Bruce Howard to Receive NFHS Citation

Bruce Howard, NFHS Director of Publications and Communications, and one of the longest-tenured staff members in NFHS history, will be awarded the NFHS Citation at the organization’s Summer Meeting in Seattle, Washington.

An award designed to honor individuals who have made contributions to the NFHS, state high school associations, athletic director and coaching professions, the officiating avocation and fine arts/performing arts programs, the NFHS Citation is one of the most highly regarded achievements in high school athletics and performing arts.

Howard has led the NFHS Publications and Communications Department since he joined the organization in 1985. In that time, he has overseen the production of virtually every publication the NFHS has created, including rules publications, press releases, magazines, newsletters, conference programs and annual reports.

Prior to joining the NFHS, Howard worked at the NCAA from 1979 to 1985, first as a publications editor and then as managing editor of The NCAA News and assistant director of publishing.  He also was assistant sports information director at his alma mater, the University of North Texas, for two years before joining the NCAA.

Howard has helped the NFHS navigate through numerous publication projects and expansions during his career. He assumed editor duties of the National Federation News publication – which was created in 1983 just prior to him joining the organization – and helped it grow from 32 to 64 pages when it became known as the NFHS News.

The NFHS News was published until 2007 when High School Today (HST) became the organization’s flagship publication. Howard was instrumental in the creation of HST and has led its Publications Committee since 2007 as the publication’s editor-in-chief. Howard has edited every issue of HST, overseeing content creation and direction of more than 125 issues.  In addition, from 1996 to 2010, Howard was the editor of the NFHS Coaches’ Quarterly magazine.

Another one of Howard’s primary responsibilities is director of the National High School Hall of Fame. He took the reins of the Hall of Fame in 1986 and serves as the liaison to its Screening and Selection Committees. Each year, Howard coordinates and produces the annual Hall of Fame induction ceremony at the NFHS Summer Meeting, which includes creating and editing videos honoring each inductee.

In addition to the Hall of Fame, Howard oversees the NFHS Awards Program, focusing primarily on the awarding of NFHS Citations at the National Athletic Directors Conference and NFHS Summer Meeting. In the late 1980s and early 1990s when the NFHS was located in Kansas City, Missouri, Howard was liaison to the Sportsmanship, Ethics and Integrity Committee. He coordinated the national Be A Sport program, as well as the National Sportsmanship Committee, which was composed of the four major professional sports organizations and the four school-college community groups.

In recent years, Howard has coordinated a heightened focus of the communications arm of the department, increasing its media relations outreach across the country. This effort was most evident during the COVID pandemic when the NFHS became the go-to resource for how high schools and state associations dealt with the pandemic. This included Howard helping host several online media availabilities for NFHS CEO Dr. Karissa Niehoff.

Howard also orchestrated the creation of The NFHS Voice column in 2019. The editorial, which comes from the desk of the NFHS CEO, is driven and edited by Howard.

Perhaps nothing demonstrates Howard’s position as the foremost authority for NFHS history than his work on the NFHS Centennial Celebration. For more than three years, Howard led an internal committee in planning and promoting the organization’s celebration of its first 100 years at the 2019 Summer Meeting in Indianapolis. This includes the monumental task of authoring the book From Chicago to Indy – The First 100 Years, a comprehensive account of the NFHS’ origin and growth from 1920 to 2019.

Howard, a native of Texas, earned his bachelor’s degree in journalism from the University of North Texas in Denton in 1977.  He and his wife, Nancy, have four adult children and two grandchildren.