Switzer Named IHSAA Outstanding Umpire
19 Jun 2008

Each year, the Indiana High School Athletic Association honors an outstanding official in eleven sports. Dave Switzer, North Manchester, was recently recognized as this year's recipient of the Interscholastic Officials Association Award for excellence in the sport of baseball.
Switzer was nominated for the award by his peers representing the Northeastern Athletic Officials Association, one of 26 such organizations located throughout Indiana. He was selected by a committee of representatives from those 26 associations for his individual service in promoting wholesome and healthy activities for the student-athletes of our state.
"I have been fortunate to be honored by other baseball organizations, such as the American Amateur Baseball Congress," Switzer said. "But the IHSAA award is particularly gratifying as I am known by these folks, have worked with them up-close and they still chose me."
Switzer, who has been umpiring baseball for 41 years and refereeing football for 22 years, has been a licensed IHSAA umpire for 19 years. In that time, he has worked all levels of the IHSAA Baseball State tournament series, including seventeen sectionals, thirteen regionals, ten semi-states and four state finals.
"The most fun is working with other umpires and seeing some excellent players and plays up-close," he said. "[As an umpire] you have the best seat in the house, you are in every play, you meet terrific people and you get to visit many different parks."
He has umpired and administered clinics and meetings all over the country, including Michigan, Illinois, Ohio, Connecticut, New Mexico, California and Arkansas, and he has even traveled as far as Puerto Rico.
Switzer is a professor of communications at Indiana-Purdue University at Fort Wayne. He graduated from Fort Wayne North Side High School in 1965 before earning his Bachelor's Degree from IPFW. He then went on to receive his Master's Degree and Ph.D. from the University of Illinois.
As a member of the Northeastern Athletic Officials Association, Switzer has acted as a rules interpreter for eleven years and a clinician for twelve years. He has authored five umpiring publications throughout his career, and even penned the 1999, 2001, and 2004 editions of the IHSAA Baseball Certification Manuals.
Switzer believes that an important part of his success is the encouragement from his wife, Jo, and others around him. "I am grateful to the many people who have assisted me and I am very grateful to Jo for her support and flexibility," he said. "It has been a great 40-year adventure and I am honored by the award."