College Sports Information Directors of America

McMurry University athletics director Steve Keenum has named Patrick Stewart to the post of sports information director. Stewart replaces Bruce Unrue who served in an interim capacity since last fall after the resignation of Adam Ledyard. Stewart began his new duties Feb. 8. Stewart comes to the Big Country from the Portland, Ore., area, where he worked as the sports information director at Lewis & Clark College, a sports writer for Community Newspapers, Inc., and was a gameday athletics staff assistant at Western Oregon and Oregon State universities, the Portland Beavers Triple-A Baseball Club, ProMax Sports Event Management Company and for Oregon School School Activities championship events. From 1994 to 1999, he served five years as assistant sports information director at the University of Alaska in Anchorage, working closely with the Seawolves’ nationally competitive NCAA Division II programs in men’s and women’s basketball, gymnastics and volleyball. He also assisted with the ice hockey team as UAA hosted the NCAA I 1999 Frozen Four in Anaheim, Calif., where he was the tournament’s assistant media relations director. Stewart also was heavily involved with the Thanksgiving tradition of the Great Alaska Shootout, arguably the nation’s finest men’s and women’s basketball tournament at the college level, and worked extensively with ESPN Networks televising the event. A native of Columbus, Ohio, Stewart was graduated in 1989 from Ohio University with bachelor’s degrees in organizational communication and athletics administration. Prior to his UAA experience, Stewart worked a second stint at his alma mater, Ohio, as an assistant in the sports media relations office, assigned the primary media contact for softball and secondary contact for men’s and women’s basketball and football. He accompanied the men’s basketball team to the Mid-American Conference Tournament as the Bobcats won the 1994 regular- and post-season titles, gained a Top 25 national ranking and advanced to the NCAA I Tournament. Stewart also played an integral part in the successful All-America campaign for Gary Trent, who currently plays for the NBA’s Minnesota Timberwolves after stops in Portland and Dallas. He previously worked in the OU office as a student and graduate assistant from 1985-89. Stewart also was the sports information director at Newberry (S.C.) College from 1990 to 1993, in charge of the media relations of nine sports as well as serving as the coach for the men’s soccer club. An avid soccer and ice hockey player, Stewart has received 20 national citations from the College Sports Information Directors of America for publications and writing excellence.