Buncombe County Schools superintendent Tony Baldwin, right.
From the NCHSAA:
CHAPEL HILL – The North Carolina High School Athletic Association presented special awards at its just completed eight regional meetings across the state.
Commissioner Que Tucker of the NCHSAA and associate commissioner Karen DeHart, on behalf of the Association, presented both the Charlie Adams Distinguished Service Awards and the Special Person awards to recipients in each region.
The Charlie Adams Distinguished Service Awards are given per region and go to a person with at least 10 years of experience in education and athletics who is still active in the field and has regularly gone “above and beyond” the call of duty at both the local and the state level. The Special Person award is similar but may go to a contributor to the NCHSAA who is not directly in coaching or education.
REGION 8
Charlie Adams Distinguished Service Award – Tony Baldwin, Buncombe County Schools
Dr. Tony Baldwin is currently the Superintendent of Buncombe County Schools, a position he has held since 2009 and recently served a four-year term on the NCHSAA Board of Directors representing Region 8.
Baldwin is a graduate of T.C. Roberson High School and served an Associate Superintendent as well as a Principal in Buncombe County prior to his selection as Superintendent. He received the NCHSAA Citation Award in 2007. He was named the Service Award winner in 2005 by the NC Association of School Administrators (NCASA) and has been named both the Principal of the Year in Buncombe County and the Western Regional Principal of the Year in 2003.
Special Person Award – Dawn Lowe, Mitchell High School
Dawn Lowe has been the head women’s basketball coach at Mitchell High School from 2004 to 2013. During that span, Lowe’s teams have amassed five conference championships and two conference tournament championships. They have appeared in the Regionals on three separate occasions and Lowe was named the Western Highlands Conference Coach of the Year four times. She also was named the North Carolina Basketball Coaches Association Coach of the Year for District 12 three times during that span. Her teams posted an impressive 154-57 record.
Lowe also was dedicated to improving student’s lives and has long been involved in the NCHSAA’s Student Leadership programs serving as Region 8 coordinator of the Student Athlete Summer Institute. SASI is intended to develop leadership skills for student-athletes and build teams of student athletes to serve as role models in the areas of alcohol and substance abuse, violence prevention and sportsmanship.
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