It's Not Just Gym Anymore: Teaching Secondary School Students How to Be Active for Life
Bane McCracken, a physical education teacher at Huntington High School in Huntington, West Virginia, has nearly three decades of teaching and coaching experience. He chaired the department of physical education at Cabell Midland High School in Ona, West Virginia, when the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recognized the program for its exemplary promotion of physical activity. In 1997 he was named the National Association for Sport and Physical Education's Secondary Physical Education Teacher of the Year in recognition of the success of his lifetime fitness approach to physical education.McCracken, who received his MS in educational administration from Marshall University, has received numerous other honors and distinctions, including the 1996 Midwest District Association for Health, Physical Education, Recreation and Dance (AHPERD) Teacher of the Year award; West Virginia Association for Health, Physical Education, Recreation and Dance (WVAHPERD) presidential citations in 1995 and 1996; the 1995 WVAHPERD Secondary Physical Education Teacher of the Year award; and the 1995 Regional Wrestling Coach of the Year award.An active presenter and workshop leader, McCracken is chair and former vice president of the physical education division of the Midwest District AHPERD, and he is a member of its ad hoc committee on networking. He is also the WVAHPERD section chair and a member of the resident assembly, as well as a member of the West Virginia Coalition for Physical Activity Executive Committee, the Governor's Council on School Health, the West Virginia Physical Education Curriculum Team, and the West Virginia Physical Education State Conference Planning Committee.McCracken practices what he preaches by leading a physically active life. He has completed more than 20 marathons and numerous triathlons and duathlons. He also races bikes, lifts weights avidly, and is a keen outdoor enthusiast. In 1994 McCracken was the Mountain State Road Series Champion in the age 50 and over category. He lives in Ona, West Virginia, with his wife, Joyce.