The Blytheville trophy case is full of gold balls and plaques from past championships. A number of those came with former Blytheville athletic director Bill Mayo overseeing the athletic programs.
For all his work at Blytheville, Mayo will be one of 10 high school athletic directors inducted into the fourth Hall of Fame class of the National Interscholastic Athletic Administrators Association (NIAAA) Dec. 18 in San Antonio, Texas, during the banquet festivities at the 43rd annual National Athletic Directors Conference co-sponsored by the NIAAA and the National Federation of State High School Associations (NFHS).
The 2012 NIAAA Hall of Fame class also includes Jeff Dietze, CMAA, Virginia; Gerry Durgin, CMAA, Maine; Dr. Thomas Hallstrom, Nebraska; Robert Hopek, CMAA, New Jersey; Marquis Ross, CMAA, Idaho; Virgil Sasso (deceased), New Jersey; Otis Sennett, New York; Ken Shultz, CMAA, Illinois; and Wayne Taylor, CAA (deceased), Florida.
"I feel humbled," Mayo said. "I don't consider it an individual honor."
Mayo said he worked with a lot of great people in Blytheville and credits the coaches and athletes for the successes. "This belongs to all of us," he said.
Mayo added he feels honored to receive the recognition, and he enjoyed his time at Blytheville.
"Blytheville is my hometown," he said.
Mayo retired in 1996 after an outstanding 25-year career as athletic director at Blytheville High School. Overall, Mayo was an athletic director for 30 years and a football and track coach for 14 years.
In 1957, as an ROTC participant, Mayo was ordered to active duty and served in the United States Army for two years. Before his service began, Mayo was assistant football coach at Osceola High School, and then coached football and basketball when he relocated to Fort Lewis, Wash.
After the completion of his military obligation, Mayo joined the staff at his alma mater, Blytheville High School, in 1959 as football line coach and assistant track coach. In 1961, Mayo became the youngest head coach in the Memphis City School System, serving as athletic director, head football coach and track for the newly instituted Memphis Trezevant High School. By 1964, Mayo had established a successful athletic program at Trezevant, consisting of football, basketball, track, baseball, tennis, golf and swimming.
From Trezevant, Mayo moved to Amarillo, Texas, to become the first assistant to the head football coach at Caprock High School, and a year later, he became football line coach and assistant track coach at Southwestern (Tennessee) College. In one year's time, Mayo became head track coach, along with his other duties. After four years at Southwestern, Mayo took the positions of head football coach and chair of the physical education department at Emory & Henry (Virginia) College.
By 1971, Mayo was back in Blytheville, to begin his 25-year term as athletic director for the Blytheville School District. Mayo then became activities director for the school district and was bestowed an additional duty of drug prevention coordinator for the school district.
Mayo gained statewide and national prominence in his latter role for crafting the drug-abuse program for the Blytheville schools known as "TARGET Blytheville." The program, which was modeled after the national TARGET program established by the NFHS, was aimed at educating teachers, parents and students about drug abuse and is still in place today.
During his tenure in Blytheville, Mayo became the first president of the Arkansas High School Athletic Administrators Association (AHSAAA) in 1977. He also was responsible for starting the NIAAA Leadership Training Program in Arkansas.
At the national level, Mayo has served the NIAAA since its inception in 1977. He served a term on the NIAAA Board of Directors and was president in 1988. Mayo was a member of the NIAAA Ways and Means Committee for eight years and chair of the NIAAA Hall of Fame Committee from 2005 to 2010.
Among his numerous accolades, Mayo was the recipient of the AHSAAA Athletic Director of the Year in 1982, the NIAAA State Award of Merit in 1988, the NIAAA Distinguished Service Award in 1990 and the NFHS Citation in 1986. Mayo was inducted into the NFHS National High School Hall of Fame in 1998, and the AHSAAA Hall of Fame in 2007.
mbrasfield@blythevillecourier.com