Our Team

Retired Vice President of Marketing for Zehnder’s of Frankenmuth, which includes Zehnder’s Restaurant division, Zehnder’s 18-hole Championship Golf Course – The Fortress, and Zehnder’s Splash Village Hotel and Waterpark. A 1980 graduate of Valpraiso University with a Bachelor of Science in Business Administration. Retired members of the University’s Board of Directors with service on the board’s Athletics Committee, Student and Academic Affairs Committee and Executive Committee. Current board member for the Covenant Foundation and Covenant Healthcare System, the Saginaw Community Foundation, Huntington Bank Saginaw Advisory Board and Zehnder’s of Frankenmuth Board of Directors. Over 30 years of experience as an MHSAA basketball official. Career highlights: selected to officiate 4 State Finals and 5 State Semi Finals. 2021 and 2022 MHSAA Officials Program Observer.

Tom has been a registered official with the MHSAA for the past 34 years officiating football, softball and boys and girls basketball. Tom has been blessed with the opportunity to work a state final in football, girls basketball and two state finals in softball. Tom has also worked various quarterfinals in softball and three semi-final games in girls basketball. In Tom’s free time, he enjoys camping, fishing and playing card games. Tom has been married to his wife Jeanne for 40 years and has two daughters, Jessica and Lauren.

Mark is the Treasurer for TCAOA. He was a member At Large and Treasurer for 15 years with the former Bay Metro Officials Association. Mark also served as a trainer in football and softball for many years in the BMOA. Mark has been officiating football for 40 years and softball for 30 years. Mark has worked many MHSAA post season contests including one football final. Mark is retired after a 45 year career in healthcare. He is married with 4 children and 10 grandchildren.

Mark has been secretary of the TCAOA since its conception. He was president of the Midland Association for fifteen years until four associations merged to become the TCAOA. He retired as business manager/financial secretary from IBEW Local 692 after thirty-six years of service. He has been an official for over 40 years, working football, basketball and softball. He has worked six semi-finals and two finals in football, two semi-finals and one final in softball, and quarterfinals in basketball and softball. He is married, has two children, and four grandchildren.

Dakota Rutkowski has been a registered MHSAA baseball official for 17 years and was selected to officiate a Baseball State Final in 2023. He has also officiated basketball for more than 10 years, volleyball for six years, and spent two seasons working college baseball. In addition to officiating, Dakota serves as a baseball trainer, helping mentor and develop new officials. Prior to the formation of the Tri Cities Officials Association, he served as the Recruitment & Retention Specialist for the Midland Officials Association. Having begun officiating at just 16 years old as a legacy official, Dakota is passionate about recruiting, training, and retaining the next generation of officials. He is committed to helping new officials build confidence, develop their skills, and enjoy long, successful officiating careers.

Outside of officiating, Dakota is a proud father of three, an Eagle Scout, and enjoys spending time in the great outdoors hunting, fishing, and camping with his family.

I had just registered with the MHSAA for my 31st year and had been a member of either Bay Metro or TCAOA throughout my entire tenure as an official. Over the years, I officiated baseball, softball, and football, although football eventually became my sole focus, and I entered my 24th or 25th season officiating the sport.

I truly enjoyed officiating and planned to continue for as long as my body allowed. Even after stepping away from active officiating, I knew I would still want to remain involved in the profession as a mentor, trainer, or observer in order to continue giving back to the officiating community.

One of the most rewarding parts of my journey had been the opportunity to meet so many great people along the way, including fellow officials, coaches, athletic directors, and countless others I encountered throughout my years as an official.

Jason Harper of Coleman began his umpiring career in the mid 90’s with ASA Softball. He began umpiring MHSAA softball in 2000 and added football shortly after. Jason was honored to have worked a state softball final in 2017. Jason was part of the inaugural board for the TCAOA and was previously a board member for the MAOA. Jason also serves as a trainer for the TCAOA and as a assignor for the newly formed Great Lakes Assigning group. Jason is also the UIC for the Midland Softball Umpires Association as part of USA Softball of Michigan. When not on the field, Jason works for the Post Secondary Transition Program in Midland assisting those with special needs with vocational and independent living skills. Jason lives in Coleman with his dog, Mina and three cats, Maze, Haley, and Silas.

Rick Havercroft began his officiating career in 1964 at the North Saginaw Township little league. After graduating from Douglas MacArthur in 1970, registration with the MHSAA in Baseball and softball followed. High school basketball started in 1976 and football in 1984. In 1978 Men’s fastpitch was added to his body of work. In the mid 1980s, he was retained as the original Umpire coordinator for the Thumb Fastpitch Travel Softball League and began working college softball. He served as Softball Umpire Coordinator for the Mid-American Conference 2006-2015 and Michigan Junior college umpire coordinator for 6 years.

Tournaments of note that Rick has worked include two MHSAA softball state finals, two MHSAA Football state finals, two NCAA Division II National Championships, 17 USA Softball National Championships, 13 ISC National Championships, 6 NAIA National Championships, 35 plus Michigan USA Softball State tournaments, 1996 Men’s Fastpitch World Championship. Rick has umpired conference championships in the Mid-American conference, GLIAC conference, MIAA conference and WHAC conference. He has worked softball in 27 different states and also in Canada and New Zealand.

Personal accolades include induction into the USA Softball National Hall of fame 2019, Saginaw Country Sports Hall of fame 2018, Michigan USA Softball Hall of Fame in 2002, Frankenmuth Softball Hall of Fame in 2017, ISC certification in Men’s Modified Pitch in 1990, ISC certification in Men’s Fastpitch in 1990.
Rick retired from UAW local 455 from General Motors Powertrain in 1997.

Rob met his wife of 28 years, Jackie, while both were serving in the United States Air Force. The two were married in North Carolina, where Rob’s officiating career began with the NCHSAA. After their military service, Rob and Jackie attended the University of Michigan, before eventually settling in the Tri-Cities area.

Their oldest son Brendan participated in the MHSAA Legacy Program as a basketball official with the TCAOA, and is now pursuing pre-law at Oakland University. Middle son James will be a senior at Michigan Lutheran Seminary in the fall, and will begin his second year in the MHSAA Legacy Program as a football and wrestling official. Jacob, the youngest, will be a seventh-grader, playing soccer and wrestling.

Rob is a three-sport official, currently working baseball, basketball, and football games at multiple levels. Despite being early in his officiating career, Rob has already been blessed to officiate several district and regional tournament games. In his spare time, Rob loves to cook, travel with family, and pretend that he is better than a bogey golfer.

Jerry Haines is a married, father of 3, grandfather of 5. Jerry has twenty four years of experience as an MHSAA Registered Official in Baseball and Football. He is currently the TCAOA Sports Coordinator for both Baseball and Football. Jerry enjoys recruiting and training new officials as well as working with veteran officials to improve the collective group.

Additionally, Jerry has over 30 years service as a Little League volunteer. He is currently the Michigan District 1 Umpire Coordinator and Assistant District Administrator and leads a training staff that trains over 80 little league umpires annually.

Professionally, Jerry works as a Senior Mainframe Systems Programmer for a major insurance company.

Cindy Linton has been a registered volleyball official for 40 years at the high school level and 7 years at the collegiate level. Cindy has also been a registered assigner with the MHSAA for 30 years and is currently employed with the Bay City Public Schools.

Nichole Dowdall, new director of basketball for the TCAOA for the 2026-27 season is a registered official with the MHSAA and the NCAA. Nichole’s been officiating basketball since 2009 and in 2022 took up football and boy’s lacrosse.
In basketball, Nichole has worked two state final and two semi-final tournament games. Although Nichole works three different sports, her passion for basketball shows in her approach to the game itself, officiating, and her desire to be the best official she can…and that’s what got her into the training aspect of officiating. In 2025, Nichole joined the TCAOA basketball training team to help basketball officials strengthen their knowledge, skills, and abilities in officiating this fast-moving game. Nichole believes in the power of training; she has attended summer basketball training camps for high school and collegiate level since she started officiating and now focuses more on the rules, the philosophy of officiating practices to make us better officials than just working the camp games! “It’s always the behind the scenes of learning and knowing the rules, knowing how to respond to coaches, and being a soundly trained partner that will make the game go smoothly, no matter the playing level.”
Nichole and husband Tom enjoy officiating games together; they work basketball, football and at one time lacrosse (until Tom decided it wasn’t for him and he would support her from the sidelines!)
In her spare time, Nichole spends time training her three Labradors in canine obedience and scent work, quilting preemie quilts and pillowcases for Mott Children’s Hospital, and hanging poolside during the hot summer days.

Ross and his wife Sue both recently retired from the State of Michigan Department of Treasury. And yes, that’s where they met. After retirement, they moved from the Lansing area to the Midland area. Ross has been an MHSAA sports official for over 40 years in the sports of softball and volleyball. He is an active trainer, clinician, and observer in both softball and volleyball.

He is the assignor for the Capital Area Volleyball Officials Assn (CAAVO) which covers approximately 100 high and middle schools. In addition to assigning, he works volleyball at the high school and the collegiate level, including being on the Big Ten roster as a line judge. His softball career has led him to be named the State of Michigan Umpire-in-Chief for USA Softball of Michigan. He is still active on the field at the State and National level.

I started officiating in eastern northern Michigan as an MHSAA registered official in 1989. I have officiated basketball, baseball, softball, and volleyball. My sons started playing lacrosse in the mid 2010’s and I fell in love with the sport. I registered for Lacrosse after prompting from Jack Service and here I am today! I have been blessed to officiated in at least 33 of Michigan’s counties.