Mallory Mayse, legal counsel for the Missouri State High School Activities Association (MSHSAA) who has helped the MSHSAA and countless other state associations for more than 40 years with pending legal issues and court challenges, has been selected as the 2015 recipient of the Award of Merit from the National Federation of State High School Associations (NFHS).

Mayse, an attorney in Columbia, Missouri, will receive the prestigious Award of Merit July 1 at the NFHS Summer Meeting in New Orleans.

Mayse, who was born in Bethany, Missouri, received two degrees from the University of Missouri, including a Bachelor of Science in Public Administration in 1970 and a Juris Doctorate in 1973. He was a Distinguished R.O.T.C. Military Graduate and Commissioned Officer in the U.S. Army Reserve, and he served on active duty with the U.S. Army Transportation Corp and later received an Honorable Discharge with the rank of Captain.

Mayse has been in the private practice of law in Columbia, Missouri since 1974 and served as president of the Boone County Bar Association in 2008-09. Mayse is admitted to practice before Missouri state and federal courts, the Eighth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals and the U.S. Supreme Court.

Mayse has successfully defended numerous MSHSAA bylaws from legal challenges, including maximum age, transfer, residency and non-school competition. In all nine decisions handled by Mayse before state and federal appellate courts, MSHSAA bylaws and actions were upheld and have been cited in other jurisdictions. Mayse’s joint efforts with attorney Bob Tull in a 1974 case before the Missouri Supreme Court led to an early decision limiting the jurisdiction of trial courts to intervene in the internal affairs of state associations and reinforced earlier decisions that participation in high school athletics is a “privilege” and not a “right.”

Mayse’s work defending maximum age and transfer rules in the 8^th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals resulted in binding precedent for Missouri and six other states, including Arkansas, Iowa, Minnesota, Nebraska, North Dakota and South Dakota. His work in the 1994 age case before the 8th Circuit was cited a year later by the 6^th Circuit in a decision that upheld a similar rule of the Michigan High School Athletic Association and has been cited in numerous other cases.

In a 2002 Missouri appellate case, Mayse was successful in upholding MSHSAA non-school participation restrictions, which recognized state associations’ “exclusive jurisdiction” over their competitions under the Amateur Sports Act of 1978, which mandates that national sports governing bodies must minimize their practice and scheduling conflicts through coordination with state associations.

Mayse has been a tireless advocate for the values of education-based activity programs, and he has co-authored or contributed to many amicus briefs to support other state associations. In 1996, Mayse authored an amicus brief on behalf of the MSHSAA in support of the Connecticut Interscholastic Athletic Conference’s maximum age rule. In 2001, he was a co-author of an amicus brief for 15 state associations in the U.S. Supreme Court on behalf of the Tennessee Secondary School Athletic Association (TSSAA) regarding “state actor.” In 2007, Mayse contributed to and appeared on an amicus brief with legal counsel for eight state associations in the U.S. Supreme Court on behalf of the TSSAA, which was decided fully favorable to the TSSAA regarding a First Amendment free speech challenge. Most recently, Mayse was a contributor to an amicus brief for 10 state associations on behalf of the Wisconsin Interscholastic Athletic Association (WIAA) in a successful case vs. Gannett Company, Inc. in the 7^th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals, which upheld the constitutional right of a state association to exclusively license broadcast rights.

One of Mayse’s most significant contributions was a recent project in which he compiled and edited National Case Summaries for the NFHS and all state associations that includes more than 600 reported court decisions involving state associations since 1934.

Mayse has attended and been a frequent presenter at the NFHS annual meeting of state executives and legal counsel since the first gathering in 1978. He has been a speaker for legal workshops at the NFHS Summer Meeting, and is involved in training and educating Missouri school administrators on student safety issues and the importance of rules relating to age, transfer, non-school competition and citizenship.

In 2010, Mayse received the MSHSAA Distinguished Service Award for his dedication and service, and, in 2014, he received the MSHSAA Irvin Keller Award, which is the highest award given by the MSHSAA for 40 years of contributions to the association and other NFHS members.

Mayse is married to Susan L. Mayse and has two daughters and four grandchildren who all reside in Columbia. He has been assisted in his law practice by Beverly L. Crow for 30 years.