By Sue Kiesewetter
Enquirer contributor

Higgins

FAIRFIELD TWP. - Former All-American track star Eric Higgins will leave the Hamilton Schools to become athletic director at Fairfield Senior High School on July 1.

"I live here. My kids will go to school here. It's a great opportunity for me,'' said Higgins, a Fairfield Township resident. "I always thought I'd be an athletic director one day.''

Higgins, 29, was chosen from a pool of 30 applicants. He was given a two-year contract by the Fairfield Board of Education last week and will earn $64,800 annually, said Superintendent Robert Farrell.

"Mr. Higgins is a student-centered athletic director," Farrell said. "The passion he has for kids will make our strong program better.''

It is the second time in three years that a Hamilton educator has been tapped to be the high school's athletic director. Higgins replaces Nick Hrnyak, who was an assistant principal at Hamilton's Wilson Junior High before being named Fairfield's athletic director nearly three years ago. Hrnyak is retiring at the end of June.

Higgins, a 1991 graduate of Hamilton High School, returned to Hamilton Schools in 1996 as a science teacher at George Washington Junior High. He's been boys ninth-grade basketball coach, was an assistant track coach for three years and was the school's faculty manager in charge of athletics.

In 1993, Higgins was a track-and-field All-American in the high jump and 1995 Mid-American Conference champion in the same event.

He holds master's degrees from Xavier University and the University of Cincinnati, a bachelor's degree from Miami University and an Ohio secondary principal's license.

He is married and has two young children.

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