Published: April 09, 2008 02:14 pm            

National honor

Deitz named to National High School Hall of Fame

By PAUL LORENZ

paul.lorenz@mcleansborotimesleader.com

McLEANSBORO — He’s been a local school sports official for 50 years — and now he’s received a national honor because of it.

Dick Deitz — who started officiating when he was a senior at McLeansboro High School — is one of 12 people who will be inducted into the National Federation of State High School Associations’ National High School Hall of Fame on July 7 in Washington, D.C.

“It’s overwhelming; it’s incredible,” Deitz said last week. “I was in shock when I found this out.”

The National High School Sports Hall of Fame was started in 1982 to honor high school athletes, coaches, officials, administrators and others for “extraordinary achievements in high school sports,” according to the federation’s Web site. The name was changed to the National High School Hall of Fame in 2003 in order to include fine arts individuals.

Deitz is one of two sports officials being inducted this year and one of 53 all time. The Illinois High School Association nominated him for the honor.

He played four sports and was still in high school when he started officiating at grade school games, Deitz said. He continues to officiate football, baseball and softball games, and he logged 46 years as a basketball official. He has been an IHSA rules interpreter in basketball and baseball since 1976.

In addition, Deitz has been the mayor of McLeansboro since 1993.

So why has he stuck with sports officiating for so long?

“It’s the love of the game,” Deitz said. “It’s just something that gets in your blood, that you enjoy doing.

“Plus, I saw a need there to share good things with kids, to make sure they were on the right track,” he said. “I benefited from my coaches in high school.”

Athletes from Illinois who have been inducted into the National High School Hall of Fame include Quinn Buckner, Bart Connor, Dwight "Dike" Eddleman, Harold E. "Red" Grange and Jackie Joyner-Kersee.

This year’s other National High School Hall of Fame inductees include Jackie Brummer, four-time New York state gymnastics all-around champion in the early 1980s; Natasha Kaiser-Brown, nine-time Iowa state champion (1982-85) in track and field; Karen Smith, two-time California state basketball player of the year in the late 1970s; Tom Kropp, Nebraska prep athlete of the decade in the 1970s; Louise Crocco, who coached 18 Florida state volleyball champions; James Drewry, who is No. 1 in Mississippi state history in football victories among public school coaches; Warren Mitchell, who at 82 is in his 55th year as track and field coach at Limon (Colo.) High School with 12 state championships to his credit; the late Dewey Sullivan, the winningest football coach in Oregon prep history, including five state championships; Tim Carr, a registered football and basketball official since 1973 from Midvale, Utah; Jerry McGee, longtime coach and athletic director from North Carolina; and Barbara Seng, coach/director of speech, drama and one-act play for 43 years at two St. Paul, Minn., high schools.

        

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