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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE --December 14, 1999
Contact: John Johnson or Andy Frushour-- 517.332.5046

EAST LANSING, Mich. - Dec. 14 - Pat Richardson, who has served as a teacher, coach and administrator in the Grass Lake school system for 13 years, has been named the recipient of the 2000 Women In Sports Leadership Award by the representative Council of the Michigan High School Athletic Association.

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. The award will be presented during a luncheon at the 2000 Women In Sports Leadership Conference on Feb. 7, in Lansing.

Richardson arrived at Grass Lake in 1986 as the school's athletic administrator and cross country/track and field coach. Her boys cross country teams have claimed MHSAA Lower Peninsula Class D titles on five occasions, and finished in the runner-up spot once; and her girls team has finished second on one occasion. Her boys and girls track and field teams have each finished second in the MHSAA Finals on one occasion.

On the statewide running scene, Richardson has served as secretary and president of the Michigan Interscholastic Track Coaches Association. She has also been honored twice by that organization at its Coach of the Year. She has also been part of the local organization committee which saw the MHSAA Lower Peninsula Cross Country Finals adopt the tournament city concept used so successfully in other sport, bringing the event to Michigan Speedway in Brooklyn. That event is now the single largest gathering of coaches and student-athletes the MHSAA conducts all year long.

Locally, Richardson has worked with the Grass Lake athletic Booster Club to have a new track surface installed at the school. An active runner, she has participated in marathons and triathlons. She has earned degrees from Adrian College and Siena Heights College.

"Pat Richardson's contributions as a teacher, coach, and administrator have gained her the respect of her peers in the track community, the Grass Lake community which she has served so well for so long, and of school administrators statewide," said John E. "Jack" Roberts, executive director of the MHSAA. "We're pleased to honor her as this year's recipient of the Women In Sports Leadership Award."

Richardson is the 11th recipient of the Women In Sports Leadership Award. Past recipients are:

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

The MHSAA is a private, not-for-profit corporation of voluntary membership by over 1,300 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 conducted in 12 sports for girls and 12 sports for boys which attract approximately 1.3 million spectators each year.