After being highly successful in athletics, particularly in football, wrestling, and baseball while at Central, James (Jim) O. Howard took this same competitive desire and spirit to UNO where he continued to compete in wrestling and football and to prepare himself for his future which included his becoming a physical education teacher and high school wrestling coach, a high school assistant principal, a middle school principal, an assistant superintendent for the Council Bluffs Community School District, and, ultimately, the superintendent of several major school districts, including the Kearney Public School District, the Prescott (Arizona) Unified School District, and the Aqua Fria (Arizona) Union High School District. It is in his nearly 40 years of work as a teacher and school administrator and, more specifically, as a superintendent of schools, that Jim has had such a major impact on the lives of his students, teachers, parents, and community. In addition to his work as a school superintendent, however, Jim has also been very active in the state of Arizona and locally, in the Prescott community, serving on many associations, boards, and community committees, including the Trinity (Church) Pre-School, the YMCA, the Prescott Bluegrass Events Association, and working as an educational consultant with his own consulting firm.