HERSHEY – Gary DeRenzo would have liked nothing more than to see the hundred or so everyday folk from Pottsgrove School District sitting in the seats here in the Hershey Lodge and Convention Center on Thursday night.

He had something he dearly wanted to share with all of them … the Pennsylvania Region I Athletic Director of the Year award, which he received during the Pennsylvania State Athletic Directors Association’s annual banquet.

“To receive this award is very flattering, because it comes from your colleagues,” DeRenzo explained. “But for one person to receive it is a fallacy. This is an award I personally will share with a lot of people.

“You need a lot of people to do the job that (athletic directors) do, and I’ve received this award because of so many great people at Pottsgrove. Our kids, our coaches and our staff … they’ve all been very instrumental in this. Everyone has to do their part, everyone from the groundskeepers to the administrators, and at Pottsgrove everyone does. So I’m honored to receive this award, but I accept it on behalf of everyone at Pottsgrove.”

DeRenzo is the second athletic director from the Pioneer Athletic Conference to be presented the PSADA’s prestigious award in three years. Spring-Ford’s Mickey McDaniel, honored in 2006, was also recognized Thursday night and received the PSADA Citation for his continued commitment to interscholastic athletics and for his work within the organization.

“I just feel all of this speaks volumes about our league,” DeRenzo said.

DeRenzo himself spoke at length about his parents, Dominic and Ruth Ann DeRenzo, who provided him direction as well as unwavering support in all his endeavors as a youngster, and about Bill Lenox, the former athletic director at Slippery Rock University, who inspired him to not only give back to the athletic community but to enrich it.

He recalled the stories he often heard about his father getting up bright and early every morning to take a train from Birdsboro to Pottstown to go to work, rarely if ever missing a shift, and never ever complaining about the monotonous ride on the railroad or the long days and even longer weeks. He remembered watching his mother making breakfast for everyone, getting everyone out and about, then heading out the door herself in time to greet a classroom of students as a teacher in the Owen J. Roberts School District.

“Hearing how hard my father worked all those years to help start and then raise a family always meant a lot to me,” DeRenzo said. “And because my mother was a teacher, I was fortunate to see the fraternity of educators first-hand, their mentality and comaraderie, and their dedication to kids.”

Because of what his parents believed in and the discipline they demanded, DeRenzo said, he was more than capable of juggling baseball and other activities along with the books as a student at Pottsgrove … and those values helped him earn a bachelor’s degree in sports management as well as a master’s degree in athletic administration from Slippery Rock University.

And that college education was enhanced by Lenox.

“I got involved with the athletic department there and got to work with (Lenox), my mentor,” DeRenzo said. “I no sooner walked in there and (Lenox) had me working with the intramural and athletic programs. It was fun, and I worked a few summers there with him.

“He was very high-energy, very up-front. He always supported you in public. He was very loyal. And if you made a mistake he’d let you know in private, discuss it with you.”

Lenox was what DeRenzo wanted to be.

“Everyone revered him,” DeRenzo explained. “No job was too small, and he lived it. He treated everyone the same. Those qualities were very attractive to me.”

After graduating from Slippery Rock, DeRenzo worked briefly in sales, then for the Pottstown Recreation Department. But when the opportunity to become an athletic director arose – at his alma mater, no less – DeRenzo seized it. He spent four years at Pottsgrove, moved down to Wissahickon for two, then returned to the area as Pottstown’s athletic director for seven years.

Last year, he moved back to Pottsgrove … and there are absolutely no plans to leave.

Not even with a work schedule that has only gotten busier through the years.

He has been the PAC-10’s liason for boys and girls lacrosse as well as golf, chairperson of the league’s media committee, and a member of the PAC-10’sa membership and scheduling committees; served as first president and past president of the District 1 Athletic Directors Association; and handled the duties as chairman of the district’s wrestling team duals and individual tournaments.

“I’m very happy,” DeRenzo said. “I have the most rewarding job I could have ever wanted.”

DeRenzo has also been quite busy while out of the athletic director’s office, too. He’s served as president of the Greater Pottstown Tennis Association and was on the Pottstown Police Athletic League’s board of directors. He is currently treasurer of the Summit Awards committee, a volunteer youth soccer coach, and a den leader for Cub Scout Pack 95 at Cedarville United Methodist Church.

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McDaniel, a sunrise-to-sunset dynamo in his 15 years as Spring-Ford’s athletic director, has no plans on slowing down, either.

“I just can’t be idle, I have to be doing something because I get more done when I’m busy,” he explained. “If I have too much downtime I get a bit scattered … so disorganized.”

McDaniel, unquestionably one of the most respected athletic directors in the entire state, never really has much time to sit back and relax. Beyond his responsibilities at Spring-Ford, he’s been the Pioneer Athletic Conference’s liason for basketball and baseball, served as chairman of the field hockey committee, and been the chairperson of the league’s leadership and expansion committees. He was very instrumental in the formation of the District 1 Athletic Directors Association, and has served as the game manager for countless district and state playoff games in boys and girls basketball, girls volleyball, baseball, softball and wrestling.

His untiring commitment to PSADA is what led to Thursday night’s honor.

The 53-year-old McDaniel, a graduate of Spring-Ford himself, is a member of the state organization’s executive council; chairman of its conference evaluation committee; a member of the credentials, membership and awards committees; and serves as the PSADA’s official videographer.

Before DeRenzo and a lot of other athletic directors arrived here, McDaniel had already had a day or two of work in.

“I’ve been working with the Technology Committee for Strategic Planning,” he explained. “We’re putting together our five-year plan, coming up with a vision or mission statement. We have five committees (on professionalism, membership, technology, leadership and finances), and we’re creating goals for each committee as well as coming up with the strategy or action plan to achieve those goals.”

It’s work, a lot of it … but a labor of love, of sorts, for McDaniel.

“I just feel very fortunate to be a member of three great organizations – the Spring-Ford School District, the Pioneer Athletic Conference, and PSADA,” he said. “When you receive an award like this, it’s recognition from your peers, which gives instant value to it because it’s your fellow athletic directors acknowledging your work.

“I feel blessed to get this (award). But getting it for what I’m doing … it’s just part of my job.”