CoSIDA Hall of Famer and U.S. Olympic Committee's Bob Condron announces plans to retire at year's end

CoSIDA Hall of Famer and U.S. Olympic Committee's Bob Condron announces plans to retire at year's end


After a span of 28 years and coordinating Olympic Games media services for each Team USA and U.S. delegation since 1984, gifted PR professional Bob Condron will retire from the USOC in early January.

Condron, a former SID at Southern Methodist University, was inducted into the CoSIDA Hall of Fame in 2004.

Below is the press release announcing his retirement, followed by a Condron blog feature by Susan Polakoff Shaw entitled "Five favorite 'Condronisms' and how you too can be like Bob."

Release courtesy of USOCpressbox.com

Excerpt below. Click HERE to read the full release.

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. – After 28 years, 15 Olympic Games and countless hills, valleys and campfires in faraway lands, the U.S. Olympic Committee’s Bob Condron has announced his intention to retire at the end of the year.

Condron, the director of media services for the USOC, said he will retire to pursue other opportunities.

“Exactly,” said Condron. “Like fly fishing high in the Rockies, shooting my age in golf, whatever hole that happens to be, and spending more time in a coffee shop on Wednesday morning at 9:30 a.m. eating an apple fritter.”

Condron didn’t divulge his age, but said he was conceived and born during World War II.

“In that order,” Condron stated.

Condron joined the USOC on Jan. 2, 1984, the same day he will exit the organization in 2012. He has been involved in planning the media services for Team USA and U.S. delegation for every Olympic Games since the 1984 Games in Los Angeles. He has also served at seven Pan American Games, 11 U.S. Olympic Festivals and countless Olympic Trials, World University Games, World Cups and international championships.

He has directed the Olympic Games accreditation process for United States media for the past 10 years.

“Having known and worked with Bob since the last century, I know the USOC won’t be the same without him around every day,” said USOC CEO Scott Blackmun. “Bob’s sense of humor, professionalism and willingness to make friends all around the world are traits that everyone in our organization should work to emulate. Bob embodies the true spirit of the Olympic Movement.”

“I’ve never met a person loved by more people than Bob Condron,” said USOC Chief Communications Officer Patrick Sandusky. “Every student of communications around the country today should look at Bob Condron’s career as a case study of how to make friends and influence people while always being the gentleman in the room. While he is going to be missed around the USOC, we know where to look when we need Bob’s help – area golf courses and trout streams. Few have earned their retirement more than Bob Condron and I wish him all the best.”

Condron has served on the IOC Press Commission for eight years, a committee that approves and counsels Olympic organizing committees on media operations and services for the Olympic Games. He’s one of only two USOC staff members serving on an IOC Commission.

He’s in the Hall of Fame for his University, Texas Tech University, and his profession, the College Sports Information Directors of America (CoSIDA).

Condron joined the USOC staff after serving as the Assistant Athletic Director and Sports Information Director at Southern Methodist University from 1971-83 where he witnessed the various infractions and shenanigans that resulted in the now famous Death Penalty for the Mustangs.

His letters to thousands of Olympic Games media, which were titled “On the Ground In …” helped prepare a generation of Olympic journalists how to hit the ground running in Olympic cities every year since Salt Lake City in 2002. It was served with a bit of humor and set the tone of friendship and welcome for the U.S. media about to embark on their journey to the Games.

“It was a good 28 years at the best organization in the world,” Condron reflected. “I got to meet Olympic athletes who influenced generations of kids and adults. I got to work with the best and most influential journalists in the world who went about their jobs with pride and professionalism. I got to work with the best people on the planet at the USOC, and I got to watch the sun rise and set on Pikes Peak in Colorado Springs. It was beautiful, and every day was magic.”

Mike Moran, former USOC head of communications, and the man who brought Condron to Colorado Springs from Texas, said:

“No journalist or broadcaster saddled with the staggering responsibility of covering the Olympic Games, from Los Angeles to Vancouver, had a better friend or advocate than Bob. It didn’t matter whether they were from the New York Times or the Anchorage Daily News. Or from Sports Illustrated or Reader’s Digest.

“Bob’s retirement is poignant, because he is one of the last links to the modern rebirth and growth of the USOC after its move to Colorado Springs in 1978. I think he can relax now and begin to understand the depth and significance of his personal contributions to U.S. athletes and the Olympic movement.”

Condron also said he plans to continue a role with the IOC and other Olympic organizations on a part-time basis.

And, there’s this other thing in his life, like getting married.

Lynnette Ryden, a five-time competitor in the Pikes Peak Ascent (running up a 14,000-foot mountain), and a current staff member at the Broadmoor Hotel in Colorado Springs, will be available for media interviews in the mixed zone at their wedding in Santa Barbara, Calif., in March. The groom will also be available for media requests at that time. Please submit your requests early for one-on-ones.

Photos are available upon request.

To contact Bob Condron, e-mail bob.condron@usoc.org or leave a message on his Facebook page. If you’re not already a Facebook friend, just request a friendship and one will come your way. Just like life.


Five favorite “Condronisms” and how you too can be like Bob
by Susan Polakoff Shaw, Polakoff Communications

Note: Polakoff Shawis a leading expert in press operations and media relations who has worked 11 Olympic Games as well as other events around the world in a career that spans 30 years. She worked as an Olympic press officer with Condron for five Olympics.


If Dr. Phil and Will Rogers had a baby, it would be Bob Condron.

When Bob announced his retirement from the USOC at the end of this year, I was thrilled for him but sad for those who will miss out learning the ropes from Bob.

I’ve not met anyone who understands media relations and press operations better than Bob.

You can read more about Bob’s retirement here. (It’s funny. Make sure you read the whole thing: http://tinyurl.com/3d2smmp.)

Bob taught me and others the true meaning of behind the scenes - really, really, way back behind the scenes - and how much work goes into making a top-notch operation look professional, smooth and seamless.

Over the years, Bob kept fine-tuning the press officer setup at the Olympics, helping the USOC media staff earn the reputation as the best in the business. (Full disclosure: I worked as a press officer for Bob for five Olympics. Lucky me.)

Bob does the hundreds of seemingly little things you must do to make an operation successful - details that nobody sees or cares about, but details that are necessary in order for the whole thing to come together.

As a tribute to my pal from the Lone Star state, here are my top five favorite “Condron-isms.” They are applicable if 1) you manage large events or 2) if you are part of a media relations staff working an event.

Suggestion: try reading these with a Texas drawl.

1. Ca-ca will hit the fan

So be ready for it. When working events, Bob preaches having your act together and being organized. This is so you won’t be derailed when the unexpected happens.

In my event career, some ca-ca highlights include: a highly-contagious and deadly measles outbreak the day before a world championship began, a CEO who showed up at the event drunk, more than one positive drug test (the athlete, not me), South Africa being permitted to compete in a world championship for the first time since apartheid was rescinded on the eve of the competition, the star athlete who was expected to medal but didn’t advance out of prelims, reporters on the verge of a fistfight in the press tribune….

Prior to your event, it’s a good idea to ponder, “What bizarro thing could happen here?” (Bob uses “bizarro” frequently, as in “bizzaro deal.”) Make a list of those scenarios and work out a plan, just in case. You don’t have to show your list to anyone–probably best you don’t. But it will give you peace of mind when “ca-ca” hits the fan. And it will.

2. Work it out

One of Bob’s favorite sayings, I’ve heard him say it about a thousand times. Bob’s big on working things out at the venue level and not making a federal case when things don’t go as planned.

For me, that phrase means getting the appropriate folks involved who can help solve your problem before it escalates. Notice I said the appropriate folks and not everyone and their mother.

For example, let’s say you’re working an international event and one day you and your team have access through a gate and the next day you don’t. Instead of storming into the venue manager’s office, see if it’s a simple misunderstanding with the guy who is manning that gate. Smiling at this guy and giving him a team pin may solve your problem. If not, take it up the food chain, but try to solve it yourself*. Sure, there are higher-ups who could fix it for you, but step back, take a deep breath and work out what needs to happen for you to solve this issue. Then solve it.

*Unless your gut tells you this is serious ca-ca hitting the fan, then call for help!

3. Grab Ass (As in “time to play grab-a**”)

Every time I hear Bob say it this, I laugh because it pretty much describes any mixed zone.

I actually looked up “grab a**” to see if had an official meaning outside of this Condon-ism. The Urban Dictionary includes a definition of “grab-assing”: horseplay being committed by others that has become annoying. Example, “Quit grab-a**ing and get back to work.”

I take it to mean being thrown into a big, frantic cluster of a thing and doing anything, including but not limited to, flying by the seat of your pants (and maybe a little horseplay?) to make it work.

Worked in a busy, chaotic mixed zone and kept your cool? Congratulations. You’ve played grab a**. Successfully coordinated a big press conference with a dozen athletes for hundreds of media? Yep, you’ve played it.

I also interpret it as trying your best in a situation that isn’t of your making. Say you’re a press office at an event, the press conference moderator is awful and things are going downhill fast. You decide on the spot when the press conference concludes, you will take your athletes to the back corner of the room or out in the hallway to make them available to the media. That’s prime grab-ass.

The key to playing grab ass successfully is to make it appear that you aren’t playing grab ass. Although you may feel like what you are doing is a huge, unorganized mess, and it may look that way (“hey, let’s do interviews in this hallway!”) it’s really not because you know what you are doing.

It’s juggling multiple balls, often in front of the media, with a smile on your face–keeping your cool in times of stress so that you can operate effectively and professionally. Nobody needs to know you are playing grab ass but you.

4. Float

When I’m hired to be a press chief, I don’t give myself a job because my job is to float.

Bob understands that to staff an event properly, the guy at the top can’t have a job. He or she “floats” over all functional areas and is available when No. 1 happens. If you are in charge, you need to float so that you can put out the fires, provide direction to your staff when needed and be available to quickly respond to the media.

I use Bob’s model from the Olympic Games when putting together my staffing plan. When Bob staffed the media services office, he brought enough quality people to make sure he was available to float. Over the years, he reduced the burden on press officers by starting a USOC news bureau (on-site, in the USOC media office) that wrote preview stories, collected stats, added content to the website, etc., thus applying a the “float” concept to those not at the top. Now press officers at the Games could get six hours of sleep instead of the usual four!

Bob saw that freeing up press officers a bit enabled them do their jobs more effectively, which in turn made the media, coaches and athletes happy.

When you are over-worked at an event that lasts two weeks or more, like the Olympics or a World Cup, that’s when mistakes happen. Bob totally got that.

5. Become friends with the guys who has the keys

Think this is dumb? You won’t when two minutes before your press conference begins, you realize the door to the room is locked after it was just open five minutes ago. Or when somebody turns out the lights when you still have 18 people writing in the press tribune, or you miscounted the number of media parking passes and suddenly need three more.

When you take a few minutes to get to know those behind the scenes who can really help you, you increase your chance of success and reduce your chance of No. 3.

When I was a press officer, I made sure I got to know the venue press manger, the broadcast manager, the mixed zone manager, and who ever in the building had the most keys. A small token of friendship, a pin, some chocolate or a coffee (or bottle of wine) goes a long way, especially when language barriers get in the way.

Additional helpful hint: In addition to getting to know the guy or gal with the keys, get to know your doping escort as soon as they have been identified. If you need to know why, ask me!

Who knows, the guys with the keys could turn out to be one of your best friends. I am certain there are guys with keys in venues all over the world who claim to be Bob’s BFF.

I don’t have a bunch of keys, but I’m so very thankful he’s one of mine.