NCHSAA
Aug 20, 2008
The N.C. High School Athletic Association allows each revenue sport to participate in one endowment game a year, one of those sports is football.
"Anybody that requests to play an endowment game can, and it can be played whenever," NCHSAA executive director Charlie Adams told HighSchoolOT.com. Adams said, at one time, the Association required the endowment game to be their first game, but that is not the case anymore.
The NCHSAA now allows schools to pick when their endowment game will be held, allowing them to have more flexibility with their schedules.
25-percent of the receipts goes to the NCHSAA endowment fund after the school pays all expenses. The other 75-percent is divided up amongst the two participating schools.
The NCHSAA and Adams came under fire in July after an article was published in the Raleigh News & Observer questioning the endowment fund and Adams' salary.
"[The report] was quite erroneous in a couple of things that were said, and people really don't understand what an endowment is," Adams said. "101 endowment is you create a pot of money."
The pot of money created by the endowment, which comes from things such as corporate sponsorships, makes up the principal. The principal cannot be touched by the Association, according to Adams. The only money the NCHSAA can use is the interest earned on the principal.
"When we first had a vision about the endowment, my thinking was there was going to come a day that golf, and tennis, and volleyball, and swimming, and so many of these non-revenue sports were going to become a financial burden, and we needed to have some way to cover those," Adams explained.
"Then, as we got more into corporate sponsorship, and covered them that way, we found out we didn't have the need we thought we would, and then we looked at returning some of the money to off-set the catastrophic insurance for the schools."
Returning the money to the schools was major focus of the controversy this summer. Critics felt that the NCHSAA was sitting on millions of dollars of cash, while schools struggled to get by year-after-year.
"As we moved along," Adams said, "We started using some of it to benefit the schools [through] programs we were offering."
Still, there are some in North Carolina who feel the money isn't being distributed and spent fairly.
"We have never used anything except the interest," Adams explained. The 42-year veteran of the NCHSAA said that all of the money that came out of the endowment fund went back to the schools, either indirectly through programs and initiatives that help the schools, or directly in the form of cash.
So, what is the endowment fund worth?
"The article said we had something like 11.5 or 12 million dollars in the endowment. We actually have 8 million dollars in the endowment, which is good, but you've got to remember we started this back in the ninety's, and so it's been a slow-growth process."
"What we've tried to do is manage it, and manage it well, so we've tried every year to put a certain percentage back into the endowment to help grow it, and then we have opportunities for solicitation, we have endowment games, we have a dollar surcharge, and I think we've been very innovative in ways to create methods of growing the endowment," Adams said.
"And again, the endowment is for the schools. We don't use it here for the Association, it doesn't go to salary, it doesn't go to automobiles, furniture, building... everything that comes off of the interest, goes back to either growing the endowment, or the bulk of it going directly or indirectly to the schools."
Adams said that an additional $3.2 million will be added to the endowment sometime down the road because at one time members of the staff were insured with $100,000 death benefits. "Sooner or later, as we die," Adams said, "The death benefit goes into the endowment because the Association paid the premium."
Another question asked after the article appeared in July was, "When is enough, enough?"
"Have you heard of Carolina or Duke stopping their endowment, saying OK we've got enough now? The purpose of an endowment is for perpetuity, and I hope long, long after I'm gone that the endowment will still be growing, and that it will still be doing the things that we visualized, and that is helping the schools," Adams said.
Adams expressed that the endowment fund's growth will help prevent North Carolina from going to a pay-for-play policy. Adams said there are between 35 and 37 states in the country that have pay-for-play policies in place. According to Adams, those costs range anywhere from $50 to $500.
"Through our endowment, we should be guaranteed that we never have to do that," Adams said, speaking of pay-for-play policies.
The News & Observer article indicated that Adams made over $190,000 a year. That figure raised questions about whether Adams was getting paid too much.
"Salary comes from the basic revenue of the Association," Adams made clear. He stated that no money for salaries is taken out of the endowment fund.
"I can assure you not a penny of endowment money has ever gone into salaries," Adams stated. "Anyone who thinks that any endowment money goes to our salaries is sadly mistaken."
Adams challenged anyone who questions where salary money comes from to stop by and see the Association's audits, minutes, and other records.
"A lot was made over my salary, and I didn't get into any kind of rebuttal on that because one, I've never set my salary, and two, I never gave myself a raise," Adams said. "I appreciate that our board has been good to me, but I hope I have been good to the Association. I am in my 42nd year, and they have taken that into consideration."
Adams has been the executive director of the NCHSAA since 1984. He started working with the Association in 1967 as the assistant director.
Coming this weekend on HighSchoolOT.com: N.C. High School Athletic Association executive director Charlie Adams talks about other hot topic issues in high school sports. Find out what Adams thinks about Friday night college football games, the eligibility scandal that rocked North Carolina, sportsmanship, the implementation of AED's, allowing private schools to join the Association, and realignment. Plus, find out when Adams thinks North Carolina will see a 5-A class!
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