Mark Beckenbach has been named the 2006 Lester Jordan Award recipient. The Lester Jordan Award is presented annually for exemplary service to the Academic All-America Award program and the promotion of the ideals of being a student-athlete.
Beckenbach is completing the 22nd year of his second term as sports information director at Ohio Wesleyan University. He has been involved with the AAA committee for 16 years.
Beckenbach began working in the Ohio Wesleyan sports information office shortly after arriving on campus in 1977 and became the University's SID (at the time a student work-study position) in the spring of 1979, filling that role until his graduation in 1981. After a year as SID at DePauw University, he returned to the Ohio Wesleyan sports information office in 1983 and once again became Ohio Wesleyan's SID in 1984.
He became a CoSIDA member in 1984 and joined the Academic All-America committee in 1990. After serving the AAA committee as a district coordinator for four years, he moved up to a national coordinator position, then accepted his current position as the committee's vice chair for communications in 1999.
He has served as president of the North Coast Athletic Conference SIDs since 1999.
During his time at Ohio Wesleyan, Beckenbach, along with some brilliant student assistants, has received 56 CoSIDA publications awards in eight different sports. That includes 16 "Best in the Nation" citations in six different sports.
Beckenbach served as a member of the Football Gazette All-America committee from 1992-2004 and as a member of the Hewlett-Packard/Division III SIDs Football All-America committee from 1998-2003. He has coordinated media services as a part of Ohio Wesleyan's hosting NCAA Division III championship events in nine different sports, including eight national championship games/meets/tournaments in six sports.