THE NORTH CAROLINA ATHLETIC DIRECTORS ASSOCIATION

The North Carolina Athletic Directors Association is made of up secondary athletic directors from across the state of North Carolina. We have two annual meetings. Our state conference is held two weeks prior to Easter alternating between the mountains and the coast of North Carolina. Our state conference provides an outstanding educational in-service program for education-based athletic administrators. The conference features professional speakers and an exhibit show with more than 60 exhibit booth spaces, as well as proven athletic administrators who willingly share their experience and expertise on a variety of educational topics. The highlight of the state conference is the induction of our new class into the NCADA Hall of Fame, Roll of Honor, AD of the Year, Lifetime Achievement Award, and the Jerry McGee Award of Excellence presented at the conference banquet. Some of the state’s best-known and most competent athletic administrators have received this honor since its inception during the 1975-76 academic years. Bill Eutsler of Rockingham was the inaugural winner of the award followed by Dave Harris of Charlotte-Mecklenburg. They are also both members of the NCADA Hall of Fame. We also recognize the “Best of Best” in North Carolina annually at our Awards Luncheon during the conference.

Our Summer Leadership Academy and our NCHSAA/NCADA AD Breakfast are held at the Greensboro Coliseum, in conjunction with the North Carolina Coaches Association Clinic, on the third Tuesday of July.

We are governed by a Board of Directors elected for four-year terms representing the eight athletic regions of the state, four at-large members, and affiliate members. The Executive Director, Roy Turner, handles the day-to-day operations of the association and membership. The office of secretary is voted on at the annual convention, with the President-Elect assuming the office of President for the coming year. 

The Association was formed in 1970. The late Bob Jamieson of Greensboro, among others, helped to get the organization started. Jamieson, who was the driving force behind the origin of the North Carolina Coaches’ Association and its highly successful clinic and all-star games, saw the creation of such an association as a primary forum through which athletic directors could share their common concerns and problems while growing professionally. 

To that end, the first organizational meeting was held in Sanford at the Palomino Hotel on November 22, 1970, with 28 athletic directors attending. From that modest start, the Association began to grow. 

In 1975 a rotation was developed so that staggered terms were arranged for Board members, providing some continuity from year to year. 

Some of the best-known names in North Carolina athletics have served the Association. Paul Williamson of Durham was the first official President with High Point’s Tony Simeon as the Vice-President. 

1976 was the first year that spouses were included in the activities of the Association. Mary Arden Harris, the wife of Charlotte-Mecklenburg athletic director, Davie Harris, put together the special activities for that group and the spouses have been an important part of the conference ever since. 

As the Association continued to grow, it became apparent that only a limited number of sites could host something of this magnitude. In 1985, the Association Board of Directors voted to rotate the site, basically between an eastern venue and a western one. 

With this continued growth and the regional and national caliber of the speakers, additional funding was needed. The 1984-85 year was the first that corporate sponsorship became involved with the NCADA. A number of companies have been important to the growth of the Association.

The NCADA continues to grow toward its goal of having every secondary athletic director in the state a member. The pressures now brought to bear on education and interscholastic athletics from several different areas make a strong AD organization more important than ever. In many cases, the athletic director is the one that continues to provide stability for a school program when there are so many changes in personnel and administration. Professional growth and development, along with the sharing of ideas with colleagues from around the state, continue to be the mission of the Association.