This annual award has been given out for 32 years in honor of former MHSAA Executive Director Charles E. Forsythe, the Association's first full time and longest-serving chief executive. One or two recipients are selected each year by the MHSAA Representative Council, based on an individual's outstanding contribution to the interscholastic athletics community.

McShannock's selection for the award was unique in the respect that his father, former Muskegon High School coach and athletic administrator Thomas McShannock, won the award in 1992. It marked the first time two members of the same family have been named to receive the Forsythe Award.  Now the McShannocks become the first father-son recipients of the MHSCA Distinguished Service Award, as well.  McShannock also was named a recipient of the MHSAA's Allen W. Bush Award in 2000.

Saginaw Arthur Hill was McShannock's first assignment, where he served for 20 years as a teacher, a coach in three sports, and an athletic administrator. As a varsity assistant football coach, he worked with a 1973 Arthur Hill team that finished the season 9-0, and was the last Michigan grid squad to finish its season unbeaten, untied and unscored upon. He also served as the head coach in girls track and field, and wrestling. His last nine years at Arthur Hill were spent as athletic director.

The last 15 years of his career, McShannock served as athletic director at Midland Dow, directing a 21-sport program. During his time as an athletic administrator, McShannock played host to over 70 MHSAA tournament events.

McShannock has been prominent in high school athletic administration on the statewide and national scene. As a member of the Michigan Interscholastic Athletic Administrators Association, he has served as that organization's president; chaired and served on numerous committees; and was named the organization's Athletic Director of the Year in 2001. He also publishes the MIAAA's quarterly newsletter. McShannock also served the Michigan High School Coaches Association as its executive secretary and Hall of Fame chairman; and was president of that organization for two years. Nationally, he has served as President of the National Federation Coaches Association; and was a finalist one year for the National Athletic Director of the Year Award.  In 2009, the National Federation of High School Associations honored McShannock with a National Citation in Chicago.

In the community, McShannock is a Red Cross volunteer, a member of several committees with the Saginaw YMCA, and has previously served as a trustee of the WBA Ruster Foundation. A 1968 graduate of Muskegon High School, where he was an All-State football player, he went on to Western Michigan University and won three varsity letters in football before graduating with a health, physical education and recreation degree in 1972. He earned his Master's in secondary education administration from Michigan State University in 1975.