Seven current or former sports communications professionals will be inducted into the College Sports Information Directors of America (CoSIDA) Hall of Fame at the organization's national convention in San Francisco, which takes place July 4-7, 2010.
The class of 2010 includes
Roger Crosley of Emerson College, former CoSIDA president
Max Corbet of Boise State University,
John Eggers (Oregon State), Dave Kellogg (Air Force Academy), Larry Happel from Central College,
Carol Hudson, long-time SID at
Old Dominion, and
CoSIDA’s Director of External Affairs Barb Kowal. Kellogg and Eggers were selected by the Veterans Selection Committee; the other five were selected by a vote of the current CoSIDA Hall of Famers.
This year, the CoSIDA Hall of Fame class and the Academic All-America® Hall of Fame class will be recognized together in an evening banquet, taking place Tuesday, July 6 (6-8 p.m.) at the San Francisco Marriott Marquis, site of the CoSIDA annual workshop.
Roger Crosley, Emerson College
Roger Crosley’s career has entered its third decade, as he has excelled in positions at Dean College, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and in his current role at Emerson College while also serving as the publicity director for the New England Football Conference for the past 10 years. He has been an active member of CoSIDA and a frequent workshop attendee (including serving as the local workshop chair for the 1996 event in Boston). He has successfully promoted 83 student-athletes for national Academic All-America honors as well as 24 NCAA Postgraduate Scholarship recipients.
Crosley’s distinguished credentials have brought him well-deserved recognition from several groups. He received the Irving T. Marsh Award in 1997 from the Eastern College Athletic Conference Sports Information Directors Association for dedication and contributions to and excellence in the field of collegiate sports information. In 1999, he received the Scoop Hudgins Award from the All-American Football Foundation for lifetime contributions to college football. Crosley most recently was honored with the Jack Grinold Award from The Masters Sports Group for excellence in collegiate media.
Crosley has served as a role model and mentor for many youth in the profession, most especially in his 22-year role as ECAC-SIDA Treasurer. Two of his former assistants (Geoff Hassard of SUNY-Oneonta and James Kramer of MIT) oversee their own sports information offices, but his wisdom and guidance have helped shape the careers of many more individuals over the years. The impact that he has had in so many lives, both professionally and personally, serves as a model to which not only all SID’s, but all people, should emulate in their daily lives.
Max Corbet, Boise State University
The former president of CoSIDA in 1999-2000, Max Corbet served on the CoSIDA Board for nine years, including two years as an at-large representative, four years as officer and three years as past president. He has also served as the organization’s Sergeant of Arms at the annual business meeting. Corbet was one of the first CoSIDA presidents who did not come from a "BCS" conference school. Still, he was skilled at including the entire membership during his term on the officer rotation, developing strong relationships with the college division and university division leadership as well.
He has been active on CoSIDA Committees throughout his career, serving as the past chairman of the nominating, site selection, special awards, workshop social and workshop program committees. In addition to the leadership he showed while on the CoSIDA Board, Corbet has also been a leader and influential mentor to many while in the profession. He has an impressive record of hosting seven NCAA Men's Basketball Tournaments and one women’s tournament at Boise State. He was also the media coordinator for the NCAA Division I Men's and Women's Outdoor Track and Field Championships in 1994 and 1999.
Equally impressive is Corbet’s ability to coordinate the media demands and promote Boise State during the football program's amazing rise into national prominence. Despite a small staff, Corbet has managed the load involved with working with a perennial bowl-game contender in Division I football.
A tireless worker, Corbet has done an excellent job at three institutions, serving as SID at Texas A & M-Commerce (formally East Texas State) from 1979-81, at Stephen F. Austin (1981-86) and then at Boise State where he has been since 1986 and where he was named the Assistant Athletic Director for media relations in 1998.
Larry Happel, Central College
Larry Happel is, quite simply, the standard by which all small college sports information directors should be judged. He exudes class and is the epitome of professionalism. His resume is glowing and the respect that others have for him is stratospheric.
Happel has been the sports information director at Central of Iowa (his alma mater) for 31 years. He started in 1979 when he was still a student. During his time at Central he has also been the director of college relations (seven years), director of publications (six years) and assistant director of the news bureau (four years). All of those duties were in addition to his SID responsibilities. Since 1999 he has held the title of associate director of marketing and media relations.
Happel has been an active member of CoSIDA since 1979, and served a three-year term on the CoSIDA board of directors from 2002-05. A member of the special awards committee since 1999, he is currently a district chair on the membership services committee, a post he has held since 2005. He has also served on the writing contest committee and the allied organizations committee. Happel was honored as the Warren Berg Award winner (presented by CoSIDA) in 2006 for outstanding achievement in the college division.
In a unique experience, Happel spent the 2003-04 year as a visiting assistant in the University of Tennessee sports information office.
Other Happel commitments include serving on the advisory committee for the Host Communications NCAA Championships Program (appointed in 2005), and a nine-year (1991-2000) term on the Hewlett-Packard Division III Football All-American team selection committee. He has been on the D3hoops.com women's basketball ranking committee since 2006. Happel has served as the host sports information director for 24 NCAA football playoff games, including national semi-final games in 1984, 1988 and 1990. He has worked five NCAA Division III championship finals in four sports.
Carol Hudson, Old Dominion University
Carol Hudson has served this industry well for over 30 years as the sports information director at Hampton University from 1981-85, and in the same capacity at Old Dominion University since 1985. Hudson was a member of the CoSIDA board of directors for six years, and has attended every CoSIDA convention since 1981, with the exception of 2009 when the state of Virginia economic crisis curtailed convention travel.
Hudson has also served twice as the president of the Virginia Sports Information Directors (VaSID) and as the president of the Black College Sports Information Directors. He currently co-chairs the CoSIDA Scholarship Committee and was awarded the 25-year CoSIDA recognition in 2008. He is also a member and past president of Virginia (VaSID) and the Black Sports Information Director's of American (BCSIDA), as well as a member of the U.S. Basketball Writers Association. At Old Dominion, Hudson is a member of the Hall of Fame Committee and is active with the department's Monarch ReachOut community service program.
A 1972 graduate of Norfolk Catholic High School, Hudson was the manager of his high school basketball team, which was coached by Ed Fraim (ODU '64), Old Dominion's former Assistant Athletic Director for Fundraising. He has been a virtual fixture at ODU since his high school graduation serving as a student manager for the university's baseball and basketball teams, as well as a graduate intern in the sports information office under the late Joe Law, the university's first full-time SID from 1976-78. He also served as a deputy assistant for the Sheriff department in Chesapeake from 1979-81.
Hudson earned his bachelor's degree in political science in 1976 from Old Dominion, as well as his master's in urban studies in 1979.
Barb Kowal, CoSIDA
Barb Kowal’s impact on the college sports information industry is not measured in publications and press releases as much as it is in people and personality. Her dedication to the CoSIDA profession is evident in many ways - serving on the CoSIDA Board of Directors and on numerous committees, participating on CoSIDA workshop panels – and most recently, in her newest role as CoSIDA’s Director of External Affairs.
Through Kowal’s passion for communications and her dedication to the profession, she has mentored numerous young professionals with her knowledge and love for the job. Her legacy will live on through her many former assistants, students and interns who continue to work in the athletic and communications professions throughout the country.
Kowal’s other major contributions are on the national women’s basketball scene. While she served as Athletic Communications Senior Associate Director at the University of Connecticut (1986-1997), the sport of women's basketball took off in the 1990’s; one highlight was in 1995 when the undefeated UConn team under charismatic head coach Geno Auriemma earned the NCAA title. Her abilities helped build and support the nation’s largest media following for any women’s athletics program as the UConn basketball team's visibility and popularity soared.
In 1997, Kowal left UConn to become an Assistant Athletic Director for Media Relations at the University of Texas, coordinating all women’s athletics PR efforts; she served in that role for 12 years. She worked with legendary basketball Hall of Famer Jody Conradt among other nationally-recognized coaches. Kowal had the distinction of promoting two basketball programs which had Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame coaches at the helm in Conradt and Auriemma.
During her UConn and Texas tenures, numerous student-athletes across many sports were recognized as National Players of the Year, All-Americans and Academic All-Americans. Additionally, the UT women's athletics department was singled out for 85 national/regional CoSIDA publications “Awards of Excellence”, including 18 “Best in the Nation” honors. Kowal also served on the NCAA Division I Women’s Basketball Final Four Media Coordination Committee (1997-2008) and was the NCAA Division I coordinator for the Bob Cousy Men’s Basketball National Point Guard of the Year Award (2003-2008).
The first full-time SID at Manhattanville College (1982-85) prior to joining the UConn staff, she began her sports information career as a graduate assistant at the University of Massachusetts under CoSIDA Hall of Famer Howie Davis.
Kowal joined CoSIDA in 2009, and together with the Board of Directors and CoSIDA leadership, has implemented a number of strategic communications strategies while also initiating professional development opportunities for CoSIDA members and creating a new Web site that will be unveiled this summer.
2010 CoSIDA Hall of Fame - Veterans SelectionsDave Kellogg of the Air Force Academy and John Eggers, former SID at Oregon State are the members of the 2010 Veterans Committee Hall of Fame. These inductees represent former sports information professionals of distinction from the past whose professional and personal deeds and accomplishments helped make possible the stature of the sports information profession today.
Dave Kellogg – Air Force Academy 
Currently the coordinator of the Air Force Academy Hall of Fame and emeritus SID, Dave Kellogg has served the sports information profession with distinction at two universities. Always ahead of his time, he began his career at the University of Idaho in 1977-85, where he computerized the operation of the office to include word processing, desktop publishing and statistics; something other communications offices didn’t even think about doing for another decade.
He moved to the Air Force Academy in 1985, and served as the sports information director for the 27-sport program until 2001. As a member of the senior staff, Kellogg was responsible for all media relations, crisis communications, community relations, internal communications and branding. He computerized the office to include desktop publishing, converted from traditional photography to digital, and headed one of the first sports information departments to embrace the World Wide Web.
Kellogg was an active member of CoSIDA, often presenting the latest in technological applications for sports information at the annual workshop. He also served several years as chair of the District VII CoSIDA Committee on Committees.
Among the many events in which he has served as media coordinator include the World University Games, Sheffield, England 1991; 1998 O’ahu Bowl, 1997 Las Vegas Bowl, 1995 Tucson Copper Bowl, 1989, ’90, ’91, ’92 Liberty Bowl, 1987 Freedom Bowl, 1985 Bluebonnet Bowl. He has also worked as the director or press aid for numerous NCAA regional basketball championships and conference championships.
He is a past member of the College Football, Baseball and Basketball Writers Associations, a past president and secretary of the Big Sky Conference Sports Information Directors Association and past president of the Western Athletic Conference Sports Information Directors Association.
John Eggers – Oregon State University (deceased)
John Eggers ranks among the giants of college sports information directors, a trail blazer who showed more than half the college nation in the 1960’s their athletes could receive national attention despite being from lesser known schools, especially those not situated in the eastern third of the nation.
Eggers served in the Oregon State University sports information office for more than 31 years, joining as an assistant director in 1950, and taking over from Irwin Harris as director in 1952. He was active member of CoSIDA, attending the organization’s annual workshops in Chicago where he worked many College All-Star football games that followed the convention each year.
For more than half of his career, Eggers was a one-man shop, with only occasional part-time assistance during the football season (his first assistant was hired in 1968). When OSU quarterback Terry Baker received the Heisman Trophy in 1962, Eggers was widely recognized as the guiding hand in his promotion for the award, the first winner west of the Mississippi. Baker went on to be recognized as the most honored college athlete in history, including
Sports Illustrated’s Athlete of the Year.
A former all-state high school basketball player at Pendleton, Ore., Eggers played basketball one year at Willamette University before entering the Navy in 1941, where he served in Panama for four years. He returned to complete his education at Oregon State University, 1946-1949, during which time he worked for the
Daily Barometer - including one year as sports editor. He later worked a year at the
Oregonian newspaper before joining the OSU staff in 1950.
In 1981 he was inducted into the State of Oregon Sports Hall of Fame and later was enshrined in the Oregon State University Athletic Hall of Fame in 1991. In 1963, the Portland Rose Festival Association knighted Eggers for his efforts on behalf of college athletes in Oregon.