Stan Thomas Named Southern Section Commissioner

Stan Thomas was officially named Thursday as the sixth commissioner in the 73-year history of the California Interscholastic Federation’s Southern Section and said he would continue the efforts of his predecessor to get solid financial support from corporations.

He also said he would try to give the section a stronger voice in legislative and political matters.

Thomas, an administrator of commerce and technology for the Tustin Unified School District since 1984, will begin his term in Cerritos on July 1 and will work with former Commissioner Ray Plutko until July 26. After that, Plutko will take over as head of the Colorado High School Activities Assn.

Plutko, who had held the Southern Section post since 1980 after working as a sportswriter and then as basketball coach and athletic director at Riverside Notre Dame, resigned in early February.

Initially, 18 candidates applied for the job as chief of the largest of the 10 groups making up the CIF--a section that, were it a state federation of its own, would rank as the seventh largest in the country.

The list was pared to nine in mid-April, with Thomas, Southern Section administrator Dean Crowley and CIF associate commissioner Margaret Davis emerging as the finalists. They were interviewed Tuesday, and Thomas was told of his selection later that night.

“I thought being a principal had to be an advantage at that point,” Thomas said. “The CIF Southern Section is essentially a principals’ organization, and having had an opportunity to serve in that capacity, I feel that it will give me more insight on a daily basis.”

Before taking over at the Tustin school district, the 54-year-old Thomas was principal at Santa Ana Foothill for four years and was an assistant at Norwalk Excelsior and La Mirada Neff before both schools closed. He got his previous experience with the Southern Section as a member of committees on rules, on the yearly calendar and on life event passes.

He also was a successful football coach, leading Neff to the 1-A title in 1966 and the 2-A title in ‘74, at which point he became an administrator. The 1974 team set a Southern Section record with 43 interceptions, a mark that stood for 10 years until Diamond Bar broke it with 51.

“I read in the paper that Ray was leaving,” Thomas recalled. “I joked with my son about going for it and thought about it for a week. Then I said, ‘Why not?’ I have the experience in the area and have been successful, so I decided to take a run at it.”

At Thursday’s council meeting in Norwalk, after it was announced that he had won the race, Thomas was already facing a serious issue: the possibility of a boycott by football officials when the season begins in September.

Dave Hull, the assistant chairman of the fees committee for the Southern California Football Officials Assn., followed through on his threat to “set the machinery in motion” for a boycott this fall if a recommendation by the combined fees committees of the Southern Section and City was passed or if “fruitful” negotiations were not opened.

After listening to Hull read a five-page prepared text, in which it was specified that the officials would like to continue discussion on the matter, the council voted by an overwhelming margin of 51-5 to approve the recommendation that the officials had been against. Under the recommendation, officials would get a raise of $1 a game next season, then raises of $2 a game for each of the next two seasons. The officials are seeking raises of $3 a game for each of the next three years.

In other action Thursday, the controversial rule that would have barred foreign exchange students from competing in varsity sports was defeated, 34-21, and separate proposals to limit the number of people from the same school who can play on an out-of-season soccer team to five and on a water polo team to three passed.