College Sports Information Directors of America

DeKALB, IL --- In the eyes of the Northern Illinois University Intercollegiate Athletics administration, there was no more appropriate time or venue for the institution to honor the memory of legendary sports information director Owen "Bud" Nangle and his wife Joyce at the 101st Homecoming celebration and the Brigham Field at Huskie Stadium press box.

Officially, the Bud & Joyce Nangle Press Box was dedicated in ceremonies Saturday, October 13 at the base of the elevator on the west side of the stadium complex prior to the Mid-American Conference football game between Northern Illinois and Western Michigan University.

The Nangles were also feted at the annual NIU Athletics Hall of Fame Induction Banquet last Friday night at the Duke Ellington Ballroom in the Holmes Student Center, and during the NIU-WMU contest Saturday.

Call it perfect Northern Illinois-Nangle symmetry as the university honors an alum who took care of local, regional, and national media in the Huskie Stadium press box and at such an illustrious event as the Hall of Fame that Nangle helped bring into existence years ago.

"This is a natural," said NIU Associate Vice-President Jim Phillips in making the announcement. "While I have only been on campus a relatively short time, I have heard about Bud Nangle's many contributions to the modern era of Huskie athletics and to his profession. His behind-the-scenes work with Bob Brigham to elevate our football program to major college status and to gain admittance into the Mid-American Conference were major turning points in our school's history in the late 1960s.

"To many of us, the fact that Dr. Brigham and Bud were classmates at Northern Illinois and now that both their names grace the same facility is absolutely amazing and totally appropriate. Obviously, we all wish that Bud was here to see this. We are sorry that his widow, Joyce, will be unable to attend. We hope she is doing well. The Nangles' gift is beyond generous and will, eventually, help us upgrade our press box facilities at Huskie Stadium."

Due to thoughtful and generous estate planning, the Nangles will provide significant support to Northern Illinois Intercollegiate Athletics through a testamentary gift.

Nangle is the sixth such NIU Athletics Hall of Famer whose name is memorialized on campus or on a Northern Illinois athletics facility. The others include track and field coach Carl Appell (Appell Memorial and Appell Way on southwest corner of Huskie Stadium), Mary Bell (Mary M. Bell Field in softball), Brigham (Brigham Field at Huskie Stadium), Chick Evans (Chick Evans Field House), and Ralph McKinzie (Ralph McKinzie Field in baseball).

The 87-year-old Nangle passed away on Oct. 9, 2006, in suburban San Diego, Calif. At this time, his wife, Joyce, is unable to travel. Mrs. Nangle---the former Joyce Walbaum of Arlington Heights, Ill.---had been married since 1947. The family will be represented by Barb and George Shortley. Barb is Joyce's younger sister.

Nangle served two tours as sports publicist at Northern Illinois---the first as an undergraduate (1947-49)---and later returned to his alma mater during its formative years as a Division I institution (1967-84). Former NIU Athletics Director George "Chick" Evans convinced Nangle to return home in 1967 as the burgeoning Northern Illinois athletics program took its first steps into the major college arena.

"Bud Nangle was a first-class gentleman and an exceptional Northern Illinois man, as well as a very good friend," said Brigham, who served his alma mater as a student-athlete, coach, athletics director, and special assistant to the president for 50 years and graduated from NIU with Nangle in 1949. "This honor is well-deserved. Bud carried a great deal of weight with sportswriters in Chicago and nationally. The press box should be named after him."

Earlier, during the mid-1960s, Evans asked Nangle---then the executive sports editor of the Toledo Blade and Toledo Times---to canvass the various MAC administrators about league expansion and the possible inclusion of the Huskies. Due to the efforts of Brigham and Nangle, Northern Illinois football was promoted to major in 1969 and the entire program gained Mid-Am status in 1973.

In his own tenacious way, Nangle was also an educator and a role model for a generation of student journalists on campus and young (and old) professionals in Chicago.

Upon Nangle's death last October, columnist and 1969 Northern Illinois grad Gary Stein of the Fort Lauderdale Sun-Sentinel, paid tribute to his Advanced Nangle 401 journalism education. "Every time I think of Bud, I have a smile on my face," Stein said. "Bud meant so much to all of us. He trained us. He was what we all wanted to be. To him, there were no shortcuts whether you were a college writer or a professional writer. He taught us. You are a reporter, act like a professional, ask the right questions, and be accurate. That was the old-school newspaper training. That was Bud."

Nangle pioneered many aspect of sports information at Northern Illinois. Not only did he serve as the school's first SID, he produced the Huskies first football media guide in 1948. He won the office's first College Sports Information Directors of America national award (best major college football poster in 1970, expanded NIU's Office of Sports Information's coverage of women's athletics in 1978-79, and edited the school's initial women's sports recruiting book in 1979. Nangle and Brigham also were involved in establishing the Hall of Fame in 1978.

In 1974, Nangle authored the CoSIDA Code of Ethics, which is the standard for the profession to this day. He also chaired the prestigious CoSIDA Committee on Committees in 1978-79. Over the years, Nangle has been installed into five Halls of Fame---the media wing of the Illinois Basketball Coaches Association Hall of Fame in 1978, the NIU Athletics Hall of Fame in 1991, the CoSIDA Hall of Fame (1993), The Northern Star Alumni Hall of Fame "as a friend to The Star" in 2002, and the Palatine High School Athletics Hall of Fame in 2003. In addition, he was the recipient of the Scoop Hudgins Lifetime Sports Information Directors Award in 1997 and the Jim Murray Outstanding Sports Writer Award in 2001 by the All-America Football Foundation.

As a journalist, Nangle worked at the DeKalb Daily Chronicle as sports editor during 1948-50, at the Chicago Daily News as a prep sports and major-league baseball beat man during 1950-57, plus at the Toledo Blade and Toledo Times as executive sports editor during 1957-67. As a sportswriter, he covered The Masters, the World Series, heavyweight boxing, the NCAA Final Four, the College All-Star Football Game, the Rose Bowl, Major League Baseball, and the Illinois High School Association Boys' Basketball championships.

His professional affiliations included memberships in CoSIDA, the Baseball Writers Association of America, the FWAA, the U. S. Basketball Writers Association, and the Chicago Press Veterans Association. On the NIU campus, he mentored a generation of future sportswriters and public relations types such as Gary Watson (USA Today), Ray Gibson (Chicago Tribune), Gene Mustain (Chicago Sun-Times, New York Daily News), Mark Brown (Chicago Sun-Times), Stein, Rick Cerrone (New York Yankees), Tim Sassone (Daily Herald), Joe Hart (Capital Times), Vince Butler (Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel), and countless others.

Nangle played basketball (1940-41) and baseball (1941) at Northern Illinois prior to enlisting in the U. S. Navy during World War II(1942-46). He also lettered in basketball, track, and softball at Palatine High School in the late 1930s. He was also a registered IHSA basketball official.