HERMITAGE, Tenn. -- Ronnie Carter, Executive Director of TSSAA, announced at the January 8, 2009 Board of Control meeting that he will retire in June 2009.

Carter is the third Executive Director in the association’s history and was preceded by Gill Gideon (1972-86) and the association’s first director, Mr. A.F. Bridges (1946-72).
Mr. Carter joined the TSSAA in 1978 as an Assistant Executive Director. He was named Executive Director in 1986.

He is the fifth longest tenured active Executive Director in the NFHS (National Federation of State High School Associations). Since he was hired in 1978, he has seen approximately 180 executive directors at the other 50 state high school associations.

Only two other NFHS member state associations have had three or fewer executive directors than TSSAA since their associations were formed. The Connecticut association, which hired their first director in 1969, is currently on their second director and the Rhode Island association, which hired their first director in 1968, is currently on their third director.

Carter has spent over 40 years of his career involved in secondary education and athletics as a teacher, coach, official, and administrator. Prior to joining the TSSAA, Carter taught mathematics and coached football, basketball, wrestling, and track for 11 years at the secondary school level in Nashville.

Mr. Carter has been very involved with the National Federation of State High School Associations (NFHS) since he has been at the TSSAA. He was a member of the National Federation Football Rules Committee for 25 years, Chairman of the Football Research Subcommittee of the Football Rules Committee for eight years, a member of the NFHS Basketball Rules Committee for 12 years, Chairman of the NFHS Basketball Rules Committee for eight years, and member of the NFHS Wrestling Rules Committee for four years.

Mr. Carter was elected to serve as a member of the NFHS Board of Directors from 1998-2002. He had the honor of serving as President of the NFHS for the 2001-2002 term.

Carter, 63, has been married for the past 39 years to the former Caroline McMahan, who is a retired teacher. They have a son, Jim, who is married to the former Heather Douglas and they have two children, Cole (6) and Rylee (3). They also have a daughter, Amy, who is married to Keith Whitfield and they have two children, Mary Caroline (4) and Drew (3).

The TSSAA Board of Control named Bernard Childress, Assistant Executive Director of TSSAA, as the next Executive Director of the association.

Mr. Childress was hired as Assistant Executive Director in June, 1995. Since joining TSSAA, his responsibilities include overseeing the Tennessee Middle School Athletic Association (TMSAA) which now consists of over 300 member schools, the TSSAA Coaches’ Education Program, A.F. Bridges Awards program, and the sports of softball and cross country. He also serves as the TSSAA staff representative to Division II schools and the Division II Committee.

Since joining TSSAA, he has been involved with the National Federation in many aspects, which include having served on the NFHS Coaches’ Education Committee for eight years and he served as Chairman of that committee for four years. He was a member of the NFHS Softball Rules Committee for four years and served on the NFHS Five-Year Strategic Planning Committee. He currently represents Section 3 (southeastern states) on the NFHS Coach of the Year Selection Committee.

Childress, a native of Columbia, TN, graduated from Columbia Central High School. He received his Bachelor of Science degree from Belmont University in 1978, where he was a member of the basketball team for four years. He continued his education at Trevecca Nazarene University where he received his Master’s Degree in Administration and Supervision.

He began his career in education as a teacher and coach at Columbia Central High School. He left the school after five years and took the position of assistant men’s basketball coach at Middle Tennessee State University in 1985 where he remained for one year. Childress returned to Columbia Central in 1986 where he held the position of Assistant Principal for five years before being named principal at Whitthorne Middle School where he would remain until he joined the TSSAA in 1995.

Mr. Childress was honored for his contributions to high school athletics as a recipient of the prestigious NFHS Citation Award in 2005. The NFHS Citation is one of the most highly regarded achievements in high school activities. He was inducted into the Belmont University Athletic Hall of Fame in 1992.

Mr. Childress, 53, has been married to the former Pinkie Joyce for the past 30 years. They have two daughters, Nicole (27) and Tiffany (24).

(E-mail Stan crawley at wscrawley@earthlink.net)