For the past 30 years, Gary McGriff has been exceedingly involved in the world of officiating.

The Holly Pond resident wrote and developed a software program designed to cover registration, testing, training and record keeping of officials in all prep sports umbrellaed under the Alabama High School Athletic Association, came up with a one-of-a-kind website, which allowed officials worldwide to discuss various topics pertaining to the job, produced articles for Referee Magazine and helped train contest officials in the use of crew communication system headsets developed by Vokkerro — his teachings have extended to the SEC, ACC, Big 10, Big 12, Pac 12, NFL and NBA … among other prestigious organizations.

Oh, McGriff also worked at NASA for 25 years testing space shuttle main engine components.

Quite the résumé. 

This past Saturday, though, McGriff — who currently serves as the AHSAA’s Northwest District Director for track — added to his list of accomplishments after garnering the National Federation of High School Associations (NFHS) National Contributor Award to wrap up the AHSAA Summer Conference in Montgomery.

Although McGriff heard the news back in February, he still wasn’t prepared to received the hardware.

“When I actually got it, it was very overwhelming,” he said. “I was really at a loss for words. A national award isn’t something you get every day. It’s a cherry on top for me.”

McGriff, who graduated from Holly Pond in 1973, holds experience as an official in baseball, basketball, football and track in his career and has captured myriad moments from state championships as a photographer over the past 15 years.

“I’ve always wanted to help officials,” he said. “I was surprised this happened, though, because I went up versus some good people. You just never really expect something like this to happen.”