Rotary Program: 6/30/04

Program Chairperson: Frank Welch

Speaker: Paul Dotson, President, Kentucky High School Athletic Association Board of Control

Paul Dotson is presently serving as an Assistant Superintendent of the Pike County Schools, but also has had a successful career in coaching and as District Athletic Director. He was the head football coach for many years at Belfry High School and also served as coach for the girls basketball program. He is now serving his second four-year term on the Board of Control

of the Kentucky High School Athletic Association representing the 15th and 16th Regions and

has for the past four years served as that organization’s president.

The KHSAA has been in existence since 1917, when several principals banded together to form the organization to develop and control athletics in the state. From its oversight, 12 championship sport programs are available to the students of Kentucky, including football,

basketball, baseball, softball, volleyball, soccer, golf, wrestling, field and track, tennis and swimming. There are 50,000 students in Kentucky that participate in these extra-curricular sports, which according to research, increases attendance, improves grades, and boosts morale in those schools. The general control of the KHSAA is vested in a Board of Directors called the Board of Control, which consists of 18 members. 12 are elected by member schools, 4 are appointed by the Kentucky Board of Education, and the remaining 2 members are elected from non-public schools in the state. At least 3 of the members of the Board of Control are African-American and at least 3 of them are to be female. 8 members must be elected by a vote of the principals (or their designees) of the member schools representing the sixteen regions of the state.

Paul represents the counties of Pike, Floyd, Martin, Magoffin, Johnson, Morgan, Boyd, Carter, Menifee, Lewis, and Greenup, which has 31 different schools. He says it is a tremendous challenge to represent all these school districts, but he feels fortunate to be a part of the organization. Paul says he was elected as the president of the Board of Control by the other members of the organization, which was a great honor, considering the aforementioned diversity in the makeup of the group. As president, he presides over all regular and special-called meetings of the Board and the Annual Delegate Assembly, which discusses many sensitive issues concerning athletics programs in the schools. Some of those issues include eligibility, drug testing, and setting the salaries for the Commissioner of Athletics and his/her staff. Paul commended the present Commissioner who has done a tremendous job of recruiting corporate sponsorships for statewide athletic events. Some of these sponsors include National City Bank who has contributed $140,000 for the Sweet Sixteen Boys Basketball Tournament, Halchions Industries, who gave $50,000 for the Girls’ State Basketball Championship, and Fifth Third Bank, who gave over $75,000 for the next 3 years for baseball and tennis tournaments.

After a brief question / answer session, Paul thanked the club for having him as our speaker today and expressed how much he enjoyed being here. Thanks Paul for the fine job you have done representing our area in such a responsible and challenging position. - JMC