Former IGHSAU Executive Secretary Dr. E. Wayne Cooley will be inducted into the National Federation of State High School Associations (NFHS) Nationa High School Hall of Fame. Cooley is among 12 honorees that will be inducted July 1 at the 39th induction ceremony of the National High School Hall of Fame, which will be held at the NFHS Summer Meeting in San Antonio, Texas.

It is fitting that Dr. Cooley is honored on the 50th anniversary of the passage of Title IX in 1972. Under Cooley’s stewardship, Iowa was already offering 10 sports to female student-athletes across the state. Cooley served as the executive secretary of the IGHSAU from 1954 until his 2002 retirement. The Coon Rapids, IA native expanded the IGHSAU’s athletic programs from one sports, basketball, to 10. He is most recognized for making Iowa’s six-on-six state basketball tournament one of the premier athletic events in the state and guided the transition from the six-player game to the five-player game in 1994. Cooley was also president of the United States Track and Field Federation.

Cooley is a member of the Women’s Basketball Hall of Fame and was a long-standing member of the Drake Relays Executive Committee. Cooley passed away in 2013 at the age of 90.