Southwestern graduate to receive Roy Gardner Award from IBCA

Game officials Ron McGriff of Whiteland and David Pillar of Danville will be recognized with special awards in 2026 by the Indiana Basketball Coaches Association.

McGriff and Pillar are respective winners of the Roy Gardner and Mildred Ball awards as outstanding officials throughout long careers on the hardwood. The two officials are being cited for their work impacting the game floor, McGriff from 1978 to 2018 and Pillar from 1999 to the present.

McGriff (photo) called boys basketball games for 40 seasons, including four State Finals assignments. He also called girls basketball games for 30 seasons, with three State Finals assignments. A longtime member of the Mid-Hoosier Officials Association and the Indiana Officials Association, McGriff worked 10 years as a clinician and assisted in the mentoring program for both associations.

He is a 1978 graduate of Southwestern High School in Shelby County, where he competed in basketball, baseball, track and cross country. He went on to Franklin College, earning a bachelor’s degree in Sociology in 1984. He had a long career with Duke Energy, retiring on Dec. 31, 2025, after more than 38 years with the company.

McGriff received a Circle Center Officials Award from the Indiana Basketball Hall of Fame in April 2022. He also was presented with a Hardworking Hoosier Award from Indiana state representative Michelle Davis in October 2024.

McGriff and his wife, Diana, have three adult children – Danielle, Jamie Jo and Daniel.

Pillar (photo) is in his 27^th year as a licensed official but he started earlier while an Indiana University men’s basketball student manager by calling IU scrimmages for coach Bob Knight and intramural games in the HPER Building. Since becoming a high school official in 2000, Pillar has called four State Finals for girls and four State Finals for boys.

A current member of the Fall Creek Officials Association and a 22-year past member of the Mid State Officials Association, Pillar served the MSOA as its basketball chairman from 2003-13 and as an at-large member of its board. He also has served the IHSAA as a basketball clinician for more than 20 years.

Pillar was named the IHSAA Girls Basketball Official of the Year in 2015, and he has served as the official scorekeeper for IU men’s basketball games for 27 seasons.

A 1997 graduate of Toronto High School in Toronto, Ohio, Pillar competed in basketball, golf and track and field. He went on to IU and was a four-year men’s basketball manager. He later earned a master’s degree in education from Indiana Wesleyan University in 2005 and a doctorate in educational leadership in 2016 from Ball State.

After working from 2001-24 as a teacher, coach and administrator for Monroe County Schools, including three seasons as a boys basketball assistant coach for Tom McKinney at Bloomington North, Pillar currently is in his second year as Director of Education Integration and Advancement for RefReps, a Zionsville-based company that partners with high schools and looks to train students as officials in 15 sports in the schools’ physical education classes. He also works as an education consultant and coach with Solution Tree, a Bloomington-based international education publishing and professional development company.

Pillar is the father of three children – Layla, age 7, and twins Michael and Carson, 5 – and enjoys coaching them in baseball and basketball.

The Gardner Award is named after the late Roy Gardner, a Lawrenceburg native, Ball State graduate and former Batesville High School math teacher who worked three boys basketball State Finals and officiated in the Big Ten from 1959-69. He passed away in 1977, and the IBCA has presented an award in his name since 1978. Gardner was inducted into the Ball State Athletics Hall of Fame in 1981 and the Ripley County Basketball Hall of Fame in 2003.

The Ball Award is named after Mildred Morgan Ball, a graduate of Gary Roosevelt High School and Indiana University who served as an IHSAA assistant commissioner from 1977-98. During her time at the IHSAA, Ball was responsible for licensing and training of contest officials and also worked with the National Federation of High School Associations rules committee.

The IBCA has presented an award in her name since 1997. Ball was inducted into the Indiana Basketball Hall of Fame in 1998, and she was the 2022 recipient of the Richard G. Lugar Award for Distinguished Service.

McGriff and Pillar each will receive his award during the 2026 IBCA Clinic on April 23-24 at Mt. Vernon High School in Fortville.

For more information about the IBCA, go to in.nhsbca.org

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