Brent Cook Photo

Brent Cook, assistant principal for activities/athletics at Dubuque Senior High School

Brent Cook, assistant principal for activities/athletics at Dubuque Senior High School, was named one of 11 national recipients of the 2017 Distinguished Service Awards given by the National Interscholastic Athletic Administrators Association (NIAAA).

The award was presented on December 12 in Phoenix, Arizona, during the banquet at the 48th annual National Athletic Directors Conference conducted jointly by the National Federation of State High School Associations (NFHS) and the NIAAA.

The Distinguished Service Award is presented annually to individuals from within the NIAAA membership in recognition of their length of service, special accomplishments and contributions to interscholastic athletics at the local, state and national levels. Nominations are submitted by state athletic directors associations, screened by the NIAAA Awards Committee and selected by the NIAAA Board of Directors.

Cook has served in his role at Dubuque Senior High School since 2012. In addition to managing all athletic events and evaluating all head coaches, Cook has been chairperson of the Dubuque Senior High School Athletics Hall of Fame, a planning committee member for the high school’s renovation projects, and the manager for state series events sponsored by the Iowa High School Athletic Association (IHSAA) and the Iowa Girls High School Athletic Union (IGHSAU).

Cook has been a leader in the Iowa High School Athletic Directors Association (IHSADA) since 2004 when he was named to the IHSADA Executive Board. He was the organization’s president in 2008-09 and serves as the state’s NIAAA liaison and NIAAA certification coordinator. Earlier this year, Cook was elected to the Iowa High School Athletic Association Board of Control.

Nationally, Cook was a member of the NIAAA Publications Committee for six years and he currently serves on the NFHS/NIAAA Athletic Directors Advisory Committee. He also was a workshop presider at two National Athletic Directors Conferences. Cook received the NIAAA State Award of Merit in 2010 and the 20-year IHSADA Service Award in 2016.