Tim Stried
OHSAA Director of Communications

COLUMBUS – Mark LaFon, boys basketball coach at Ironton High School, will begin his first year of a two-year term on the Ohio High School Athletic Association Board of Directors Thursday when the board gathers in Columbus for its first meeting of the 2017-18 school year.
LaFon will serve as the Ethnic Minority Representative in the Southeast District.
The OHSAA is the governing body of high school and junior high sports in Ohio. It is a voluntary, non-profit organization that governs 822 high schools and 900 middle schools, which includes approximately 400,000 student-athletes.
LaFon is a 1988 graduate of Chesapeake High School where he was recently selected to the school’s athletic hall of fame.
He continued his athletic career at the University of Rio Grande and he completed his bachelor’s degree in education in 1992.
LaFon began his career in education at his alma mater, Chesapeake. He taught high school history and coached boys and girls basketball, cross country and golf.
In 1998, he was named head boys basketball coach at South Point High School and later was appointed assistant principal in the school district.
After six years at South Point, LaFon moved to Ironton High School to become assistant boys’ basketball coach and assistant principal A year later, he was named the head coach.
During this time, LaFon completed his master’s degree in education at Ohio University.
As the head coach, he has earned district and state coach-of-the-year honors as well as accolades for total career wins. Under his leadership, Ironton has won five district titles and made an OHSAA state tournament appearance in 2013.
In 2009, LaFon added the duties of director of athletics in Ironton. He is also co-owner of Spare Time Recreation in Ironton and has a background in real estate.
He was elected to serve on the Southeast District Athletic Board in 2011 and is in his first term on the OHSAA Board of Directors.
LaFon and his wife Angie, an elementary school principal for the Coal Grove Dawson-Bryant Local Schools, have two daughters, Samantha and Avery.