College Sports Information Directors of America

Tuscaloosa, Ala. – William "Bill" Hamilton, the Sports Information Director at South Carolina State University, has been named the Arch Ward Award winner by the College Sports Information Directors of America (CoSIDA). The award is presented annually to a CoSIDA member who has made an outstanding contribution to the field of college sports information and who, by his or her activities, has brought dignity and prestige to the profession.

Hamilton is in his 36th year as sports information director at South Carolina State, where he earned his undergraduate degree in 1973 and a master's in 1979. He was named Staff Employee of the Year at SC State in 1999, inducted into the Athletic Hall of Fame in 2002 and earned the NAFEO Distinguished Alumnus Award in 2006.

Hamilton, who served on the NCAA Men's Final Four Media Coordination Committee from 1999 to 2007, earned a CoSIDA Excellence in Writing citation in 1989, and received the Black College Sports Information Directors Association (BCSIDA) Cal Jacox-Champ Clark Award as the top SID at a historically black college.

A past president of BCSIDA who has served on various CoSIDA committees, Hamilton was a member of the CoSIDA Board of Directors from 1993-96 and has attended every CoSIDA workshop since 1974. A CoSIDA member for thirty-five years, he has earned multiple honors, including the CoSIDA Bob Kenworthy Community Service Award (1998) and the CoSIDA Trailblazer Award (2005). He has also received several CoSIDA publication and writing awards during his long tenure at his alma mater.

In 2005, Hamilton received the All-American Football Foundation's Scoop Hudgins Outstanding SID Award. Most recently, Hamilton was among five inductees into the Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference Hall of Fame in a ceremony that took place on March 12, 2009.

Over more than three decades at SCSU, Hamilton has distinguished himself as an able and versatile administrator, as well as an excellent writer. He has provided feature articles and game stories for various newspapers and magazines in an effort to bring awareness to the achievements and accomplishments of SCSU's athletics program.

Hamilton, a 1967 graduate of the former Gary High School in Chesterfield, S.C., has promoted numerous athletes who have gone on to distinguish themselves in the National Football League and other professions including Pro Football Hall of Fame linebacker Harry Carson (New York Giants) and National Football League standouts Robert Porcher (Detroit Lions), Donnie Shell (Pittsburgh Steelers), Charlie Brown (Washington Redskins), Edwin Bailey (Seattle Seahawks), Dwayne Harper (Seattle Seahawks), William Judson (Miami Dolphins) and Dextor Clinkscale (Dallas Cowboys).

Hamilton has also mentored a number of SCSU students who have gone on to positions at other colleges and universities and in the professional ranks, including five currently - Corey Bowdre (Boston Red Sox), Avis Roper (New York Giants), Ted Crews (St. Louis Rams), Damon White (Urban Sports Marketing and Entertainment) and Brad Gillens (Florida Citrus Bowl).

In addition to being recognized for the Arch Ward Award, Hamilton will also be honored at this year's CoSIDA convention as an inductee into CoSIDA's Hall of Fame. Hamilton, a Life Member of Kappa Alpha Psi Fraternity, Inc., is involved in a number of civic and community endeavors.

Past Arch Ward Award Recipients
2008 Debby Jennings (Tennessee)
2007 John Paquette (Big East Conference)
2006 Bud Ford (Tennessee)
2005 Ed Carpenter (Boston University)
2004 Claude Felton (Georgia)
2003 Jim Wright (NCAA)
2002 Hal Cowan (Oregon State)
2001 Langston Rogers (Mississippi)
2000 Mary Jo Haverbeck (Penn State)
1999 Rick Brewer (North Carolina)
1998 Bill Little (Texas)
1997 Dave Cawood (NCAA)
1996 Fred Nuesch (Texas A&M-Kingsville)
1995 Howie Davis (Massachusetts)
1994 John Humenik (Florida)
1993 Tom Price (South Carolina)
1992 Dave Wohlhueter (Cornell)
1991 Haywood Harris (Tennessee)
1990 Steve Boda (NCAA)
1989 Dave Schulthess (Brigham Young)
1988 Marv Homan (Ohio State)
1987 Roger Valdiserri (Notre Dame)
1986 Jim Mott (Wisconsin)
1985 Nick Vista (Michigan State)
1984 Bill Esposito (St. John’s)
1983 Elmore Hudgins (Southeastern Conference)
1982 Jones Ramsey (Texas)
1981 Don Bryant (Nebraska)
1980 Bill Whitmore (Rice)
1979 Marvin Francis (Atlantic Coast Conference/Wake Forest)
1978 Frank Soltys Arizona)
1977 Bob Bradley Clemson)
1976 Bob Hartley Mississippi State)
1975 Bill Callahan Missouri)
1974 Charley Thornton Alabama)
1973 Wilbur Snypp (Ohio State)
1972 Bill Young (Wyoming)
1971 Tom Miller (Indiana)
1970 Baaron Pittenger (Harvard)
1969 Wilbur Evans (Southwest Conference)
1968 Eric Wilson (Iowa)
1967 Bob Culp (Western Michigan)
1966 Ernest Goodman (Howard)
1965 Don Pierce (Kansas)
1964 Ned West (Georgia Tech)
1963 Wiles Hallock (Wyoming)
1962 Fred Stabley Sr. (Michigan State)
1961 Harold Keith (Oklahoma)
1960 Bob Paul (Pennsylvania)
1959 John Cox (Navy)
1958 Lester Jordan (Southern Methodist)