CoSIDA Award Winners Announced

Tennessees Bud Ford to receive CoSIDAs Arch Ward Award
 
University of Tennessee associate AD for media relations Bud Ford has been selected by the College Sports Information Directors of America (CoSIDA) to receive the Arch Ward Award at the organizations annual convention in Nashville July 3.
 
The Arch Ward Award is presented annually to a CoSIDA member who has made an outstanding contribution to the field of sports information, and who by his activities, has brought dignity and prestige to the profession.
 
A 40-year veteran of his profession who has the rare distinction of spending his entire career at his alma mater, the University of Tennessee graduate was promoted in April 2000 to the position of associate athletics director for media relations. He was elected to the CoSIDA Hall of Fame in May 2001.

Ford began his career as a part-time employee in the Volunteers publicity office while he completed undergraduate studies. He then pioneered the position of full-time assistant SID in 1966 upon completion of his degree in retailing. For the next 35 years, he worked alongside CoSIDA Hall of Fame member Haywood Harris. In January 1988, Ford was promoted to sports information director and in March 1989, was named assistant athletics director for sports information.

The Knoxville, Tenn., native works with an expanded staff of full-time and student employees in meeting the needs of the media who cover the Vols. Under his direction, Tennessees publications have received more than 35 Best in the Nation honors.
 
Willson to receive CoSIDAs Bob Kenworthy Award
 
Judy Willson, the director of media relations at Louisiana-Monroe, is the 2006 winner of the Bob Kenworthy Award presented by the College Sports Information Directors of America (CoSIDA) for civic involvement and accomplishments outside of the sports information office. She will receive the honor at the organizations annual convention on July 3 in Nashville.
           
And for Judy Willson, that involvement began at home.
           
When Hurricane Katrina devastated the Gulf Coast region and was followed quickly in the Louisiana and Texas area by Hurricane Rita, people throughout the country wondered how they could help.
             
Judy Willson answered the question.
           
In the midst of the beginning of a fall semester, Judy contacted 29 Sports Information Directors who had been affected by the storm, some of whom lost everything to Katrina.
           
The Kenworthy Award is named for Bob Kenworthy, former Sports Information Director at Gettysburg College, who was respected for his contributions to his community beyond his work.
           
Knowing Bob as I do, wrote Union Colleges Eric McDowell in his nomination of Willson, I know he would be proud for Judy to receive this award. 
 
McDowell went on to mention Willsons service to the national organization as a member of the board and a tireless worker, and then added, yet, her heart and soul truly showed this past fall.
 
Willson not only opened her home for three weeks to visitors from the coast, she spearheaded a fund raising drive that raised almost $10,000, and she encouraged the CoSIDA board to contribute almost $45,000 more in gift cards, with the funds going directly to the affected SIDs.
 
Willson was familiar with the area stricken by Katrina, having lived in New Orleans from 2000 through 2004 when she served as Assistant Commissioner of the Sun Belt Conference.
 
An at-large member serving her fourth year on the CoSIDA Board, Willson began her career while serving as a student assistant at her alma mater, Geneva College.  She had held other full-time positions at the Mid-American Intercollegiate Athletics Association, Eastern New Mexico, the Lone Star Conference and the University of Denver.
 
The award will be presented at the CoSIDA Convention in Nashville the first week in July.
 
Sure, many national organizations would provide funds to those in need during a crisis of this nature, wrote McDowell. Yet, how many would have a member who would consider targeting funds directly to her fellow members?  Considering that many were young people with low incomes, including interns, this was a huge boost for them.
 
One young SIDs spouse even gave birth during the hurricane, as Judy discussed during her efforts for this unique project.  We can only imagine the impact that these funds provided to that couple.
 
Harmison-Byrne earns CoSIDA Trailblazer Award
 
The College Sports Information Directors of America (CoSIDA) have selected Old Dominion Sr. Associate Athletics Director Debbie Harmison-Byrne as its 2006 recipient of the Trailblazer Award. She will be presented with the award at the organizations annual convention on July 4 in Nashville.
 
The Trailblazer Award is presented annually to an individual who is a pioneer in the field of sports information. That person must have mentored and helped improve the level of ethnic and gender diversity within CoSIDA.
 
Harmison-Byrne supervises the areas of marketing, public relations and ticket operations at Old Dominion. She joined the staff at Old Dominion in 1979 as the assistant sports information director, was promoted to the SID the following year, and played a key role in the national exposure the men's and women's basketball teams enjoyed in the 1980's.
 
Since becoming the Sr. Associate Athletics Director at ODU, she has successfully spearheaded the basketball advertising and sales for the opening of the Constant Center. She played a key role in the development of ODU's new athletic logo and merchandising effort.

She is a past member of the NCAA Communications Committee, NCAA Basketball Marketing Committee, and Creative Content Committee for the Naismith Basketball
Hall of Fame.  She is also a member of the Virginia Sports Hall of Fame Honors Court.

In addition to her work in sports information, Harmison-Byrne served on the 1981 and 1982 U.S. Olympic Sports Festival media staffs and was selected to represent the United States on the media coordination team at the 1984 Winter Olympics.

Debbie was also the first full-time sportswriter in the state of Virginia upon her hiring in 1974 at the Daily Press in Newport News, Va. She covered high school football, basketball and track and field. She also served as the editor of a weekly column on women's sports in the peninsula area.

She holds a B.S. degree in journalism from West Virginia University and an M.A. from the College of William and Mary. She resides in Virginia Beach., and her daughter Kathleen is a rising sophomore at Old Dominion.
 
Happel earns CoSIDAs Warren Berg Award
 
Larry Happel, sports information director at Central College in Iowa, has been selected by the College Sports Information Directors of America (CoSIDA) to receive the 2006 Warren Berg Award. He will receive the honor as a part of the organizations special awards luncheon at CoSIDAs annual convention, being held in Nashville on July 3.
 
The Warren Berg Award is given annually to a CoSIDA college division member who has made outstanding contributions to the field of college sports information, and who, by his or her activities, has brought dignity and prestige to the profession.
 
Happel became Centrals full-time SID while he was still an undergrad in 1979, before graduating in 1981. He became a member of CoSIDA in 1979 and has been active throughout his time in the organization. Happel served a three-year term on the CoSIDA Board of Directors from 2002-05 and has also served on the membership services, special awards, writing contest and allied organizations committees. He has received 21 CoSIDA publication awards, nine Best in Nation citations and seven writing contest awards.
 
Happel spent the 2003-04 year as a visiting sports information assistant at the University of Tennessee. He is also a member Host Communications NCAA Championships Program Advisory Committee and served for nine years as a member of the Hewlett-Packard Football All-America Committee. He has been a staple at Division III postseason events, including the hosting of five Division III national championship finals and 20 Division III football playoff games.
 
Barnhart to receive CoSIDAs Jake Wade Award
 
As he approaches his 30th year as a journalist, Tony Barnhart, the national college sports writer of The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, is the 2006 winner of the Jake Wade Award presented by the College Sports Information Directors of America.
 
The Wade Award is presented to a member of the media who has made significant contributions in the coverage of college athletics, and will be presented at CoSIDAs national convention in Nashville July 3.
 
Barnhart, who is in his 23rd year with the Journal-Constitution, also is a regular contributor to College Football Today on CBS and hosts his own regional television and radio shows.
 
A native of Union Point, Ga., Barnhart began his newspaper career in June of 1976 at the Union (S. C.) Daily Times, and in March of 1977, he joined the Greensboro (N. C.) News & Record, where he remained until joining the staff of the Journal-Constitution in 1984.
 
I know of no journalist who has more professional demeanor and is respected by more writers, coaches, student-athletes, administrators and readers than Tony, wrote Georgias Associate AD for Media Relations Claude Felton in his nomination of Barnhart.
 
But probably the thing that I most admire has been his total devotion and commitment to the college game.  In the midst of ever-expanding professional sports in most areas of the country over the past three decades, he has been a standard bearer for college athletics.
 
Barnhart is a past president of the Football Writers Association of America and the United States Basketball Writers Association, and was named the Georgia Sportswriter of the Year in 1999.
 
Besides his newspaper, radio and television work, Barnhart has written several books, including Southern Fried FootballThe History, Passion and Glory of the Great Southern Game, What It Means To Be A Bulldog, and his latest, Vince DooleyMy 40 Years at Georgia.
 
Eight named CoSIDA 25-Year Award recipients
 
St. Cloud State Universitys Annie Abicht, Carole Grills of Smith College, Gary Johnson of the NCAA, Jamie Klund of the University of Nevada, Illinois State Universitys Tom Lamonica and Dennis ODonnell of the University of Rochester will each receive the College Sports Information Directors of Americas 25-Year Award. Butler Universitys Jim McGrath, who was selected for a 25-Year Award in 2005, will accept the honor with this years recipients along with the others on July 5 in Nashville.
 
The award is given annually to CoSIDA members who have served the profession for at least 25 years.
                 
Abicht has been the media relations director at St. Cloud State University since 1985. Previously, she was the womens sports publicist of the North Central Conference (1982-85) and the womens SID at North Dakota State University (1981-85). Among her 18 CoSIDA workshops, Abicht served one year as the publications contest coordinator, and another as a workshop table topics presenter. She is currently a SCSU Athletic Hall of Fame Committee member.
               
Grills has been at Smith College since 1981, where she was instrumental in the athletic departments development. She is a five-time recipient of CoSIDAs Best-in-Nation publication award and the 2006 ECAC-SIDA Irving T. Marsh Award winner. Additionally, she helped create the New England Womens 6 Athletic Conference, currently known as the New England Womens and Mens Athletic Conference. Grills is the first college-division female in New England to serve 25 years in the profession.
               
Johnsons sports information career has included time with The University of Arizona (1979-81), Northwestern University (1981-84) and the NCAA (1984-present). Throughout his 10 CoSIDA conventions, Johnson participated in numerous panels and table topics. He was named the 1996 recipient of the Wilbur Snypp Memorial Award by the National Collegiate Baseball Writers Association of America.
               
Klund has served in the sports information business at UW-Milwaukee (1981-86), Oregon (1986-2000) and Nevada (2000-present) during his career. During his time in CoSIDA, which includes 23 conventions, Klund has served on the committees for computers, career enhancement, ethics and special awards.
 
Lamonica served on the CoSIDA Academic All-America Committee for over 15 years, while volunteering as a guest speaker and table topics leader on various occasions. He has worked as Illinois States SID since 1980, following his employment as an administrator at North Central Community College, and as the SID for the University of Evansville. During his tenure at ISU, Lamonica doubled as a student, receiving a M.S. in Education in 1988. His SID experience began at the College of DuPage in 1975 after graduating that year from the University of Missouri with a B.S. in Journalism.
               
McGrath has been the first and only SID at Butler University since 1981. He began his SID career in 1971 at Augustana (Ill.) College, where he was also publicity director of the College Conference of Illinois (1976-81). McGrath served as press officer for the 1984 Summer Olympics as well as three U.S. Olympic Festivals. McGraths 30 CoSIDA publication citations include ten Best-in-Nation Awards. A two-time USBWA Region SID of the Year, he has served as media coordinator for 12 NCAA Division I Mens Basketball events. McGraths 33-year SID career is among the top 15 tenures of active sports information professionals.
               
ODonnell has been the University of Rochesters SID since moving from the SID position at the United States Merchant Marine Academy in 1988. He wrote for the Long Island Press from 1973-78 and was editor of Metropolitan Soccer Week (1978-84). ODonnell has won 11 CoSIDA Publication Awards, including four Best-in-Nation Awards. He was awarded the Irving T. Marsh College Division Service Bureau award in 2003 by ECAC-SIDA for his contributions to the profession after serving nine years as a convention panelist and moderator. ODonnells numerous volunteer activities include the XV FIFA World Cup Soccer Championship, the Wegmans/LPGA Invitational and NCAA Division III Mens Basketball Final Four.   
 
Green, King and Poe to make up 2006 CoSIDA Hall of Fame Class
 
The College Sports Information Directors of America (CoSIDA) have selected Oklahoma Christian Universitys Stan Green, the College of New Jerseys Ann King and West Virginia Universitys Shelly Poe as the 2006 inductees into the CoSIDA Hall of Fame.
 
The three will be inducted into the CoSIDA Hall of Fame on July 5 during the organizations annual convention, which will be held this year in Nashville.
 
Green is completing his 36th year in the sports information industry. He began his career in the advertising and graphic design field in 1959, but after working for various companies, he settled into the sports information director position at Harding University in 1965. He would remain in that role until 1987, two years prio to starting his career at Oklahoma Christian in 1989 as the Director of Public Relations-Associate SID. He became the full-time SID in 1997 and continues in that role presently.
 
Green is already a member of the NAIA Hall of Fame and the Harding University Hall of Fame. He has been recognized for his service on numerous occasions including being named the NAIA Ike Pearson Sports Information Director of the Year in 1979. He has received more than 70 national publication awards from NAIA-SIDA and CoSIDA and over 50 design and publication awards from the Council and Support of Education (CASE).
 
Green, who is a veteran of 14 CoSIDA conventions, has been a member of the organizations ethics committee since 1992 and also served on the Future of CoSIDA committee from 1978-81 and conducted the first organization-wide demographic surveys of CoSIDA membership in 1981 and 84.
 
King has worked in the sports information field since becoming the sports information director at Drew University in 1986. She served there until 1992, when she moved on to her current position as SID at the College of New Jersey.
 
A winner of the 2003 Warren Berg Award, King has played a major role in CoSIDA during her time in the profession. She served on the Board of Directors from 1999 to 2002 and is either currently serving or has served on the site selection committee, workshop social committee, CoSIDA Digest committee, workshop program committee and the Academic All-America committee.
 
In addition, King has made numerous presentations at both the CoSIDA and ECAC-SIDA conventions including Working with Womens Sports, Office Organization and Handling Season Overlap. She has served on the ECAC-SIDA Board since 1995 and has won 16 national publication awards, including five Best in the Nation awards from CoSIDA.
 
Poe has served in the sports information office at West Virginia since she was a student there from 1981-85. She moved into an assistant role after graduating in 1985 and shortly thereafter, in 1988, became the sports information director where she oversees 17 varsity sports.
 
A CoSIDA convention attendee since 1985, Poe was a member of the CoSIDA Board of Directors from 1999-2003 and rewrote and updated the entire CoSIDA Constitution. She is a former vice chair on both the radio/TV liaison committee and the publications committee.
 
Poes work has been recognized by 43 CoSIDA award-winning publications, 11 national and district CoSIDA citations for writing excellence and was a 2001 distinguished campus inductee into the Mountain Honorary at WVU.
 
Six former SIDs receive CoSIDA Lifetime Achievement Awards
 
Ed Carpenter of Boston University, Illinois State Universitys Tom Lamonica, South Dakota State Universitys Ron Lenz, Karl Park of Eastern Kentucky University and Larry Smith of Arkansas State University will each receive a Lifetime Achievement Award from the College Sports Information Directors of America. The annual award is given to those members of CoSIDA who have served in the profession for at least 25 years and are leaving the profession or retiring.
 
Carpenter, a 1996 CoSIDA Hall of Fame inductee, retired as SID for Boston University in July of 2005, but remained as the departments Assistant Athletic Director for Championships and Special Events. He will retire from that position in July 2006 after serving the BU athletic department since 1976. Prior to his time at BU, Carpenter was the SID at Delaware (1970-76). During his time in CoSIDA, Carpenter served as the organizations President (1992-93) and won the Arch Ward Award in 2005.
 
Lamonica served on the CoSIDA Academic All-America Committee for over 15 years, while volunteering as a guest speaker and table topics leader on various occasions. He has worked as Illinois States SID since 1980, following his employment as an administrator at North Central Community College, and as the SID for the University of Evansville.
           
Lenz will retire as South Dakota States SID in June of 2006. Lenz began his career in 1972 as the SID at the University of South Dakota, before returning to his alma mater in 1977. During his career in the sports information profession, Lenz has been honored with the North Central Conference Hall of Fame Honor Award and received the prestigious Warren Berg Award from the CoSIDA in 1995. He also has served on the CoSIDA Academic All-America Committee, the Daktronics Division II All-America Committee and the Division II Football Hall of Fame Committee.
 
Park has contributed 34 years of service to the sports information profession, all of which have been with Eastern Kentucky University. After graduating from EKU in 1970, where he was the sports editor for the schools student newspaper, Park became the SID and continued until his retirement in 2003. From 1996 to 2003, Park was CoSIDAs District IV Coordinator for Academic All-America Mens At-Large teams. He served as Mideast Director of the National Collegiate Baseball Writers Association for six years and spent eight years on the Verizon Academic All-America Committee. Park received two Best in Nation Division A awards from CoSIDA for his winter sports media guides, and has earned a 25-Year Award. As a 2005 Inductee in the Ohio Valley Conference Hall of Fame, he is the first SID in conference history to receive the honor.
 
Smith began his SID career in 1961 at the University of Arkansas at Monticello. He then served as Sports Editor for the Advance Monticellonian Newspaper from 1978-87. In 2005, Smith retired from Arkansas Tech University, where he had spent almost 20 years as the SID. A member of both the NAIA and CoSIDA Halls of Fame, Smith received the NAIA Award of Merit in 1976, earned District 17 SID of the Year in 1977 and 1978 and was namedNAIA National SID of the Year (1989). He received 17 CoSIDA awards for publications between 1990 and 2001. Smith was also the founder and SID of the Arkansas Intercollegiate Conference.