Tuscaloosa, Ala. – Thirteen veteran CoSIDA members will receive 25-Year Awards at the organization's annual workshop to be held June 21-25 in San Antonio, Texas. The recipients will be presented their awards at the awards luncheon on Tuesday, June 23.
Recipients of this recognition are CoSIDA members who have completed 25 years in the profession. Only full- time employment in the profession counts toward the 25-year minimum. Part-time, intern or graduate assistant positions do not count.
This year's 25-Year Award recipients are:
Liz Abel – University of Utah
Julie Bennett – Baylor University
Jim Clark – Walsh University
Tom Duddleston – University of Arizona
Jack Frost – Winthrop University
Edward Hill, Jr. – Howard University
Jeff Hodges – University of North Alabama
Bob Nygaard – University of Minnesota-Duluth
Gary Ozzello – Colorado State University
David Plati – University of Colorado
Kevin Ruple – Baldwin-Wallace College Ed Syguda – Otterbein College
Gary Pine – Azusa Pacific University
Julie Bennett just completed in her 16th year with Baylor University and is a 26-year athletic media relations veteran. Bennett has also worked at Cal Poly Pomona, Cal State San Bernardino, University of Nebraska-Omaha, University of Central Missouri and the University of Hawai’i. She has worked as a press officer at the 1996 Atlanta Olympic Games, the 1984 Los Angeles Olympic Games, the 1990 Goodwill Games and the 1994 and 1995 U.S. Olympic Festivals. Bennett has guided the publicity efforts for four NCAA championships teams: Cal Poly Pomona women’s basketball (1985 & ’86), Baylor men’s tennis (2004) and Baylor women’s basketball (2005). She serves on CoSIDA’s Committee on Committees.
Jim Clark is an accomplished veteran of the sports information field, having been honored 42 times by the NAIA-SIDA/CoSIDA for his publications. In addition to his SID duties, Clark also coordinates Walsh’s football and basketball radio network, securing advertising for each sport, as well as selling sponsorships for each of Walsh’s home football games. He has been the radio voice of Walsh University basketball and football since coming to Walsh in 1982, covering the football team since 1995. Clark coached softball for nine years at Walsh, three as head coach, with a record of 37-31. His 1990 team won the Mid-Ohio Conference title.
The University of Arizona’s Tom Duddleston has been at Arizona since 1983, assuming the director’s role in 1994. Before entering college athletics he worked in UA’s office of public information for seven years, serving as associate director from 1981-83. In addition to serving as media coordinator for four NCAA Men’s Basketball Championships opening rounds held at UA and 17 NCAA Softball Championships regionals or Super Regionals held in Tucson, Duddleston is the primary contact for Arizona’s football program and also worked as the UA’s men’s basketball women’s softball and baseball contact for a combined 23 seasons, working with six NCAA champion teams. A CoSIDA member since 1983, he has worked 11 bowl games as an SID or a media coordinator.
Winthrop University’s Jack Frost recently completed his 20th year as the Sports Information Director and Assistant Athletic Director for Media Relations at Winthrop. A veteran of a combined 37 years in the newspaper and sports information field, Frost has seen his office evolve from a one-man operation to a staff of four. Throughout his tenure at Winthrop, he has served as the primary contact for the men’s basketball program as well as women’s volleyball, men’s and women’s golf and cross country. An active member of CoSIDA for many years, he has served on the Publications Awards Publicity Committee and the CoSIDA Workshop Program Committee. He has also moderated workshop panels and table topics sessions. He has also served as chairman of the Big South Conference Sports Information Directors Committee and is a member of the league’s Hall of Fame Committee.
Like many of his contemporaries, Edward Hill, Jr., started out as a journalist before gravitating to sports information, starting his career as an SID in 1983 as an Assistant SID at Howard University. Hill was appointed Sports Information Director in March of 1986. Before coming to Howard, Hill was a staff writer for the Winston-Salem Chronicle and the Black College Sports Review. He also worked as a news aide and freelance writer for the Washington Post Sports and Weekly sections for two years. Hill has written stories that have appeared in such publications as USA Today, AOL Black Voices and The NCAA News. At Howard, Hill has participated in several NCAA championships in several sports. A member of CoSIDA since 1983 and he is also a member of the Black College Sports Information Directors of America (BCSIDA) and is active in the Washington, D.C. community where he served as head coach and co-founder and former coach of the DC Warriors youth basketball program. Hill is an adjunct professor at Howard University where he teaches a class, Sports and the Media. He earned the 2005 Bob Kenworthy Award from CoSIDA for his community service outside the profession.
In his 23rd year at the University of North Alabama, Jeff Hodges has long been an influential guiding voice in CoSIDA. During his career, Hodges has helped promote four national championship teams, two Harlon Hill Trophy winners, and worked at both the Summer and Winter Olympic Games. In 1997 he was honored by CoSIDA as the recipient of the Warren Berg Award. In addition to becoming the youngest recipient ever of the Berg Award at age 36, Hodges was also inducted into the CoSIDA Hall of Fame that year. Honored by UNA as its Alumnus of the Year for 2001, Hodges also has served as a press office with U.S. Olympic Teams at several Summer and Winter Games. He has served as media coordinator for the NCAA Division II Football Championship Game since 1986 and has served as chairman of the National Harlon Hill Award Committee, which presents the NCAA Division II College Football Player of the Year Award, since its creation in 1986. During Hodges time at UNA, the school's athletic publications have received more than 70 national awards from CoSIDA, including 19 "Best in the Nation" awards. Hodges is currently on the CoSIDA Board of Directors having served a previous three-year term on the CoSIDA Board from 1992-95.
Two moments stand out to Bob Nygaard in his career as an SID: receiving the Bob Kenworthy Community Service Award from CoSIDA in 2004 and working with the University of Minnesota Duluth’s 2008 NCAA Division II football championship team. But Nygaard’s career has been a full one even apart from those two accomplishments. That career began as an Assistant SID at UMD in the fall of 1983 fresh out of college at the University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire. Nygaard was promated to Director later that year at 24 years old, making him the youngest SID in NCAA Divisoin I hockey. Nygaard’s role has grown over the years to include serving as the athletic department's director of marketing, event management and community relations. He also has co-chaired the UMD Athletic Hall of Fame Committee since its inception in 1991. Nygaard has had the luxury of having a full-time assistant for only two years during his career as UMD continues to be the only school in the country with a Division I men's and women's hockey program that does not employ at least two full-time sports information personnel.
Colorado State’s Gary Ozzello just completed his 31st year in the CSU athletic department. Promoted to senior associate athletic director for external operations in the summer of 2003, Ozzello oversees the Rams' marketing, promotions, licensing and media relations efforts, as well as the ticket office. He also serves as the chief liaison to Nelligan Sports Marketing and works closely with the athletic development, donor relations and special events offices. Ozzello directed the day-to-day operations of Colorado State's media relations office from 1980-2007, before shifting his focus to supervision of all of the athletic department's external affairs. CSU’s 2000 Distinguished Alumni Award honoree, Ozzello publicized hundreds of outstanding CSU accomplishments. In addition, he served as the media coordinator for the 1999 NCAA men's basketball regional, and the 2004 tournament's first and second rounds, both in Denver. He also was a member of the 1994 U.S. Olympic Festival media staff and has volunteered at three men's basketball Final Fours, and more than a dozen regional and first and second-round events.
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The University of Colorado’s David Plati recently completed his 25th year as the University of Colorado's Director of Sports Information, and his 31st year overall in CU's Sports Information Office. Named CU's Sports Information Director in 1984, he was promoted to Assistant Athletic Director for Media Relations in 1988 and attained Associate Athletic Director status in 2005. The youngest SID in the nation at the time of his hiring, he previously worked as a student assistant and statistician since coming to CU as a freshman in 1978. Plati has coordinated numerous successful promotional campaigns and public relations programs for coaches, has written two books on CU football, the first about the school’s 1990 national championship, and the second released this past summer, Colorado Football Vault. In 2005, the Denver Buff Club recognized him as its “MVB” choice (Most Valuable Buff). Plati is also an adjunct instructor in CU’s School of Journalism, teaching a sports media relations class. In 2009, he was appointed to the board of the Colorado Golf Hall of Fame.
This is the third major CoSIDA award for Baldwin-Wallace College’s Kevin Ruple, who began his career as an intern at the College of Wooster, his alma mater, in 1982. Ruple received the organization's Warren Berg Award in 2004 and he was inducted into the CoSIDA Hall of Fame in 2008. In addition to his duties as an SID, Ruple has also served as a teacher and mentor for those interested in the sports information field. To date, 20 of his former student assistants, interns or assistants, including two 2009 B-W graduates, have become SIDs at schools from the Divison III level to Division I or in other areas in collegiate and professional athletics. Ruple has been extremely active within CoSIDA. A past member of the CoSIDA Board of Directors (1997-99), Ruple currently serves as a National Coordinator on the prestigious Academic All-America Committee since 1996. Prior to that, he was a member of the organization's job services, gambling awareness and publications committees.
Ed Syguda has been at Otterbein College since 1984, serving in a dual role as SID/college photographer. Prior to Otterbein, he worked at Advancement Planning Groups (1982-84), U.S. Trotting Association (1979-82), and United Press International (1980-87) as a photo stringer. While at Otterbein, Syguda worked the 10th Pan American Games (1987) in Indianapolis, the Centennial Olympic Games (1996) in Atlanta, and the Winter Olympic Games (2002) in Salt Lake City. He’s served on several CoSIDA committees over his 25-year membership, including Writing Contest, Career Enhancement, and Olympic Liaison.
Liz Abel, who began her career in sports publicity at Utah in 1983, has been an associate athletics director since 2004 and the SID since 1991. As the SID, Abel's two primary sports are the nationally-ranked football and women's gymnastics teams. She has served as the gymnastics contact since hiring on at Utah 26 years ago, and the football contact since 1998. Abel has earned numerous citations for excellence in publications from the College Sports Information Directors of America (CoSIDA). The Bowling Green, Ohio, native received her bachelor's degree from the University of Idaho in 1982 and was honored as the journalism school's top graduate. Abel played on the women's basketball team at the University of Indiana for one year before concluding her career at Idaho, where she was a 1981 CoSIDA Academic All-American.
Gary Pine is in his 21st year at Azusa Pacific during what is his second tenure with Cougar athletics. A graduate of Azusa Pacific, Pine was named the university’s first full-time sports information director in the summer of 1984. He spent five years in that position, during which he helped promote Cougar running back Christian Okoye to the 1987 Senior Bowl, a first-ever honor for an Azusa Pacific football player. (Later that spring, Okoye was a second-round draft choice of the Kansas City Chiefs and went on to have a five-year Pro- Bowl career). In 1989, Pine joined the sports information staff at the University of Southern California, serving as an assistant to Tim Tessalone. He was the primary media contact for men’s basketball, men’s and women’s track & field and men’s and women’s golf. In 1992, he helped promote Trojan guard Harold Miner to the Sports Illustrated Player of the Year honor. During this time, Pine also served as the first sports information director for the Golden State Athletic Conference. After three years at USC, Pine became the co- director of communications for the Big West Conference out of Irvine, Calif., where his primary sports were football, men’s basketball, softball and track & field. Ten months later he returned to Azusa Pacific, where he has served for the past 16 years.