Wooster High School athletic director

Craig Congdon has been the athletic director at Wooster High School (which happens to be my alma mater) for the last 13 years. Congdon, 53, graduated from the University of Nevada, Reno, with a degree in physical education. He taught at Dilworth Middle School for one year before joining the faculty at Wooster. That was 31 years ago. This is his last year as the athletic director, but he says he wants to teach for one more year before possibly retiring. Last month, Congdon was named Nevada Athletic Director of the Year by the Nevada Athletic Directors Association and the Nevada Interscholastic Activities Association.

How’s life at Wooster?

It’s good. I still enjoy it here. After 31 years, I couldn’t imagine being anywhere else.

What do you think of those parents who are scared to have their children zoned to go here?

If my kids were still that age, I’d want them to come to Wooster. The academics are good. The athletics are still strong. But the school is changing. There are more minority students here than there used to be, and we’re trying to get them more involved. Wooster handles a lot of kids across the spectrum.

What is the value of high school athletics?

I think athletics gives the kids a feeling of being a part of the school. They meet people and get to compete with other schools. It’s the same thing with the band, the debate team—any extra-curricular activities. I do grade checks, and I’ve found out that the more involved kids are, the higher their grades are.

I was in the band when I went here, and we got picked on a lot. How do you feel about the band?

It’s important for a school to have a band. It helps with school spirit at school functions. Coaches are really disappointed when the band can’t make it to a sporting event, especially [home] basketball games.

What’s your favorite local high school mascot?

The Wooster Colt.

Dumb question. OK, what’s your least favorite?

Hmm _ what’s our biggest rivalry right now? I’ll have to go with—and I don’t want this to come out negatively—the Lancer. McQueen’s our big rival in football right now.

What is a Lancer anyway? Sounds kinda medical.

I have no idea. I really have no clue.

What’s the goofiest thing that’s happened since you’ve been the athletic director?

It’s not really goofy, but one of the worst fears we high school athletic directors have is two teams passing each other and winding up at each other’s schools. It’s only happened once since I’ve been around, with the tennis teams here and at Incline High School. We ended up at Incline, and they ended up down here. I don’t remember whose fault it was. But that’s a big fear.

Are you going to miss it?

Yeah. I won’t miss all the hours and being at each one of the events, but I’ll miss the kids. Well, I’ll probably end up going to a lot of the games anyway.