Aldine ISD’s Mader honored by NIAAA

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Sandra Mader, Aldine ISD’s director of athletic services, was one of nine individuals recently named a recipient of the 2010 Distinguished Service Award by the National Interscholastic Athletic Administrators Association (NIAAA) for making outstanding contributions to interscholastic athletics.

Mader and the other eight award winners were honored Dec. 9 in Orlando, Florida, during a banquet at the 41st annual National Athletic Directors Conference conducted jointly by the National Federation of State High School Associations (NFHS) and the NIAAA.

The Distinguished Service Award is presented annually to individuals from within the NIAAA membership in recognition of their length of service, special accomplishments and contributions to interscholastic athletics at the local, state and national levels. Nominations are submitted by state athletic director associations, screened by the NIAAA Awards Committee, and selected by the NIAAA Board of Directors.

A graduate of Sam Houston State University, Mader’s career in education began in 1987 at North Shore High School, where she was varsity softball coach, assistant basketball coach and an English teacher. After her years at North Shore, she became assistant athletic director and head softball coach at Alvin High School for one-and-a-half years before assuming her duties as principal and director of athletics of the Ninth Grade Center in Galveston ISD from 1997 to 2007.

Mader served on the NIAAA Board of Directors from 2003 to 2005, and she was also a member of the NIAAA Strategic Planning Committee. At the state level, one of Mader’s most significant accomplishments was her work with the University Interscholastic League in adding fast-pitch softball as a sport in Texas high schools. She helped the Texas High School Girls Coaches Association (THSGCA) Board add softball coaches to its membership, and also helped initiate a softball all-star game. Mader also served as secretary of the Texas High School Athletic Directors Association (THSADA) Board of Directors from 2003-05 and has served on numerous THSADA committees.

Mader has been inducted into the United States Specialty Sports Association Hall of Fame and the Texas United States Specialty Sports Hall of Fame for her softball accomplishments, as well as the THSGCA Hall of Honor. She also has been inducted into her high school’s hall of fame – the Triton Regional High School Hall of Fame in Runnemeda, New Jersey.