Now that season is about to start, we thought you might be interested in the people in leadership positions at your contracted officials’ association. There is also a convenient link on our web site, www.mcfoafootball.org, to “Board / Key People” where you can find contact information for all these folks. The first seven people listed below are our elected board members, the next two are our appointed board members, and the final group includes the Position Representatives who manage the per-position training programs and who keep our officials abreast of how they are rated from game-to-game.

Richard Garner is our President. Richard has been actively calling multiple sports since the 1970s and has been the MCFOA president since 2002.  Under his leadership we have extended our pre-season and in-season meeting and training schedule. This has vastly expanded both our on-field and off-field training opportunities which have, in turn, been reflected in significantly improved GHSA test scores. Richard can also take credit for several internal initiatives that have improved our services to our contracted schools and their opponents. One of these improvements is the very e-mail newsletter series that you’re reading right now. Richard is also a senior crew chief and took a crew through the second round of the playoffs in 2006.

Jack Henderson is our Secretary/Treasurer and is the single MCFOA person you’re most likely to have contact with during the season. Jack’s job spans a wide range of activities for the association including the all-important liaison role with GHSA, most of the administrative functions relative to game contracts, and, as an additional duty, booking at the Sub-Varsity level. Jack is one of our most senior Head Linesmen who worked through the third round of the playoffs in 2006; he also worked as a crew chief during the regular season and will do so again in 2007. Actively involved with computers in his day job, he shares site maintenance duties for the MCFOA web site with Joe Rice.

Frank Reed is our First Vice President. 2007 is Frank’s first year in that job, though he has been a leader in MCFOA for several years. The First Vice President’s role is to provide senior leadership and guidance to the organization and to preside at any meetings at which the President is unable to attend. Frank has been officiating football at both the youth and high school level in the Atlanta area since the late 1980s. Frank is also a former Atlanta Falcons player who is a senior crew chief for MCFOA. Frank took a crew to the third round of the playoffs last year.

Joe Rice is our Vice President for Training. He is in his third year in that position. He has been calling high school ball since the mid-1990s. A former Back Judge, he has been a regular crew chief for the past three years and took one of our six crews through the first round of the playoffs in 2006. He is also a camp trainer at the GHSA summer officiating camps where in 2007 he headed the “new officials” training group, taught goal line mechanics and was head of one of the Officials Manual editing sub-committees. Joe also is the training director for his youth football officials association. He shares MCFOA web site maintenance duties with Jack Henderson. Joe is also the ECO Position Rep for 2007. Joe’s goal in that job is to help our youngest officials learn this unsung, but important, position where almost all new officials get their first exposure to varsity games.

T. C. Candis is our Varsity Booking Agent. This is T. C.’s third year in that post. His job is one of the most challenging in the association as he must balance optimal on-field performance across all games in our schedule, the development of new and talented officials, getting appropriate opportunities for all our active officials and handling the inevitable last-minute changes that happen through the season due to schedule changes and personal emergencies that happen to our members. He is a regular Back Judge who was a member of our third round playoff crew last year. He is also works as a crew chief in the regular season.

Rick Crowe is our Corresponding Secretary. This is actually a misnomer title as his duties include much of the internal administration of the association, but little of the external communications normally associated with the “corresponding” title. Rick is a former booking agent for MCFOA who brings a wealth of experience and wisdom to the association. With a vocational background in both teaching and business ownership, his council on matters ranging from individual official’s development to managing the finances of the group is widely sought and used. An Umpire by trade, Rick has been calling high school football since the mid-1970s.

Tony Cordaro is our Vice President of Marketing. Until 2005 we had a Vice President of Contracts described in our bylaws. When GHSA took over the assignment of schools’ contracts to officials’ groups, that position became obsolete. One of Richard Garner’s initiatives was to change our bylaws to eliminate the “contracts” position and replace it with the “marketing” slot. Tony brings a wealth of marketing experience to the association from his day job background in the media industry, both print and broadcast. He has begun programs to reach people with special interest in high school football through weekly contributions to the Atlanta Journal-Constitution and local TV shows during the season. For 2007, he established a new outreach program to such groups as schools’ football booster clubs to help you fill in some space on your agendas (without your having to do any real work on it, yourself). Tony is an Umpire by trade.

Tim Clark is one of two “at large” members of the MCFOA board. At large members are appointed to the board for one-year terms. Tim has been a “rising star” in our ranks for the past several years. He is an Umpire by trade and was named our 2006 Official-of-the-Year at that position. That is quite a compliment to Tim’s talents as we feel that some of our best, and certainly some of our most experienced, officials are Umpires. Tim has advanced in our ranks by careful study of the rules and mechanics and by being one of the associations’ most probing questioners when it comes to the subject of case studies and rules applications.

Lindsay Powell is the second of our at large members of the board for 2007. Lindsay has been calling football with MCFOA since the late 1990s. Like Tim Clark, Lindsay was named a 2006 MCFOA Official-of-the-Year. In his case, he was named at the Head Linesman position. Known for his hustle on the field, Lindsay is a business owner who well understands the role of service in business relationships. He brings great people skills onto the football field; these skills are keys to working either of the wing positions since this is the primary slot for dealing with the coaches. Lindsay worked through the first round of the playoffs in 2006. 

Steve Camp is our Position Representative for the Referee position. Steve transferred into MCFOA in 2006 when he moved here from the Savannah area. Steve has been a game official for many years. When he was with his local referees’ group in Savannah, he was their booking agent. Steve has taken crews to the playoffs many times in his career; he carried one of our six crews into the first round in 2006.

Chris Stroud is our Umpires’ Position Representative. Although Chris has only been working with MCFOA for about five years, he has quickly become a key member of our association. He also served as the Umpires’ representative in 2006 making 2007 a repeat performance in what is ordinarily a one-year assignment.

Dan Hawkins is our Line Judge Position Rep for the second year running. Dan has been calling ball in MCFOA for many years and worked the Line Judge position all the way through the third round of the playoffs in 2006.

Rick Dial is serving as the Position Rep for the Head Linesmen in 2007. Rick has been calling high school football with MCFOA since the mid-90’s. Rick is also a former member of the MCFOA board and worked on the field through the second round of the playoffs in 2006.

Quinton Traylor is the Position Rep for the Field Judges in 2007. Quinton has also been calling high school football for MCFOA since the mid-90’s and was the Position Rep for the ECOs in 2006. Quinton worked on-field through the second round of the playoffs last year.

Rex Motes has been with MCFOA since the late 80’s and has been a deep official virtually all that time. This is Rex’ first year as the Position Rep for the Back Judges, a position he worked on-field through the second round of the playoffs in 2006.