Larry Lady begins his 16th year as the Heart of America Athletic Conference (HAAC) commissioner during the 2008-09 season. In addition to his duties as conference commissioner, Lady also serves the NAIA national office on several levels. He also serves as an NCAA Evaluator of Basketball Officials for the Big 12 Conference.
Lady is Past Chair of the NAIA's Council of Affiliated Conferences and Independents and for the Association of Affiliated Conferences. He is the NAIA's National Supervisor of Officials for men's and women's basketball, baseball and football and has served in that capacity since the 1996-97 season. As the national supervisor of officials, Lady is responsible for selecting all officials for the four national basketball tournaments, the baseball world series and for all football playoff games. In addition, Lady has served as a member of the NAIA's National Coordinating Committee and he has been involved with the national office for 26 years as a NAIA associate and honorary coach. Lady also served as the NAIA radio voice at three national basketball tournaments. Lady has been the HAAC men's basketball supervisor, of officials, selecting and supervising officials for conference, district & regional playoffs. Lady also served 20 years as commissioner of the Kansas City (Kansas) High School League and of the Huron High School League. In that capacity, he was responsible for selecting, training, assigning and supervising 350 high school officials in all sports for ten Kansas City Metropolitan high schools.
Lady officiated college basketball from 1959 to 2000. He officiated basketball for the NCAA (Divisions I, II, III) and for junior colleges in Kansas and Missouri. Lady officiated district and regional playoff championships as well as regular season games. He also officiated in the NAIA Division I national basketball tournament in Kansas City for five years ( 1989-1993 ) and officiated the national junior college basketball tournament in Hutchinson, Kansas, in 1988. Lady also officiated college baseball & football and from 1959 to 1985 officiated three sports- basketball, football & baseball at the high school level.
In 2001, at the 64th annual NAIA Division I basketball tournament, Lady was presented with the prestigious Frank Cramer Award. The annual award is presented to the person or persons who have contributed the most over a number of years to the men's tournament. Lady was attending his 51st consecutive tournament in 2001. Lady was introduced to the tournament in 1951 by his grandfather. As a high school basketball coach, Lady would take his basketball players to the tourney in Kansas City and use the games as a teaching tool. The Cramer award was begun in 1963 and is named for Frank Cramer, one of the originators of the event and the founder of the Cramer Chemical Company in Gardner, Kansas.
Lady was honored even further when the NAIA inaugurated an award in 2000 in his name. The Larry Lady Award will be presented on an annual basis to recognize the long-time contributions of NAIA officials.
In March, 2004 at the NAIA National Convention, Lady was awarded the NAIA's highest honor, Induction into the NAIA Hall of Fame. Then, in 2008, Lady was once again honored at the highest level by his induction into the Kansas Collegiate Officials Hall of Fame in The Kansas Sports Hall of Fame.
In 1993 Lady retired as executive vice-president of Waddell and Reed, Inc., of Overland Park, Kansas. He was employed by the company for 28 years. Prior to his employment with Waddell and Reed, Lady coached basketball and taught at the high school level for four years. Lady earned a Bachelor's of Science degree from Kansas University and did his graduate studies at Emporia (Kan.) State University.
