Former Wilton AD Dave Huff receives national award

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Editor’s note: The following story is being reprinted with permission of the Adair County Free Press. Dave Huff is a former athletic director at Wilton High School.

DENVER, COLORADO — Former Nodaway Valley Activities Director Dave Huff was humbled to receive the Bruce D. Whitehead Distinguished Service Award from the National Interscholastic Athletic Administrators Association (NIAAA) at their annual national convention recently.

Huff said he knew he was nominated for the award because each state selects a nominee.

“You have paperwork you fill out [once you’re nominated] and I thought that was as far as it’d go,” Huff said. “They give about 10 to 12 every year, and in no way did I think I would be one of those 10 to 12 people who would receive that ward, so it was very humbling.”

Before arriving at Nodaway Valley as the new school district’s first athletic director in 2000, Huff spent time at East Union, and before that, he had stops at Wilton and Fremont-Mills. He first started as an athletic director in 1989.

Huff retired from Nodaway Valley at the end of the 2014-15 school year, but he remains active on the state board for the Iowa High School Athletic Association as its Historian and a national committee that helps select Hall of Fame inductees for the NIAAA.

“It’s a neat experience,” Huff said. “I’ve met a lot of people from a lot of different places and it’s been kind of fun.”

Huff said his continued involvement in retirement from athletic administration is a way to give back to the organizations he’s been a part of.

“I also think it’s a part of me giving back to help support activities programs, which I feel are fantastic for kids, giving them an opportunity to succeed and be able to reach the levels they want to reach,” Huff said. “Receiving this award was a very humbling experience. It was a fun time and it’s nice to be given an award by your peers.”

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