High School         

Kentucky Athletics Association Taps Woman As Leader          

LEXINGTON, KY.   Last week, Brigid DeVries wrote a song for outgoing Kentucky High School Athletic Association commissioner Louis Stout's retirement dinner. Co-workers joke that in another life, she'd be a songwriter.

In this life, DeVries is one of only four women to head a state high school athletic association.  "It's showing our state's commitment," says Butch Cope, KHSAA sports information director.

"Our state has really stepped forward," DeVries says. "We're real proud."

To colleagues and friends, DeVries' promotion is no surprise - sports is a way of life for the Lexington, Ky., native, who begins her new job Monday, July 1, 2002..

Having grown up in an athletic environment, DeVries, 52, developed an interest for tennis, which continues today, and competed at the AAU level in swimming and diving at the University of Kentucky. She also dabbles in white water canoeing.

During her 23 years with the KHSAA, DeVries has worked on many things, including a Title IX audit project designed to evaluate the level of gender equality at all member schools by 2003.  "I've never lost my interest and enthusiasm for watching high school athletes," DeVries says.

[Source: Cristina Silva, USA TODAY]

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