SPRINGFIELD, Mo. -- Thomas Hendrickson, executive vice president and chief financial and administrative officer and treasurer of The Sports Authority Inc., has been nominated to the O'Reilly Automotive Board of Directors to serve as an independent director.

He replaces independent director Joe Greene who died May 8, 2009.

Based on the recommendation of the Corporate Governance and Nominating Committee, Hendrickson was nominated to stand for election as a class II director. Hendrickson will be included on the company's 2010 Proxy Statement as a class II director candidate for the board to be elected for a three-year term at the company's next annual meeting of shareholders.

Hendrickson has served in his current role at The Sports Authority Inc., a leading sporting goods retailer, since January 1998.  Previously, Hendrickson was employed by Sportmart Inc. from 1993 to 1998, serving as vice president of finance, senior vice president, and most recently as executive vice president and chief financial officer. Prior to that, he served as divisional vice president and controller of Millers Outpost from 1987 to 1993, and as vice president and controller of Zondervan Publishing from 1985 to 1987.

Commenting on the nomination, David O'Reilly, chairman of the board of O'Reilly Automotive, said, "We are excited about the nomination of Mr. Hendrickson to our board of directors. His 28 years of retail operations experience and leadership will be a great asset to our board and our company."