Under the lights at Roth Field in Wayland Thursday, those affiliated with the Southeast Iowa Superconference honored a man who helped make the league a reality. Longtime conference commissioner Don Lamm of Mount Pleasant was honored for his tenure as Superconference Executive Secretary. A post he held for 31 years, Lamm was there at the birth of the league, handling duties like the basketball shootout, track meets, wrestling meets and music performances. He worked side by side with the district superintendents that make up the conference board of control.

The realignment of area schools began in 1989, just as Lamm started as athletic director with the Mount Pleasant School District and was then tapped to serve as Executive Secretary. He was tasked with organizing 21 schools into four different divisions and striving to uphold the conference mission statement to work with all involved in the best interest of the students at member institutions. Lamm spoke in Wayland on Thursday night about receiving the recognition and his legacy. “This is so meaningful, it’s hard to accept it without showing some emotion. We started the Superconference back in 1991. The great thing was the people that I worked with. The administrators of the schools involved were just tremendous to work with. The thing I noticed about all of them, they were very concerned about what was best for the conference. They also watched out for what was best for their schools, but, they looked at the conference, what’s best for the conference in making decisions. That was always very impressive. To work with those guys the last 30 years has just been a real pleasure.”

Lamm’s influence in Iowa athletics and academia stretches far behind his duties with the Superconference. He served as a teacher, coach and school administrator for various districts from 1958-1998. Beginning in 1981, he was elected to the Iowa High School Athletic Association representative council and in 1984 he was appointed to their master board for conference realignment. He has served as an official for basketball, baseball and softball, working eight consecutive state basketball tournaments in Des Moines from 1973 to 1981.

Lamm has logged a total of 63 years serving students and athletes across the state. KCII area schools Hillcrest Academy, Highland, Lone Tree, Columbus, Winfield-Mt. Union and WACO are all Superconference members.