District pairings set for Thursday release
The tentative football districts for the 2018-19 high school seasons will be set on Thursday at the Oklahoma Coaches Association clinic.
With last week’s release of the 2017-18 average daily attendance numbers for OSSAA schools, football coaches can now begin to work on setting their next round of districts.
The redistricting meeting is scheduled for Thursday afternoon in Tulsa to tentatively set the districts for the 2018 and 2019 seasons.
The district assignments will be subject to approval of the OSSAA in the coming weeks.
Districts for the 2017 season will remain the same as last year since it is the second in a two-year district cycle.
Joe Dial selected to NFHS Hall of Fame
Joe Dial has only made a few appearances at the Oklahoma Secondary School Activities Association offices, but he always noticed a certain photo.
In a glass case sits the photo of Hall of Famer Johnny Bench alongside others.
“I didn’t really know why the pictures were up there,” Dial said.
Dial’s photo will join Bench’s. The Marlow native was inducted earlier this month in the National Federation of State High School Associations Hall of Fame.
Dial, a member of the Oklahoma Sports Hall of Fame, is the current track coach at Oral Roberts.
As a senior at Marlow in 1981, Dial broke the state and national record with a pole vault of 17-9 That record stood nationally for 18 years.
Dial set the national indoor record that year as well, vaulting 17-4 He also won the state title four straight years.
He then went on to an illustrious career at Oklahoma State, where he was a four-time NCAA pole vault champion and the first collegiate athlete to clear 19 feet. He was the world-record holder in the pole vault in 1986.
Now, he focuses on helping the sport locally.
“That’s what I absolutely try to do is just give back to the sport,” Dial said.
OKC association holding clinic for new OSSAA football referees
The Oklahoma City Metro Officials Association will host a mini-clinic for all new OSSAA football officials this weekend.
The event will be held from 9 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. Saturday in the OKC Fireman’s Training Facility at 850 N. Portland Ave.
The free clinic is open to any new football officials.