TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (June 21, 2016) - Longtime St. Johns River State College athletic director and Region 8 director William H. "Bill" Tuten passed away on June 3 at the age of 87.
Bill Tuten Obituary
Tuten founded St. Johns River State's athletic department and served as athletic director for 35 years until retiring in 1993. His influence, however, reaches far beyond the the Vikings' campus, even to this day.
A pioneer of Florida College System Activities Association athletics and a long-serving Region 8 commissioner for the NJCAA, Tuten championed many eligibility standards still in effect today, ones that set the state of Florida apart from its peers.
"He is the John Hancock of the FCSAA handbook," said St. Johns River baseball coach and athletic director Ross Jones. "Our academic eligiblity standards are much higher than the national standard. Our ejection policy is tougher."
In addition to serving as athletic director, Tuten coached basketball and golf at St. Johns River State.
Tuten's influence and impact was such that the FCSAA's annual baseball scholar-athlete of the year award bears his name.
Current Region 8/FCSAA Athletic Directors remember Bill Tuten
Bob Zelinski, Director of Athletics, College of Central Florida
Bill was a good friend and a valuable mentor to me. I first came across Bill around 1985-86 when I served as interim athletic director at Miami-Dade College and had to file an appeal on behalf of our baseball team. Bill was the athletic commissioner for colleges in Florida and he chaired the appeal. I say I came across him because I had not met him; the appeal was by phone so I really did not know who I was talking to.
I laid out my arguments, stated the facts and provided all of the case materials to support my appeal. There were a couple of questions asked which I answered very thoroughly and I felt really good that I was going to win the appeal and we would be able to move to post-season play.
I was very politely and professionally denied my appeal. This guy on the other end of the phone, Bill Tuten, rejected all my arguments by countering them with statements and bylaws that were 100% accurate. He made me look at all sides of the issue, and I couldn’t disagree with the outcome.
I then met him in person a couple of months later at a state wide meeting when he came looking for me. To be honest, I was a little frightened. He introduced himself and congratulated me on a well thought out and well-presented appeal and proceeded to tell me it may have been the best appeal he had ever heard. He explained in detail why the appeal was denied and how the process in Florida worked. We talked about 30 minutes, I asked questions and he answered them, he asked questions and I attempted to answer them, and when we were done, I said to myself this is the kind of athletic administrator and leader I want to be.
From that day forward, Bill was a mentor I admired and sought advice from until he retired from SJR.
When in 1999, I moved to the College of Central Florida, the first person to welcome me was Bill Tuten. He was working with the senior citizen’s program at the College and was serving as the interim AD. I had not seen him in a number of years and we picked up right where we left off. He encouraged me to run for the athletic commissioner position in 2000, a position I have held for the past 16 years. It was Bill’s passion to help people and be a positive influence on people’s lives, and I am forever grateful I had the good fortune of meeting and working with him.
As for the FCSAA, we have the Bill Tuten Scholar Athlete Award presented to the outstanding student in baseball each year.
The “Bill Tuten” Baseball Scholar-Athlete Award is designed to honor an FCSAA baseball player who combines academic success with citizenship and athletic success.
The award is named after Bill Tuten who served as the FCCAA Athletic Commissioner and NJCAA Region Director for twenty-four years. A member of the FCCAA Hall of Fame, Bill Tuten’s high regard for the importance of a quality education along with athletic opportunities for student-athletes has been a driving force for academic excellence in Florida.
It was Bill’s insistence that Florida is still the only Region in the country that counts all hours attempted in its eligibility requirements and Florida was the first Region to require 2.00 GPA’s.
We have a history of excellence and leadership that was created by Bill Tuten in our policy manuals and operating procedures. Many of the administrative procedures that we have today were put in place during Bill’s 24 years of leadership.
The NJCAA also sends its condolences and appreciation for Bills’ years of service as Region Director working alongside Executive Director George Killian to transform an upstart organization into the finest and largest two year college athletic association in the country with over 500 colleges.
His athletic legacy is without match and he will be forever remembered through the State awards named after him, the gymnasium at SJR named in his honor and the legacy he has developed which is the NJCAA.
Being an athletic director, a coach, a national region director and a state athletic commissioner requires an enormous amount of time away from family and friends and we would like to express to Bill’s family our most sincere appreciation and thank you for the time he was able to devote to the state and nation throughout his career.
Bill Hamilton, Director of Athletics/CAA Chair, Pensacola State College
I became an athletics director in the fall of 1988. Back then, eligibility was done by hand - the computation of hours and GPA, cumulative hours and GPAagain - it was all done standing in the vault over thousands of files of transcripts and other legal documents. It made for long hours, deep into the night(s).
That spring, I was playing my first baseball game at...St. Johns River and my eligibility wasn’t in. Bill Tuten told me not to worry, to bring it with me. I gave it to him when we got off the bus, he checked it during batting practice and all was well in the eligibility universe!