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CORVALLIS - The National Intramural-Recreational Sports Association will honor two Oregon State University leaders for their contributions in helping students, staff and faculty reap the benefits of fitness and recreation activities.

Charley Fisher, director of OSU's intramural program, and Tom Kirch, director of OSU's recreational sports program, will be honored by NIRSA on Feb. 22, which is National Recreational Sports and Fitness Day. A ceremony recognizing their accomplishments will be held on the steps of Dixon Recreation Center on the OSU campus at noon. It is free and open to the public.

"We are deeply indebted to Tom Kirch and Charley Fisher for their years of service, cooperation and commitment," said Kent J. Blumenthal, executive director of NIRSA. "We at NIRSA owe our future to the success of OSU's past endeavors."

NIRSA was located on the OSU campus from 1976-86. After several years of residence in a building on Western Boulevard, the national association moved into its new $2.2 million NIRSA national center on Research Way in Corvallis in July 1998. Its 4,000 individual and institutional members include U.S. colleges and universities, U.S. military installations, public recreation programs, correctional institutions, and private and not-for-profit organizations.

Oregon State University has extensive programs in both intramurals and recreational sports and fitness. Under Fisher's guidance, some 6,000 students take part in intramural contests each year. Kirch directs the university's recreational sports and fitness activities, which attract about 12,500 students annually, as well as many OSU faculty and staff.