Michigan High School Athletic Association - Promoting Educational Athletics
Michigan High School Athletic Association - Promoting Educational Athletics |
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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE - Feb. 3, 2006 McShannock, Pruka Recipients Of 2006 Forsythe Award EAST LANSING, Mich. – Feb. 3 – Dan McShannock, athletic director at Midland Dow High School; and Dail Prucka, who recently retired after 39 years of service at Monroe Jefferson High School, are the recipients of the Michigan High School Athletic Association's Charles E. Forsythe Award for 2006. This annual award is in its 29th year of existence and is named after former MHSAA Executive Director Charles E. Forsythe, the Association's first full time and longest-serving chief executive. One or two recipients are selected each year by the MHSAA Representative Council, based on an individual's outstanding contribution to the interscholastic athletics community. McShannock and Prucka will be presented the award on March 25 at the Breslin Student Events Center in East Lansing at halftime of the Boys Basketball Class A Final. McShannock's selection for the award is unique in the respect that his father, former Muskegon High School coach and athletic administrator Thomas McShannock, won the award in 1992. It's the first time two members of the same family been named to receive the Forsythe Award. McShannock also was named a recipient of the MHSAA's Allen W. Bush Award in 2000. McShannock becomes the ninth Bush Award recipient to be later named a Forsythe Award winner. Saginaw Arthur Hill was McShannock's first assignment, where he served for 19 years as a teacher, a coach in three sports, and an athletic administrator. As a varsity assistant football coach, he worked with a 1973 Arthur Hill team that finished the season 9-0, and was the last Michigan grid squad to finish its season unbeaten, untied and unscored upon. He also served as the head coach in girls track and field, and wrestling. His last nine years at Arthur Hill were spent as athletic director. The past 14 years, McShannock has served as athletic director at Midland Dow, directing a 21-sport program. During his time as an athletic administrator, McShannock has also played host to over 70 MHSAA tournament events. McShannock has been prominent in high school athletic administration on the statewide and national scene. As a member of the Michigan Interscholastic Athletic Administrators Assocation, he has served as that organization's president; chaired and served on numerous committees; and was named the organization's Athletic Director of the Year in 2001. He also publishes the MIAAA's quarterly newsletter. McShannock also served the Michigan High School Coaches Association as its executive secretary and Hall of Fame chairman; and was president of that organization for two years. Nationally, he has served as President of the National Federation Coaches Association; and was a finalist one year for the National Athletic Director of the Year Award. In the community, McShannock is a Red Cross volunteer, a member of several committees with the Saginaw YMCA, and has previously served as a trustee of the WBA Ruster Foundation. A 1968 graduate of Muskegon High School, where he was an All-State football player, he went on to Western Michigan University and won three varsity letters in football before graduating with a health, physical education and recreation degree in 1972. He earned his Master's in secondary education administration from Michigan State University in 1975. Prucka recently retired after exclusively serving the Jefferson School District in a career spanning 39 years as a teacher, coach and athletic administrator. His coaching experience ranged from the middle school to the high school, working with teams in football and girls track and field. He was honored by the Huron League as its Assistant Football Coach of the Year in 1989, and its Girls Track and Field Coach of the Year in 1994. He was inducted into the Michigan High School Football Coaches Hall of Fame in 2003. He served as athletic director from 1967 to 1977, and then from 1994 until his retirement. As an athletic administrator, Prucka was instrumental in launching girls athletic programs at Jefferson , growing the overall program to 22 sports. He led a fund-raising drive to have new lighting installed at the school's football field, which were dedicated in his name. He also operated the school district's recreation center. He also was active as an MHSAA tournament host manager and committee member; served the MIAAA on its Membership Services and Publications Committees; and served in nearly every elected position with the Huron League. His professional organization memberships also include the National Federation Interscholastic Coaches Association, the Michigan High School Football Coaches Association, and the Michigan High School Coaches Association. Prucka's community outreach is substantial. He has taught adult education classes, served as a volunteer repairing a local Girls Scout camp facility, served three terms on the Jefferson Education Association, has been a township board of trustee, an elder at the Session Presbyterian Church, and a member of the Monroe Community Players. A 1961 graduate of Carleton Airport High School , Prucka received his Bachelor's Degree from Alma College in 1966, and his Master's Degree from Eastern Michigan University in 1984. “In Dan McShannock and Dail Prucka, you have two men who have served educational athletics well,” said John E. “Jack” Roberts, executive director of the MHSAA. “Both are held in high regard in the communities in which they have worked, and among their peers. To have a second-generation winner of this Association's highest honor speaks to the excellent role model Dan McShannock had growing up with his father as a coach and administrator; and Dail Prucka, in his extraordinary outreach in many directions in the Monroe area, has mentored many who have progressed from being his students to being his contemporaries in an educational setting. Both are excellent choices for the Forsythe Award.” Past recipients of the Charles E. Forsythe Award are: 1978 - Brick Fowler, Port Huron; Paul Smarks, Warren The MHSAA is a private, not-for-profit corporation of voluntary membership by over 1,800 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 approximately 1.6 million spectators each year. -0- RL06-025 |