Congratulations to the Mildred Ball Award Winner: Andy Simpson
Andy Simpson of Crown Point is the winner of the 2019 Mildred Ball Award.
Simpson became a licensed official in 1990 when he joined the Lake County Officials Association, which he has served as president, past president, secretary, basketball chairman and basketball assignor. He also has been a vice president of the Indiana Football Officials Association northern region and secretary for the Indiana High School Officials Association.
He served as an IHSAA basketball rules interpreter and lead clinician from 2002-07, represented the IHSAA at the National Association of Sports Officials conventions in 2010 and 2013, was a presenter in football and basketball annual IHSAA Officials Summit seminars from 2013-16, and has been a coordinator for an officials’ recruitment, retention and mentoring from 2016-present.
Over the years, Simpson has officiated in 14 IHSAA State Finals events. Those include five in girls basketball (2004, 2008, 2011, 2014 and 2017), one in boys basketball (2016), three in football (2004, 2012 and 2016), four in softball (2004, 2008, 2012 and 2016) and one in unified football (2018). He also has officiated collegiately in basketball, football and softball.
In addition, Simpson officiated in the 2009 Indiana North-South All-Star Softball Games, the 2010 and 2017 boys basketball Hall of Fame Classic events and the 2017 Indiana North-South All-Star Football Game. He was honored in 2017 as the IHSAA Girls Basketball Official of the Year and is set to be recognized as the IHSAA Softball Official of the Year in June 2019. In 2018, he received the Stan Dubis and the Harry Werkowski awards from the Lake County Officials Association.
Simpson is a 1978 graduate of Highland High School, where he competed in football, swimming and baseball as well as non-school teams in hockey and racquetball. He also played competitive racquetball after high school in open and professional divisions, claiming more than 50 event championships, several Indiana Open championships and two national championships in paddleball.
Simpson also is a 1986 graduate of Purdue University-Calumet, where he received a bachelor’s degree in industrial engineering and management.
After high school, Simpson worked as a millwright. He then earned his degree from Purdue-Calumet and worked as a manager and reliability engineer for Arcelor Mittal No. 4 Steel Producing / No. 1 Slab Caster in East Chicago. He retired in 2016 from the Arcelor Mittal Steel Division.
Simpson enjoys playing golf and volunteers for several organizations, including Special Olympics.
He and his wife, Barbara Kalish-Simpson, live in Crown Point.
