi-Sport Participation Survey was inspired by the MHSAA’s Task Force on Multi-Sport Participation, which was appointed in 2016 to study early and intense sport specialization – a serious issue related to health and safety at all levels of youth sports – and to promote multi-sport participation as a way to help stave off overuse injuries and burnout among athletes that have been tied to chronic injuries and health-related problems later in life.
The 2024-25 Multi-Sport Participation Survey received responses from 82.7 percent of member high schools and showed 45.4 percent of athletes at those MHSAA member high schools participating in two or more sports, an increase of six tenths of a percent from 2023-24. Multi-sport participation has shown increases every year of the study – and a combined increase of 2.6 percent since the first study after the 2017-18 school year.
For 2024-25, 47.8 percent of male athletes and 42.3 percent of female athletes played multiple sports. The percentage of multi-sport athletes remains inversely proportional to schools’ enrollments, as Class D schools again enjoyed the highest percentage of multi-sport athletes at 63.1 percent, followed by Class C schools (59.6), Class B (49.3) and Class A (38.5).
All four enrollment classifications also continued to show increasing multi-sport participation. Class A multi-sport participation increased three tenths of a percent from 2023-24 and is now up 2.6 percent from 2017-18 survey results. Class B increased 1.3 percent from the previous year and is also up 2.6 percent since 2017-18. Class C multi-sport participation grew two tenths of a percent over the previous year and sits 4.4 percent higher than the first study, and Class D multi-sport participation in 2024-25 remained the same as in 2023-24 and has grown five percent over the last seven years.
The MHSAA Task Force also recommended measuring multi-sport participation in MHSAA member schools to recognize “achievers” – that is, schools that surpass the norm.
Battle Creek Harper Creek, Detroit Cody and Grand Rapids Northview have appeared among the top 10 percent of their respective Classes six of the seven years the survey has been conducted. Four more schools have appeared among the top 10 percent of their Classes five of the seven years: Decatur, East Grand Rapids, Manton and Warren Michigan Collegiate. Detroit Douglass, Parma Western and Lake Leelanau St. Mary have appeared among the top 10 percent of their Classes four times apiece.
In Class A, Grand Rapids Northview (79.4 percent) posted the highest percentage of multi-sport athletes for 2024-25, followed by Macomb L’Anse Creuse North (70 percent), Detroit Cass Tech (61.4) and Sterling Heights Stevenson (60.7) also reporting at least 60 percent.
Warren Michigan Collegiate paced Class B schools with 91.3 percent of athletes playing multiple sports, followed by Tecumseh (77.7), Yale (76.6), Detroit Cody (71.4), Battle Creek Harper Creek (71.3) and Manistee (70.1). Class C saw six schools reach 80 percent for the second-straight school year, led by Jackson Lumen Christi (97.6 percent), Martin (89.7), Bad Axe (89.3), Cass City (88.6), Center Line Prep Academy (83.6) and Decatur (82.3).
Watervliet Grace Christian topped the Class D list at 93.8 percent of athletes participating in multiple sports. Next were Watersmeet (89.7), Lake Leelanau St. Mary (88.2), Detroit Douglass (87.8), Vestaburg (87.7) and Portland St. Patrick (87.3).
The full summary report on the Multi-Sport Participation Survey is available on the “Multi-Sports Benefits” page.