Shivers Ends Impressive Reign
Grant Shivers has departed for a few weeks of vacation in Florida and then he will plot his next course. Shivers, 57, has had a major impact on South Jersey high school athletics, first as a coach and finishing his education career as an athletic director.
June 29 was his final day as athletic director at Woodbury. When he was hired, he was considered a young up-and-coming administrator but upon his retirement after 20 years as AD, he was among the more experienced and respected in South Jersey.
Shivers says he still has to work and has some irons in the fire but before leaving for vacation, he said he would figure things out upon his return.
For now, he has been reflective recently on what his career, especially at Woodbury has meant.
“Woodbury has been really good to me,” he said.
Shivers in turn has been good to the school.
He is a 1979 graduate of Woodbury, who was a key performer on the 1978 team that won the Colonial Conference title.
Shivers didn’t play basketball in college, where he attended the University of Delaware. His roommate was Jeff Trout, the former Millville baseball star and coach and the father of Los Angeles Angels superstar Mike Trout.
“I loved it at Delaware,” he said.
Upon graduation he got into the education field. He was a physical education teacher at Williamstown, where he would later serve as the varsity basketball coach for 12 years. From there, he was hired as the AD at Woodbury.
It’s often been written by this reporter that a high school athletic director works as many hours as anybody in education. The winter can be especially long, with night games to monitor after a full day of work in school.
“People don’t know the AD hours until they are in it,” said Shivers, who has been replaced by Dan Howey.
In addition to his AD duties, he was also in charge of transportation, activities and the physical education department.
It was a full plate and Shivers said he enjoyed it but is now looking for the next phase of his life.
Don’t be surprised if it involves basketball.
The sport has always played a prominent role in his family. His nephew is Joe Crispin, the former Pitman and Penn State star who played briefly in the NBA. Crispin is now the head men’s basketball coach at Rowan University and also runs leagues, clinics and camps under crispinbasketball.com.
Shivers says he will miss the people he has worked with, the coaches, administrators and the students.
Like most AD’s he has worked with little fanfare, just making sure the games went on, the busses were available and the referees or umpires were there to officiate.
It’s a job with great responsibility and one that Shivers handled flawlessly.
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Author: Marc Narducci
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