Midwest Region - NFF
Southern Indiana Chapter
A jack-of-all-trades within the sports industry, Mike Skvara can do it all. Now, the co-founder and president of the NFF
Southern Indiana Chapter can add the National Football Foundation Chapter Leadership Award to his long list of accomplishments.
Skvara played football at Whiting High School in Indiana for four years and graduated in 1966. He would go on to attend Indiana University where he was a manager for the football team for John Pont and Nick Mourouzis during the 1968 and 1969 seasons. He graduated from the IU School of Education in 1970.
Skvara taught at Lowell High School in Indiana from 1970-76 and coached football and baseball. While teaching, he completed his master's degree from Purdue University in educational administration in 1974. Since 1976, he has worked in sales – first as a real estate broker and since 1982 mainly in the insurance industry.
Skvara began his freelance career in the sports media industry in 1972, working as a writer and radio and TV broadcaster with a concentration on high school and college football and basketball in Indiana. Skvara has also served as a media coordinator for the Indiana High School Athletic Association football and basketball state finals since 1984.
In 2018, he was named as the recipient of the Indiana Football Digest Griddy's Excellence in Media Award, which honors a media representative who has helped promote high school football in Indiana. In April 2019, Skvara was named as the recipient of the Indiana Sportswriters and Sportscasters Association Bob Williams Helping Hand Award, which is given to a media member who demonstrates strong leadership and helping hand characteristics in support of the Indiana sports media industry.
Skvara co-founded the NFF
Southern Indiana Chapter in 2013 with Indiana High School Football Hall of Fame inductee and Division I assistant football coach Ted Huber. He has served as president and chairman of the annual Scholar-Athlete Banquet since the chapter began. He is also a member of the selection committee for the State of Indiana NFF Scholar-Athlete Award.
"A few decades ago, I realized that the Lord put me on this earth to help other people," Skvara said. "Football has not only been a positive influence on my life, but also being part of the National Football Foundation has allowed me to help give back to people in the sport of football that has helped and given so much to me."
Skvara lives in Newburgh, Indiana. He and his wife, Ann, and his late wife, Sue, have four married children and three grandchildren. In his free time, he likes to focus on his faith and his family. His other passions include sales, sports, media, education and community involvement.
