Goodbye To A Good Friend

Game management is accomplished by staying alert and then reading and reacting to potential problem situations before they materialize. It all boils down to paying attention to details. Jim Evans

During the week I was in Indianapolis for the Division III Women’s Soccer Meetings as I serve on the NCAA national soccer committee. While I was there I had a chance to visit with Wayne Burrow, who has served as a Director of Championships for the NCAA for 17 years. Wayne and I became acquainted when I served on the regional football committee in the late 1990’s and then we became good friends when I served on the Division III national football committee.

Wayne is stepping down today from the NCAA and I know he finds some humor that he is leaving the organization on Friday the 13th. Wayne was always quick with a one liner and enjoyed the friendly banter that comes with working with the committee members of the respective sports.

However it would be incorrect to portray Wayne as someone who just did his job only because it was fun. Wayne is perhaps the best detail person I have ever worked with and seemed to be prepared for anything. For someone who was involved with numerous championships, Wayne was always interested in making sure that the same principles were applied regardless whether the event was Division I or Division III. He worked hard to make the championship (especially the Division III Football championship) a unique event that the students and their families would remember for the rest of their lives. Wayne was always the person in the background who made the events happen and normally without any problems. He loved to take care of the logistics involved with hosting a championship and could quote you the NCAA football handbook as easily as he could recite the dates of his family member birthdays.

And because he was a Director of Championships, Wayne was also the contact person when people were unhappy with the logic of selection process. Wayne fielded numerous phone calls and e-mails from University Presidents, Athletic Directors, Coaches, Reporters, Cheerleaders, Girlfriends and irate grandmothers. He would always explain the rationale behind the selection process and then listen to their beliefs that their team not getting in was part of a universal conspiracy to keep their students from getting a fair deal. He took a call like that from me in 1998 when our football team went 9-1 and did not make the playoffs. While I disagreed with the policy, I knew that Wayne had at least listened to me. In the end that’s all we can really ask for in any situation. And in time, I realized that there was no conspiracy against Hardin-Simmons.

Like many of my colleagues I will miss seeing Wayne at the NCAA office and knowing that he is helping make a championship event the best it can be. He has left a legacy that will be tough for all of us to follow. We wish him the best for this next transition in his life.