The 2007-08 class of the University of Central Missouri of Athletic Hall of Fame includes 11 individuals and three teams including Bill Turnage (Sports Information Director 1981-2002 and Voice of the Mules from 1969-81). The induction ceremony will be held Saturday, March 1.
Turnage was sports director of KOKO Radio and served as voice of the Central Missouri football, basketball, and baseball teams from 1969-81 before becoming Central Missouri's Sports Information Director, serving from 1981-2002. He was present at all but one of Central Missouri's football games from 1969 to 2001.
Turnage has been in the sports information profession and a member of CoSIDA since 1981. He received CoSIDA's 25-year award at its annual workshop in San Diego last June. Since 2004, he has been the sports information director at Florida Southern College. He joined the Florida Southern staff in 2002, serving as assistant SID for two years before being named SID.
A member of the Academic All-America Committee since 1987, he served as a district coordinator until 2001 and currently is the college division national coordinator for volleyball and softball. In 2002 he was the recipient of the Lester Jordan Award for his service on the Academic All-America Committee.
He has been the host SID for two NCAA Division II championship events - the 1996 Women's Volleyball Championship at Central Missouri and the 2003 Men's Basketball Elite Eight at Lakeland, Fla.
He has seen four of his teams win NCAA Division II national championships (1984 men's and women's basketball at Central Missouri, 1994 baseball at Central Missouri, 2005 baseball at Florida Southern).
A 1969 graduate of Southern Illinois University-Carbondale, Turnage was the play-by-play radio voice for Central Missouri football, basketball and baseball for 12 years before joining the SID ranks. During his stint as broadcaster and SID at Central Missouri, he was present for all but one of Central Missouri's football games from 1969 through 2001.
The 60-year-old Turnage is single and lives in Lakeland, Fla.