Hamburg athletic director Aaron Menapace receives top state honor
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Aaron Menapace, long respected for his work as Hamburg athletic director and with the Berks football community, has been selected Athletic Director of The Year by the Pennsylvania State Athletic Directors Association. He will be honored during the PSADA conference in March.
Menapace has been a coach and athletic administrator for 40 years, the last 27 as Hamburg’s athletic director.
He has served on BCIAA Board of Control for 13 years, served two terms as president of the Berks County Athletic Directors Association, and been BCIAA chair for field hockey, softball and, for the last seven years, football.
“I am humbled to be chosen for this award by my colleagues,” said Menapace, a graduate of Southern Columbia, Bloomsburg University, and Stony Brook University. “There are many athletic administrators in Berks County and beyond who do remarkable work.
“I consider several to be worthy of the honor before myself. They work tirelessly, and many times their efforts go unnoticed. I’m honored to accept this award but do so on behalf of all the athletic directors who dig in daily to make a difference in their schools and communities.”
Menapace is just the second Berks County athletic director to earn this honor; Dave McCoy of Governor Mifflin, in 2001, was the first.
Menapace coached football at Southern Columbia, Stony Brook, and Wilkes University. He has coached football at Hamburg for five seasons, serving as offensive coordinator four seasons; the Hawks went 33-18 during that span, with a 2019 Eastern Conference championship and District 3 semifinal appearances in 2021 and 2022.
During his tenure as athletic director Hamburg has added six varsity sports four at the middle school level.
As part of a high school renovation scheduled to begin in 2027, Menapace has been instrumental in the planning of future athletic facility improvements, including additional turf fields, expanded stadium seating, a high school gymnasium renovation, addition of a cardio studio, wellness center and several parking lots to better serve visitors to the high school and athletic events.
Menapace is a 1984 graduate of Southern Columbia, where earned 10 letters (in football, basketball, and track and field) and was named Outstanding Male Athlete as a senior.
Menapace received the PSADA and State Award of Merit in 2016. He is one of just five District 3 athletic directors to earn both major awards from the organization, along with Ken Campbell of Hershey, Dave Eavenson of Carlisle), Gerry Schwille of Northern York and Doug Bohannon of Elco.
