Oregon athletic director Mike Lawton retires after 33 years

Reality began to set in for Oregon athletic director Mike Lawton at the boys track and field sectional at Lander-Loomis Field.

It would be the final event in a 33-year career at Oregon, which also included stints as a teacher, principal, coach and even bus driver.

“It’s going to be really weird to physically turn off the lights for the last time,” Lawton said. “It started to hit me last fall after the last home football game. I stood on the field and took a couple minutes to take it all in.”

For someone who grew up around sports as a son of a coach [Rich Lawton], stepping away from his leadership role in that capacity has been emotionally draining. Lawton will still be around as an area track official and perhaps other endeavors, but directing a school’s athletic program was a dream job for someone with such an affinity for sports.

“Mike does it with professionalism and is the consummate athletic director,” out-going Oregon principal Heidi Deininger said. “He has a sense of pride for our school and facilities. He makes sure our kids get every opportunity possible.”

With all the facilities Oregon enjoys, it is a heavy load for Lawton and his faithful assistant Tracy Harvey playing host to a myriad of in-season tournaments and postseason IHSA assignments.

“When I think of Mike, two things come to mind – dedication and work ethic,” said Kip Crandall, who preceded Lawton as the Hawks’ AD. “I know it’s old school, but Mrs. Harvey and him don’t know how else to go about things. The experience people get when they come here has been taken to a different level by them.”

Taking into account the junior high and high school, one would be hard-pressed to find another school in Illinois the size of Oregon that hosts as many major sporting events.

“When people come here they know it’s Oregon and it will be a great tournament,” assistant Principal Shannon Cremeens said. “Kids will make memories as a student-athlete.”

A byproduct of Lawton’s willingness to host so many activities is less travel for Hawks athletes and increased revenues from concessions and ticket sales. Local businesses such as restaurants and gas stations also benefit from all the out-of-town traffic.

Fortunately, both Lawton and Harvey are natural born workhorses and have carried that over in service to the school district. However, something that concerns Lawton is how difficult it has become to find sufficient help to run all these events.

“The toughest thing is human resources – finding officials, bus drivers, things like that,” Lawton said. “Volunteer attitudes have changed, too. The thought is universal among fellow athletic directors and that is that help has diminished. Parents expect these things will be done, but aren’t as willing to help.”

Another troubling aspect for Lawton is the current social and political climate in sports.

“Based upon potential legislation, my fear is there will be fundamental changes to education-based athletics,” Lawton said. “Things like NIL, unlimited transfer rules and club sports. It’s hard enough right now for a school to navigate sports programs, but some of their controls may be taken away.”

As Lawton departs, all is not doom and gloom.

“The good news is it looks like there is an enthusiastic generation of parents at the lower grades,” Lawton said. “Having parental involvement is so important.”

Lawton was also pleased that nearly every varsity boys and girls sports team had records above .500 in the 2024-25 school year. In recent years, the Big Northern Conference has kept all-sports standings, and Oregon is on par to finish third behind Dixon and Byron.

Lawton admits to having little knowledge of soccer and wrestling, but learned a lot about them during his tenure. Another component of the job is being open to emerging sports, such as bowling or when girls soccer was proposed a few years ago.

For a small school like Oregon with a track and softball program in the spring, a legitimate concern for him was dilution of numbers. A fellow BNC athletic director had already been vocal in stating his school would not offer soccer because of this and to this day, they do not.

With an old-school, traditional sports upbringing, Lawton could have taken the same approach, but gave soccer proponents his ear. Initially, it wasn’t an easy sell, but he kept an open mind and eventually girls soccer was started.

“I’m most comfortable with basketball and track, as those two I have coached,” he said. “And, like the rest of America, I love football.”

As a lifelong resident of Dixon, Lawton had hoped to serve in that capacity in his hometown.

“Back in the day, I applied to be athletic director in Dixon,” Lawton said. “I was disappointed to not get it. Maybe the thinking was that there was already enough Lawton influence. Anyway, I got over it and when it became open again, I decided to stay in Oregon. We had a good thing here and I enjoyed working with administrators like Tom [Mahoney] and Heidi, who really loved athletics.”

Under Lawton’s watch, a Hall of Fame was started at Oregon, holding its first induction class in 2024.

Replacing Lawton will be Adam Albrecht, a former Hawks head baseball and basketball coach. Albrecht was shadowing Lawton at the track sectional, becoming acquainted with the intricacies of running a meet.

“I came here right out of college and hadn’t coached anything,” Albrecht said. “He’s been supportive of me the entire time, and I appreciate him believing in me.”

It finally came time for Lawton to turn the stadium lights off for the last time. While it may have been difficult to do, there had to be a sense of satisfaction knowing everyone went away happy that night.