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Show Thursday, July 10, 2008 Page 6 AMERICAN FORK CITIZEN COMMUNITY SPORTS, PEOPLE AND OUTDOOR FUN A new-old look to So) S rpG UHSAA As long-time executive director retires and experienced assistant takes over, both look back, forward (NOTE: On July 1, Evan Excell officially of-ficially retired from his position as executive director of the Utah High School Activities Association. Longtime Long-time assistant director Dave Wilkey took over as the top official at the UHSAA. The newspaper will take a look at the past and the future of the governing body of prep sports in the state through the eyes of these two men in a two-part series today and next week.) Jared Lloyd NORTH COUNTY It's been nearly 110 years since Salt Lake was awarded the first Utah state high school fxtball title in 1898. Now 130 high schools in the state have athletes competing in 22 different differ-ent events during the school year, from the first girls soccer games in mid-August to the final out of the baseball state tournament at the end of May. The Utah High School Activities Association is in charge of all of the action, and over the years, the people who have worked there have seen just about everything. July 1 marked a turning point for the Ul 1SAA as executive director Evan Excell retired after 14 years leading the association and Dave Wilkey took his place after ,'S0 years as an assistant director. Their combined 44 years of experience experi-ence in dealing w ith the best and the worst of the Utah high school sports scene gives them a unique perspective perspec-tive on the evolution of prep athletics in the state. "We didn't get many weekends off when I started here," Wilkey recalled. "We were a two-man band, and while we didn't have soccer or Softball, we did have gymnastics, so we had only one fewer sport. That meant each of us were working on three times as many events. "In those days we had fewer rules. Our handbook was a lot thinner and though there was still plenty of intensity inten-sity and passion, people were more willing to accept the rules and live by them," In 1994, after years of working as a coach and an athletic director at schools in various part of the state, Excell decided to take a risk and apply for the executive director position. posi-tion. "It had always been principals that got the job before," he explained. "I was a long shot but I got the job. 1 wondered what I was doing, if I could do it, but it's been a wonderful experience." experi-ence." During their tenures, both Wilkey and Excell have seen the UHSAA facing many of the same issues year after year. "Growth has always been difficult," Excell said. "We had 102 schools in 1994 and now we have l.'5(). By 2013, we could be closer to 150. "That makes realignment a huge challenge, and though I don't know if we're doing it right, I know we put a lot of thought into it and try to get the n i J i f 'J ho MMi : If ! I i I I 1 1 I I I lllll 0 .f if . : 1 ' i if , A f i I ; r i f ' i ; - i 1 1 1 1 1 fir - i cn U ! V V . w x CELIA TOBINNorth County Evan Excell, left, and Dave Wilkey sit in the board meeting room at the Utah High School Activities Association's office headquarters in Midvale on June 2H. After U years as executive director, Excell retired My 1 and Wilkey, who has been with the UHSAA for 30 years, has taken his place. BELOW: Players work out at the American Fork boys soccer camp in June. best for everyone while knowing it's not possible to please everyone." Another issue that gets ugly on a regular basis is dealing with transfers. trans-fers. "It was on the first agenda of my first meeting at the UHSAA," Wilkey said. "We try to write rules that are consistent with the philosophy that players don't transfer for athletic reasons. rea-sons. But it's been a challenge from the get-go." It's been a problem that has plagued Utah Valley over the years and created a number of tough situations situa-tions for the UHSAA staff. "People in Utah Valley are very passionate about their activities and sports," Excell said. "We had our difficulties dif-ficulties with regards to recruiting and transfers. "Looking back, you think of things like American Leadership, Scott Le-Erandt, Le-Erandt, Michelle I larrison. Stef Zimmerman, Zim-merman, Dave I loule and Provo and Timpview. We've had some tough things to deal with." But both administrators pointed out that they could think up similar stories sto-ries for every area of the state, since those are often some of the most challenging chal-lenging issues they have to deal with. Other concerns that have become increasingly prominent are legal and legislative issues, as well as the growth of alternative education programs. pro-grams. "We take pride in the fact that if a student resides in Utah, there's a way for him or her to be eligible to participate par-ticipate in high school sports," Excell said. But with the difficulties have also See UHSAA, Page 7 . . ( 'V : ... n : BEKY BEATONNorth County Summer heat brings hot fishing action at Flaming Gorge T r ere it is, the 1 j eighth of July and believe it or not, the small-I small-I I mouth bass are ml LJ still on their spawning beds at Flaming Gorge. This surprised me so much that I ran to my fishing journal to see when the bass spawn has taken place each of the past eight years. Just as I suspected, the spawn usually takes place near the full moon closest to Memorial Memo-rial Day. So, just as I reported in May, the seasons on Flaming (iorge are delayed by at least one month which is proving to be a boon to those wanting some hot summer action. My wife Jeri, our son, Don Jr., his wife, Jennifer, and two of their three children spent three days last week on the Gorge and in short, the fishing was spectacular! We didn't target bass, but rather spent our time jigging for lake trout with some remarkable re-markable results. On Thursday morning, Jeri and I spent three hours in the Antelope Flats area searching search-ing my Lowrance fish finders for active lake trout. When we spotted some likely suspects, sus-pects, we dropped green tube jigs to each of the fish showing show-ing on the screen. The fish eagerly ate our presentations and we caught more than a dozen fish ranging from eight pounds to 25 pound. "This is really fun," said Jeri, after landing her fifth fish that weighed a few ounces ounc-es over 16 pounds,"but my arms are burning." After meeting the rest of the family at the Lucerne dock mid-morning, we returned to our area and continued catching fish until 2 p.m. All told, we boated more than 200 pounds of lake trout in 5 12 hours on the water. This, after our Memorial Day trip netted us a mere handful of bites. So, what was the difference? differ-ence? Each year, the DWR plants small rainbows sometime in the early spring. When the lake trout find the young, schooling trout, they set See ALLPHIN, Page 7 Don Allphin On Fishing |