ACSD Superintendent Dave Herold to be honored by IHSAA this Friday at Boys State Basketball Tournament

Dave Herold ...
Dave Herold ...

Retiring Allamakee Community School District Superintendent of Schools Dave Herold will be among three school administrators honored by the Iowa High School Athletic Association (IHSAA) later this week with the Bernie Saggau Award of Merit at the Iowa High School Boys State Basketball Tournament being held at Wells Fargo Arena in Des Moines. The award presentation will take place during halftime of the Class 4A State Championship game, which is scheduled to begin at 8:15 p.m. Friday, March 9.

Named after the former Executive Director of the IHSAA following his retirement in 2004 after a 41-year career leading the governing body of Iowa high school male athletics, the Bernie Saggau Award of Merit is the highest honor the IHSAA bestows. It is awarded by the Board of Control to individuals for their service to interscholastic athletics and support of education-based activities for students.

Herold grew up in Cresco and graduated from Cresco Notre Dame High School in 1975, where he was a four-year letterwinner in baseball and a three-year letterwinner in basketball. He received his bachelor’s degree from Upper Iowa University in 1988, and later received his master’s degree from University of Wisconsin-La Crosse (1998) and his educational administration certification from Winona State University (2002).

In 1987, Herold began his teaching career at his alma mater, where he taught English and coached boys basketball for one year. He continued teaching at Cresco Notre Dame while coaching at Riceville and Crestwood (Cresco) High Schools until he accepted a job as a teacher and athletic director at Crestwood in 1992, and he remained there for 11 years.

Herold began his administrative career as secondary principal at Orient-Macksburg in 2002. He would move back to northeast Iowa in 2003 to become Waukon’s high school principal, be named superintendent at Rudd-Rockford-Marble Rock in 2005, and then become superintendent of the Allamakee Community School District (ACSD) in Waukon, where he still serves today and where he will retire from at completion of this school year.

During his time at ACSD, the school district established a one-to-one computer program for secondary students and established a free four-year-old pre-school program. In 2008, Herold was elected to the IHSAA's Representative Council, representing northeast Iowa, and he held that position until 2011. Then, he was elected to the IHSAA’s Board of Control. During his time on the board, he actively participated in association events and served as chairperson before his term concluded in 2017. One of his last official acts on the Board of Control was presenting the state football championship trophy to his school in November of this past year.

Herold serves as the president of the Waukon Chamber of Commerce and treasurer of the Waukon Economic Development Corporation. He and his wife, Sheri, have three grown children: Lyman, Jeni and Tony. They also have five grandchildren: Domanick, Karlee, Keaton, Annabelle and Aubrianna.