November 11, 2021 at 7:48 a.m.
State ADs honor Rhinelander's Roberts
State ADs honor Rhinelander's Roberts
Mike Roberts received a Distinguished Service Award from the Wisconsin Athletic Directors Association, during the group's annual convention in Wisconsin Dells on Sunday.
Roberts was one of seven recipients of the award statewide, one for each of the seven regional WADA districts. ADs in the north central part of the state honored Roberts for his role in the development of Hodag Dome, along with other volunteer efforts.
"It was humbling," Roberts told the River News. "I was surprised that something like this would come my way. Just being in that crowd with that group of people, it was humbling too. To have that kind of respect given is pretty cool."
An engineer by trade, Roberts' expertise was a valuable asset in the designing and construction of the Hodag Dome, a $8.5-million, 128,000-square foot indoor athletic facility that opened on the Rhinelander High School campus last winter. Roberts held key roles in the project, both as the chair of the School District of Rhinelander Board of Education's Capital Projects Ad Hoc Committee as a member of the Hodag Schools Foundation board of directors.
"He was going above and beyond as an engineer, researching that stuff, taking trips over to Minnesota and to Kimberly to view the different (types of indoor structure possibilities), and all the volunteering he's done for the project was recognized by our district athletic directors," said RHS activities director Brian Paulson, who nominated Roberts for the award.
Roberts was honored with a roughly two-minute video presentation and presented a plaque during the WADA banquet held at the Kalahari Resort.
"His professional background has been a great value to the school and community roles he has taken on, bringing great credibility to the decision-making processes for major school facility projects," the video stated in part, "The completion of the Rhinelander $8.5 million dome complex is an example of his leadership, collaborative approach and consensus building."
Roberts said it was humbling to see the reaction the dome received while the video played.
"There were a lot of oohs and ahhhs about the dome when the pictures came up in the banquet hall," he said. It was nice to see and it's nice for our community to see everything. As much as an honor as this is ... and all the different things that are coming to Rhinelander because of the dome, that's why we did it."
Added Paulson, "The end project speaks for itself and he was a huge part of that. What happens is the vision is unbelievable to make reality and make people happy in our community."
In addition to his role with the Hodag Dome, Roberts has been a volunteer coach for the Rhinelander High School football team since 2012. He stayed involved with the team even after his son, Luke, graduated in 2015. Luke Roberts is now on the Hodag football coaching staff with his father.
"It speaks volumes with him sticking with the program and staying involved to try to make our facilities a great place," Paulson said.
Mike Roberts said a passion for volunteering was instilled in him at a young age by his parents, John and Sonja.
"Growing up with them both being coaches and teachers, it's like, you've got to give back," he said.
Roberts was also quick to deflect praise, crediting all who have had a hand in key district improvements over the past several years.
"It was a team effort from everyone involved in Rhinelander to get this going - the whole school board, the (Hodag Schools) Foundation board, everybody involved - to get the dome project off the ground," he said. "We've come a long way and it's a lot of hard work put in by a lot of people, not just me."
Jeremy Mayo may be reached at [email protected].
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