FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE – May 8, 2008

COLUMBIA – The Missouri State High School Activities Association announced today that long-time Jefferson City High School coach and activities director Tim Thompson has accepted the position of Assistant Executive Director with the Association.

Thompson will replace outgoing MSHSAA executive Dale Pleimann who will retire at the end of the current school year after 11 years on staff. Thompson will begin his duties July 1, pending formal approval by the MSHSAA Board of Directors at its June 11 meeting.

“We are very excited to have Tim coming on board, and we know he will make a great addition to our staff,” said MSHSAA Executive Director Dr. Kerwin Urhahn. “He has been successful at every turn in his career, and his knowledge and experience will undoubtedly prove invaluable to our membership.”

During his 24 years in Jefferson City Public Schools, Thompson coached volleyball, track, basketball, baseball, softball and golf. He is best known for his baseball coaching tenure from 1988-97, when he guided the Jays to a 172-40 record during that span and a 1989 Class 4A state title. The 1989 MSHSAA state championship run helped earn Thompson the 1989 Missouri High School Baseball Coaches Association Coach of the Year honors for Class 4A, while being named American Baseball Coaches Association Midwest Regional Coach of the Year in 1989 and 1997.

A native of Eldon, Thompson was a mathematics teacher at Jefferson City High School from 1985-99 before assuming his current position as Activities Director for the Jefferson City Public Schools in 2000.

He was given the prestigious Award of Merit by the Missouri Interscholastic Athletic Administrators Association this April after being named Central District Athletic Director of the Year by the MIAAA in 2007. He also earned the national Certified Athletic Administrator designation from the National Interscholastic Athletic Administrators Association in 2004.

Locally, he has been involved with the Jefferson City Chamber of Commerce, Convention and Visitors Bureau and St. Mary’s Hospital. He chaired the JCCVB’s Athletic Events Committee from 2004-06 and is a former member of the St. Mary’s Hospital Board of Regents.

A 1985 graduate of the University of Missouri-Columbia, he also earned a Masters in Education from the University of Missouri in 1996. He and his wife Gail have two children, Brooke (11) and Blair (17).