As athletic director, teacher, and counselor at Mead Junior High/Mt. Side Middle School, Dave Tikker spent 24 years directly influencing students and coaches within his community. Outside the walls of Mead Junior High, meanwhile, Tikker has been serving the WIAA and its affiliates – from the highest administrative level to the student-athletes themselves – since the late 1980s.

Starting at the more procedural level, Tikker has led the WSSAAA Executive Board as its first and only official director since 2008, having also spent time as the Association President and Conference Chair. In 1998, before he took on a more official leadership title, Tikker helped guide the impact of athletic directors as a WSSAAA board member. Still serving at Mead Junior High, Tikker became the first middle school member to serve on any state’s board of athletic directors in the entire nation.

Speaking of national impact, Tikker has always been quick to extend his services to other states’ representative parties. He’s presented three times at the NIAAA National Conference and once as a member of its Blue Ribbon Panel, even facilitating the Association’s National Convention in 2013. His efforts earned him the NIAAA’s Distinguished Service Award in 2018. He also spent two years on the National Executive Directors’ Council (NEDC) for Region 3, holding down the chair seat from 2016 to 2018. 

An advocate for educational excellence in athletics from the top on down, Tikker has worked to develop a variety of mentorship programs for ADs across Washington state, increasing WSSAAA sponsorship in their support. He also orchestrated the Section 8 Summit in the spring of 2019, exemplifying his widespread support of continued education for those in athletic leadership positions. 

Meanwhile, Tikker continued to impact educational opportunities for ADs throughout the Western United States, writing and receiving a grant from the NIAAA to provide leadership training courses at a minimum cost. For his work as a “forward thinking, who looks for solutions to problem-solving and engages people to be part of a solution,” according to Jim Piccolo, Tikker was enshrined in the WSSAAA Hall of Fame in 2013.

On top of his responsibilities as WSSAAA Director and Board Member, Tikker still made time to positively influence a variety of WIAA-led events. A long-time presenter at WIAA Coaches School from 2000 to 2012, he has also directed the beloved State “B” Basketball and Golf Tournament for many years.

In the words of Jim Meyerhoff, ““There is no other single individual who has given so much for so many years to promote the ‘Athletic Director’ in Washington state.” Truly, it is our honor to recognize Dave Tikker as a newly enshrined member of the WIAA Hall of Fame.