Bill Ward and Dennis Redding Win ECAC's Shiebler Award
CAPE COD, Mass. - Eastern College Athletic Conference (ECAC) Commissioner Rudy Keeling announced today that Dennis Redding and Bill Ward will be honored as co-recipients of the George L. Shiebler Award. They will receive their awards on Tuesday, October 6, at the ECAC Honors Luncheon presented by Jostens. The luncheon will be held at The Resort and Conference Center at Hyannis, Massachusetts during the 2009 ECAC Fall Convention and Trade Show.
The George L. Shiebler Award is presented annually to an ECAC official who has demonstrated dedication to his avocational activities. The award is named after George L. Shiebler, former ECAC commissioner, in honor of his leadership over the many years he was associated with Eastern collegiate athletics.
Redding began officiating football in Nebraska in 1976 at the
PeeWee level while he was assigned Headquarters, Strategic Air
Command in Omaha. Due to frequent movement in his Air Force
career, Redding had the good fortune to officiate football in Rhode
Island, Texas, Tennessee, Connecticut and Massachusetts where he
refereed many state playoff and championship games. Redding
developed formal documentation and comprehensive processes to
upgrade the level of officiating in each state. From 1987 to
1989, Re
dding served in Europe for overseas assignments and officiated
inter-service football as well as European league games in The
Netherlands and Germany. He then joined the ECAC in 1996 as a
referee with the Connecticut Chapter of the EAIFO. As an ECAC
on-field official, he worked Division I-AA, II and III games and
was selected to work ECAC championship games as well. In
2003, Redding was forced to retire as an official due to two forms
of advanced cancer. After his battle with cancer, Redding
returned as a supervisor for Division II and III in 2004. Upon
the retirement of John Collins in 2005, Redding assumed the
position of ECAC Supervisor of Football Officials. He retired
in 2006, but continued as an unofficial assistant to current
supervisor, Bill Ward. Redding developed a comprehensive
manual for ECAC football officials and updates the manual annually
to reflect current NCAA rules and officiating philosophies.
Redding currently works for the ECAC, Ivy and Patriot Leagues as
well as the Colonial Athletic Association as an observer and
evaluator of on-field officials. He also works for the ACC as a
replay communicator. In February of 2009, he was honored with the
ECAC's Red Hill Award, for excellence in football officiating.
Ward serves as the ECAC Coordinator of Football Officiating,
helping the ECAC provide officiating services to more than 90
Division II and III institutions and to more than 750
officials. Ward was an NCAA official for 28 years and an ECAC
Division I-AA official fo
r 17 years, and was the referee in the 2002 NCAA Division I-AA
National Championship game.
He received the ECAC's Red Hill Award in 2002 in recognition of his excellence in football officiating. From 1977-1985, the line judge officiated ECAC Division II and III games prior to his promotion to Division I-AA. For the past 14 years, Ward has worked as an Arena Football League football official and refereed the Arena Bowl XVIII in 2004. He served as the head linesman in the Arena Football League's Virgin Mobile ArenaBowl XXII. Ward officiated on the court, as well, as an IAABO basketball official for 31 years.
About the ECAC®
The ECAC is the nation's largest athletic and the only
multi-divisional conference in the country with more than 300
Divisions I, II, and III colleges and universities. The ECAC
stretches from Maine to North Carolina and westerly to Illinois.
Established in 1938, the ECAC, a non-profit service organization,
sponsors nearly 100 championships in 37 men's and women's sports
and assigns more than 4,400 officials in 12 sports. The ECAC
also administers nine affiliate sports organizations and six
playing leagues, and through the public relations arm of the
conference, more than 2,500 student-athletes in 23 sports are
recognized annually. Finally, the ECAC serves as the primary
conference for select members in the sports of men's and women's
ice hockey and men's lacrosse.
