courtesy of Drake University Athletics
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Four More Officials Added to Drake Relays Officials Wall of Honor in 2011
DES MOINES, Iowa- Former Drake sports information director Mike Mahon is one of four officials who have been added this year to the Drake Relays Officials Wall of Honor including Mike Holderness, Bill Patton and John Wolff.
The Wall of Honor was established in 1993, thanks to the family of Ray McAdam, a 40-year Relays official who died in 1993. His son, Scott, has been a Drake Relays official since 1969 and currently serves as chief judge of throwing events.
Mahon was sports information director at Drake from 1988 to 2010, serving as media coordinator for the Drake Relays. He also served local media coordinator for the 2008 NCAA Outdoor Track and Field Championships as well as the 2010 USA Track and Field Championships.
During his tenure, Mahon earned a reputation across the country for running one of the top press box operations for track and field. He also was instrumental in development of a new mixed zone and auxiliary press area during the renovation of Drake Stadium in 2008.
He was chairman of the 1996 Drake Relays executive committee.
In 2006, Mahon became the first college sports information director to receive the Sam Skinner Award by the Track and Field Writers of America. The award honors the memory of Sam Skinner, a longtime San Francisco-based journalist, and is presented to an individual who has shown exemplary cooperation with the media in track and field.
He has served as a U.S. Olympic Committee press officer for U.S. track and field teams at the 1992, 1996 and 2004 Olympics as well as the 1991, 1999 and 2003 Pan American Games.
The West Des Moines, Iowa, native served also served as sports information director at the University of South Dakota from 1977 to 1988 and was inducted into the College Sports Information Directors Hall of Fame in 1995.
Holderness started his Relays chores in 1984 and served mostly in the records certification area. Patton got his taste of track and field as a track and cross-country runner at Grinnell College. His start at the Relays came in 1979, and most of his years at the Relays consisted of him being a timer. He retired in 2001. Wolff started as a timer in 1984, and then switched to clerking after automatic timing was introduced.