Former Kansas State High School Activities Association Executive Director Nelson Hartman passed away February 16 after suffering a heart attack earlier in the week. He was 90.

Hartman joined the KSHSAA staff in 1963 and served as Executive Director from 1976 to 1993. He was inducted into the KSHSAA Hall of Fame in 1996. 

Hartman received numerous local and national awards and was a member of the Executive Committee of the National Federation of State High School Associations, as well as the USA Olympic Basketball Committee. He is most known for the development of the overtime rules used in interscholastic football and for his good citizenship-sportsmanship policies. He dedicated his life to promoting positive values in the youth of Kansas through education and sports.

Hartman was active at the state level as well as the national level through the National Federation of State High School Associations where he served two terms on the executive committee, was on the board of directors and president of the Federation Fund, Inc., and served on the rules committees for football and basketball. Over the years, Mr. Hartman has received many awards for his distinguished service in the development of activities, among them the National Federation Citation Award for his contribution to interscholastic football (1978), the KSHSAA Governor's Award (1993), the Dedicated Service Award from the Kansas Association of Secondary School Principals (1993), and the Alumni Achievement Award from Fort Hays State University (1990).