College Sports Information Directors of America

LINCOLN UNIVERSITY, Pa. – Lincoln University of Pennsylvania senior Jordean Matthews (Pleasantville, N.J./Pleasantville) has been named the 2009 Eastern Collegiate Athletics Conference-Sports Information Directors Association (ECAC-SIDA) Bill Esposito Award winner. Matthews will be honored during the organization’s annual conference in Avalon (N.J.) on Thursday June 4, 2009.

 

The Bill Esposito Award is presented to a graduating college senior who wishes to pursue a career in athletic communications. The award is named to honor the memory of one of the true patriarchs of the sports information profession. Bill Esposito served as the Sports Information Director at St. John's University in New York for 25 years. He served as a past-President of ECAC-SIDA in 1972-73 and was the organization's Irving Marsh Award recipient in 1973. He was inducted into the CoSIDA Hall of Fame in 1984. Bill Esposito passed away in 1995.

 

“I am appreciative of this honor,” Matthews said. “It’s nice to know that my work has been recognized. It feels good to see that outside my University people are impressed with my writing and work skills.”

 

Matthews has worked in the Lincoln University Sports Information Office for four years as a student assistant. A well-rounded, talented student-athlete, Matthews is majoring in mass communications with a focus in journalism. Matthews has left her mark on the athletic fields, classroom and in the community during her time at Lincoln. Matthews will receive her degree on Sunday May 3.

 

A four-time track and field All-American Matthews holds four school records: Indoor long jump, outdoor triple jump, indoor and outdoor 4 x 400-meter relay teams. In addition, Matthews played volleyball for four years and was team captain as a sophomore and a senior. She played in every match this season, leading the Lady Lions with 53 blocks. Matthews was also second on the team in digs (143) and assists (17). Matthews finished her career with 196 blocks, which is believed to be a program mark. Matthews is in her second year as a member of the Lincoln softball team.

 

Matthews is in her second year as the president of the Student-Athlete Advisory Committee (SAAC). Among some of her accomplishments as SAAC president, Matthews successfully started a partnership with Brian’s House, a non-profit organization, provides a broad range of human services to people with special needs and challenges, in which Lincoln student-athletes and some of the residents interact with each other at least once a semester on Lincoln’s campus. Matthews worked at Camp Joy, an affiliate of Brian House’s in Schwenksville (Pa.). Lincoln student-athletes spent a weekend at Camp Joy in November 7-9.  She interned with NBC-40 in Linwood, NJ during the Christmas break.

 

She was the Sports Editor of the school online newspaper, The Lincolnian, and she is the historian of the Lincoln University Caribbean Student Association. Matthews is also a member of the Higher and Better Movement Organization.

 

In her role within the Lincoln Sports Information Office, Matthews has written various game recaps, feature stories, men’s basketball game notes for the athletics department website and the official athletics publication, Lion Tales. This year, Matthews was responsible for writing, designing and editing the 2008 Volleyball Season in Review and Men’s Basketball Season in Review guides. In addition, Matthews worked during last year’s Penn Relays as a quote-taker. She assisted when Lincoln hosted the first two rounds of the NCAA Division III men’s basketball tournament in 2006.

 

Founded in 1854, Lincoln University is the first historically black institution of higher education and its graduates include such luminaries as Thurgood Marshall, the first African American justice of the United States Supreme Court, and acclaimed poet and author Langston Hughes.  Lincoln University is nationally regarded for producing African Americans with undergraduate degrees in the physical sciences.