The College Sports Information Directors of America have selected Bill Hamilton, South Carolina State University’s Sports Information Director, as its 2005 recipient of the Trailblazer Award.
He will be presented the award at the organization’s annual workshop, on Tuesday, July 5, which will be held this year in Philadelphia, Pa.
The Trailblazer Award is presented annually to an individual who is a pioneer in the field of sports information who has mentored and helped improve the level of ethnic and gender diversity within CoSIDA.
Hamilton is in his 32nd year as SID at South Carolina State University, where he was named Staff Employee of the Year in 1999, and inducted into the Athletic Hall of Fame in 2000.
A 1973 graduate of South Carolina State, Hamilton has served on the NCAA Men’s Final Four Media Coordination Committee since 1999. In 1995, he earned a CoSIDA Excellence in Writing Citation and in 1989, was given the BCSIDA Cal Jacox-Champ Clark Award as the top SID in historical black colleges.
He is currently president of the BCSIDA and has served on various CoSIDA committees. He was a member of the CoSIDA Board of Directors from 1993-96 and has attended every CoSIDA workshop since 1974. In 1998, he was given the Kodak Good Person Award and the 25-Year Service Award. His 1983 football media guide was voted fourth best in the nation for I-AA schools by CoSIDA, and the cover of the guide received first place honors.
Hamilton is also a member of Kappa Alpha Psi Fraternity and the South Carolina State Employees Association, where he serves as a chapter and state board member. Active in civic and community organizations, he is currently chairman of the Orangeburg Attention Homes Board of Directors and former president and past state board member of the Orangeburg County Chapter of the Alston Wilkes Society.