Induction Video(Written: June 2015)Mark Braden’s association with the conference began in 1985 when he joined the Wisconsin State University Conference football officiating staff. Two years later, he added women’s basketball to his officiating workload, and in 1998, was selected to officiate the NCAA Division III women’s basketball national championship game. In 1992, Braden agreed to become the conference’s supervisor of women’s basketball officials and served in that capacity until 2011, overseeing an officiating staff befitting the premier NCAA Division III conference in the country.
At the time he stepped down from football officiating in 2011, Braden had accumulated 26 years as a football official, 17 years as a basketball official and 17 years as supervisor of women’s basketball officials for the WIAC.
In addition to many NCAA Division III women’s basketball assignments, he worked on the staffs of the Big Ten Conference, Horizon League, Conference USA, Mid-Continent Conference and Great Lakes Valley Conference.
Braden was a member of the 1971 University of Wisconsin football team. He majored in history and minored in business at UW-Madison before transferring to UW-Whitewater where he majored in biology with a minor in chemistry. He earned his Doctor of Dental Surgery from Marquette University.
Braden resides in Lake Geneva, Wis.