Conzemius gets inducted into MnIAAA Hall of Fame

Tom Conzemius was destined to become a high school athletic director.

Conzemius had a good mentor since his father, John, was the long-time athletic director at Wadena and was inducted into the Minnesota Interscholastic Activities Administrators Association (MnIAAA) Hall of Fame in 1991.

On March 27, Tom Conzemius joined his dad in the prestigious Hall of Fame during the 49th annual MnIAAA Recognition Banquet at St. Cloud's River's Edge Convention Center.

"I was very humbled and very excited when I found out," said Tom Conzemius. "I found out in November and my dad passed away in December, so he knew I was getting in. He was my AD in high school and had a tremendous amount of influence on me. I was around athletics all my life. I guess becoming an AD was in the cards."

Conzemius was one of three individuals who were inducted into the Hall of Fame at this year's banquet. Inductees must be a past or current member of the MnIAAA and must have made significant contributions to high school athletics in Minnesota.

Tom Conzemius earned his B.A. from Moorhead State University and his M.A. from Southwest State University and began his 37-year career in education as a teacher, coach and athletic administrator in 1976 as a physical education instructor at the Park Rapids Middle School. Conzemius held that position for 16 years before taking over as the Park Rapids athletic director in 1992. Conzemius was the Park Rapids AD for 12 years before taking a similar position at Sauk Rapids-Rice in 2004 until he retired in 2013. Before becoming an AD, Conzemius was an assistant football coach before taking over as the head football coach at Park Rapids and was an assistant coach in boys basketball and boys track and field for the Panthers.

"I enjoyed the variety of being an AD. Every day was different," said Conzemius, who served 21 years in that position. "I enjoyed working with the kids and the coaches. Park Rapids and Sauk Rapids turned out a lot of good kids who have gone on to do a lot of good things. There are kids that I coached who are now coaching and I take a lot of pride in that. I also take pride in the facilities we have in Park Rapids for the size of our community. The Park Rapids Education and

Activities Foundation, of which I was a founder, is something I'm proud to

have been a part of. We had some hard times financially, but we did come

up with a solution to keep all of the activities and provide funds to many

programs with the establishment of the Foundation. Being an AD is a big job and you have to have a lot of good people around you. I was fortunate to work with good secretaries, coaches and parents."

Conzemius became a member of the MnIAAA in 1992 and served on the MnIAAA board both as an officer and ultimately as President in 2005. He also received the MnIAAA award of Merit in 2010 and the Distinguished Service Award in 2011. Conzemius also served as a board member for the Minnesota State High School League.

Now Conzemius spends his free time serving as the assistant manager at Headwaters Golf Club, doing volunteer work in the community, serving on the PREAF board and travelling.

"I miss the relationships and being around the kids and the coaches and I miss watching the competitions, but I don't miss all the hours it took being an AD," said Conzemius. "I still keep busy. Retirement's been good."