By Bryan Strickland, Durham Herald-Sun
Tom Mickle, an innovative contributor to college athletics administration first at Duke and later on a regional and national scale, died Monday morning in his Orlando office.
Mr. Mickle, the executive director of Florida Citrus Sports, was 55. He had been undergoing cancer treatments at Duke University Medical Center over the last couple of months, but an official cause of death wasn't known at press time.
While he was facing health challenges, Mr. Mickle's death came as a sad surprise to those who knew him.
Jack Winters, director of the Iron Dukes, said he had received an encouraging e-mail update Sunday night from Mr. Mickle's wife, Jill, who previously worked at Duke in the sports information office and with the Iron Dukes.
"She said, 'We're still optimistic about things and we're looking forward to the next six treatments,' " Winters said. "Everybody knew it would be a tough battle, but he wasn't going to throw in the towel. He's going to be missed by so many people -- not just at Duke but all over the country."
Mr. Mickle already had made his mark nationally even before taking over Florida Citrus Sports, which oversees the Capital One Bowl and Champs Bowl, in 2002.
Shortly after leaving Duke, his alma mater, in 1989 to become associate commissioner of the ACC, Mr. Mickle was credited by many as the brainchild behind the Bowl Coalition, which eventually became the Bowl Alliance and is now known as the Bowl Championship Series.
"Tom was the one who figured that out," said Gene Corrigan, the ACC commissioner from 1987-97 who hired Mr. Mickle. "Tom is the one who led us here."
Mr. Mickle's "analytical, abrupt mind" as Corrigan called it, was on display before he even started working in college athletics more than 30 years ago -- he graduated from Duke in 1972 with a degree in engineering. But he stayed at his alma mater and started working in the sports information department, ascending to the role of director in 1976.
Less than a year later, he hired Johnny Moore straight out of Guilford College to serve as his assistant. Together, they worked to bring Duke's dormant basketball program back into the limelight, in an era when national television appearances were few and far between.
Their promotional ploys helped Mike Gminski and Jim Spanarkel both earn All-America honors when Duke's 1978 team surprised everyone by reaching the Final Four.
"He was a really smart guy, and I always felt like his foot solider," said Moore, founder of Moore Productions, which owns the Duke Radio Network. "He was always a great idea guy who seemed to be thinking ahead of the curve.
"He always loved his players. When Spanarkel and Gminski were named All-Americans, I don't know if I've ever seen him so happy."
Moore does, however, know where he's seen Mr. Mickle's smile of late.
"The face of the Blue Devil is Mickle, no doubt about it," Moore said. "It's actually Mickle's smile is was it is."
John Furlow, the developer of the Duke logo and Blue Devil mascot who worked with Mr. Mickle, said Monday that he remembers Mr. Mickle's smile but doesn't remember consciously designing the Blue Devil with Mr. Mickle in mind.
Either way, Mr. Mickle left a legacy at his alma mater. In 1986, Tom Butters, Duke's athletics director at the time, named Mr. Mickle as the school's first director of sports services, the forerunner to the marketing and promotions departments now commonplace in college athletics.
"Tom was kind of a pioneer in that," said Chris Kennedy, Duke's senior associate athletics director. "Tom Butters thought that Mickle had a lot of ability and that it should extend beyond sports information."
Three years later, Mr. Mickle went from working for an ACC member to working for the ACC. During his time with the league, Mr. Mickle was in the forefront of negotiations that brought record-setting television packages for ACC basketball and football, a trend he continued in his last endeavor.
Mr. Mickle strived to make Orlando the "Capital of College Football" and made progress to that end, securing the Capital One Bowl's spot on ABC through 2010 while improving the Champs Bowl's payout and date.
But Mr. Mickle also had a gift for effecting change -- and affecting people -- on smaller stages. He was scheduled to participate in the organization's "member celebration" tonight, the company's annual meeting that Mr. Mickle renamed and revitalized.
"As a not-for-profit organization, we're required to have an annual meeting," said Brett Sowell, the senior director of communications who followed Mr. Mickle from the ACC to Florida Citrus Sports. "He found a way to make it something people looked forward to.
"He was a great mentor. If I had an idea and took it into his office, he would make it 10 times better."
Mr. Mickle is survived by his wife, Jill, and children Matthew and Holland.