Ray Vancereceived Athletic Director of the Year Award

CLINTON – Clinton High School’s Athletic Director (AD), Mr. Ray Vance, was honored by his peers as he was chosen to receive the District Six Athletic Director of the Year Award for the state of Wisconsin. The award comes from the Wisconsin Athletic Directors Association (WADA).

There are seven districts in the state of Wisconsin. Each district selects one person to receive the award at the district level.  In November, at the WADA convention, all seven recipients will receive a plaque during an official presentation.

At that time, one of those seven will be selected as the State Athletic Director of the Year. The State Athletic Director of the Year is chosen by a committee, and generally goes to someone who is also active in WADA.

District Six covers the area from I-90 near Beloit, and east to Milwaukee. It includes approximately seven or eight conferences with 10-14 schools per conference. Vance was nominated by Mr. Tom Collins, the AD for Big Foot High School.  There were approximately 50 athletic directors in attendance at the meeting where the voting took place.

Vance stated, “I was very surprised to receive this award. I was thankful just to be nominated. There are a lot of other athletic directors who are very deserving of this award.”

Vance has been Clinton High School’s AD for 11 years. He has built a network of friends with other AD’s in the area, explaining, “You get to know a lot of the people involved with school athletics.”

Vance added, “It’s an honor being selected from a pool of that many AD’s. It’s a very humbling experience to be nominated and to be voted by my peers to receive the award.”

Vance’s future plans are to retire at the end of this school year. His wife, Mrs. Chris Piehler-Vance, a teacher at Clinton Elementary School, is also retiring. The two have no specific plans for what they will do in their retirement, however whatever it is, they will enjoy it.