Bryant athletic director Mike Lee will be among those honored when the Arkansas High School Athletic Administrators’ Association recognize the 2014-15 winners of the Athletic Director of the Year awards at its annual summer meeting at 12:30 p.m., on Thursday, June 25, at the Hilton Garden Inn in Conway.
The luncheon is being held in conjunction with the annual Arkansas High School Coaches’ Association summer clinic.
AHSAAA members select award winners during the school year. Individual winners are selected from each classification after conferences and districts nominate a winner from their respective conferences. A winner is named for each classification that receives nominations and an overall AD of the Year Winner is selected as well.
The winners of the Athletic Directors of the Year for each classification and the overall winner for the 2014-15 year are as follows:
2A – Carla Catlett, Western Yell County
3A – Randall Betts, Cedarville
4A – Mike Green, Prairie Grove
5A – David Hixson, Blytheville
6A – Paul Johnston, Marion
7A – Mike Lee, Bryant / Steve Roberts, Cabot
Overall – Steve Roberts, Cabot
The Bryant School District Athletic Director is receiving his second 7A Athletic Director of the Year Award, having also been named the winner during the 2012-13 school year.
Lee has served as the President of the Central Arkansas Junior High Conference in 2013-15 and has orchestrated the hosting of numerous state tournaments and considers the revamping of coaching stipend/index salary schedule and re-structuring of middle school coaching duties among his greatest accomplishments as the AD at Bryant.
Lee sees the value of what interscholastic athletics can be for a community and believes that Bryant is a community that shares that viewpoint, which makes him proud of his community and his department.
“First, I am most proud of the coaches that passionately lead our student-athletes all the while exhibiting a ‘genuine’ heart for kids,” said Lee. “Secondly, I am most proud of the ‘shared’ support Bryant Athletics receives from our School Board, Administration, Teachers, Parents, Maintenance, Transportation, Community as well as other ‘invested’ patrons. I am overwhelmed as I understand the affect Bryant Athletics has on the ‘heartbeat’ of one community.”
Lee said he believes that it is humbling to be recognized by your peers for an award.
“I am humbled to be considered for this type of award,” he said. “It instantly reminds me that this specifically is a team award and not an individual award.”
Lee and his family are members of Geyer Springs First Baptist Church in Little Rock.
