National Football Foundation

In 1991, Tim Gleason became the first full-time commissioner of the Ohio Athletic Conference after eight years as the executive director of NACDA. While at NACDA, Gleason was managing editor of Athletics Administration and his editorial regarding President Ronald Reagan's tax plan made headlines in the New York Times in 1985. Gleason made a quick impact as commissioner, orchestrating the first college football game played on European soil when Heidelberg University and Otterbein College tied 7-7 in Frankfurt, Germany.
 
Gleason served as president of the NCAA Division III Commissioners Association from 2004-06, where he fathered the $1.4 million NCAA Conference Grant Program, and received the organization's Meritorious Service Award for his efforts. He was also a member of the NCAA Division III Management Council from 2004-09.  He chaired the prestigious NCAA Honors Committee and was a member of the Championships Committee, Strategic Planning Committee, Infractions Appeals Committee, Legislation Committee and Division III Football Committee.
 
In 1989, Gleason founded the Northeastern Ohio Chapter of the National Football Foundation, which he presided over for 21 years.  The chapter raised $300,000 in scholarship money for high school and college football players. He also developed and introduced the chapter’s Award of Courage and a program that provides postgraduate scholarships to one scholar-athlete from each of the 13 colleges and universities in Northeastern Ohio.