Below, see the schedule of the 2012 Special Award recipient feature stories which will be written by CoSIDA members throughout the spring. The full slate of 2012 Special Awards was announced March 2. All awards will be presented during the 2012 CoSIDA Convention in St. Louis (June 23-26).
• Individual feature story schedule for 2012 Special Awards
• CoSIDA St. Louis Convention awards presentation schedule
CoSIDA 2nd Vice President Shelly Poe earns distinguished 2012 Trailblazer Award
by Jeff Hodges, North Alabama Sports Information Director
CoSIDA Secretary/E-Digest Editor
Shelly Poe didn’t feel like she was doing anything that unusual. Doors opened, opportunities for advancement came and her career in the sports information profession took off. Now looking back, some 24 years after becoming the youngest person and only female at that time to head the SID office of a Division I-A football school, Poe has a better perspective on a career that has earned her the College Sports Information Directors of America’s 2012 Trailblazer Award.
The Trailblazer Award is presented annually to an individual who is a pioneer in the field of sports information and who has mentored and helped improve the level of ethnic and gender diversity within CoSIDA. Poe will be the 12th recipeint of the Trailblazer Award on Sunday, June 24 at the Kickoff Luncheon for CoSIDA’s 2012 Convention in St. Louis, Mo.
Currently the Assistant Athletic Director for Football Communications at Auburn University, Poe’s career in sports information has included high profile jobs at West Virginia University and Ohio State University, in addition to a long tenure of service to CoSIDA.
“Shelly has been one of the nation’s top sports information directors for many years, and certainly a trailblazer,” said CoSIDA Hall of Famer Fred Nuesch, who served as the organization’s secretary for a quarter century. “At West Virginia her office was one of the best in the country and she continued to be one of the most recognized in her field while at Ohio State. No one has done anymore in the advancement of sports information than Shelly, no matter the gender.”
For her part, Poe credits several individuals who showed confidence in her early in her career for clearing a path for her professional advancement.
“There have been a lot of wonderful people who have opened doors for me and I have been able to walk through them,” Poe said. “From the very start, women in the business like Joyce Aschenbrenner, Linda Venzon and Mary Jo Haverbeck, gave me a lot of encouragement, and so did many of the male SIDs.
“And there were so many people at West Virginia in the 1980s who believed in me,” she added. “Our athletic director, Fred Schaus, was a tremendous individual who was not afraid to make unconventional decisions, and our football coach Don Nehlen and men’s basketball coach Gale Catlett knew me and were ready to give it a try. Other coaches that I had worked with as an assistant SID also really went to bat for me and insisted I try it - Kittie Blakemore (women’s basketball), Dale Ramsburg (baseball) and Linda Burdette (gymnastics), and without them it never would have happened. They were the real pioneers – seeing potential in someone that did not fit the traditional mold at the time of an SID.
“There didn’t seem to be any doubt in their minds that I could do it,” Poe said. “I guess I wasn’t surprised as much at that time to get the job as a female as I was at my age (24).”
Poe began covering sports while still in high school. A native of Morgantown, W.V., and a National Merit Scholar, Poe started writing about sports while attending University High School. She covered girls’ basketball games on a part-time basis for The Dominion Post.
Poe then worked four years as a student assistant at West Virginia University and graduated with honors from WVU’s Perley Issac Reed School of Journalism. Poe joined the WVU athletic staff as assistant sports information director in 1985 and in April, 1988, she was named the Mountaineers’ sports information director at age 24. the youngest person and only female at that time to head the SID office of a I-A football school.
During her time with West Virginia football, she worked with worked with 14 bowl teams, nine consensus All-Americans, finalists for the Heisman Trophy, Rimington, Outland, Doak Walker, Lombardi, Butkus and Nagurski awards, 47 NFL draft picks and 34 NFF scholar-athletes.
Poe was inducted into the CoSIDA Hall of Fame in 2002, becoming the first-ever WVU publicist and just the fifth female to receive that honor in the organization’s history. She also served as President of the National Collegiate Baseball Writers Association, becoming the first female to hold that post.
Poe served as official scorer for the women’s Final Four in Charlotte in 1995 and chief press officer for shooting sports at the 1987 Pan American Games in Indianapolis.
For almost five years, Poe was responsible for handling the communications and public relations for Ohio State University football. She served as chief liaison with the media and coordinated media operations for home football games at Ohio Stadium. At Ohio State, she had the great fortune to work with winners of the Ronnie Lott, Jim Thorpe, Butkus and Nagurski awards, a NFF scholar-athlete and Arthur Ashe award winner, and teams that played in the Rose, Fiesta and Sugar bowls and the BCS championship game. She also served as host media coordinator for the 2012 NCAA Rifle Championships and the 2012 Men’s Basketball Second and Third Rounds.
On March 21 she began her role as assistant athletic director of football communications at Auburn University.
An at-large member of CoSIDA’s Board of Directors from 1999-2003, Poe currently serves the organization as Second Vice President, and is just the fourth female to serve in the officer’s rotation.
“I am fortunate to have worked all these years in a people business.” Poe said. “I have had so many students that have gone on to great things and that’s exciting. It is also exciting to see the student-athletes that you have worked with over the years go on to be successful in whatever field they go into. When you see that they have it together, you can feel like you hopefully played some small part in that.”
Poe said the other rewarding part of the profession is that it never gets boring.
“This job is not a routine thing,” she said. “Every day there are new ideas, new technologies and new challenges and it is exciting to be part of that.”
Individual recipient feature story schedule for 2012 Special Awards
General 2012 Special Awards release
March
Mon., 5: Kim Wenger (Centennial Conference): Rising Star Award (College Division) – by Ann King (The Sage Colleges)
Wed, 7: Malcolm Moran: Jake Wade Award: by Joe Hornstein, CoSIDA 2nd Vice President
Fri., 9: Maurice Williams (Hampton University): Rising Star Award (University Division) – by Ed Hill, Jr. (Howard University)
Mon. 12: Bernie Cafarelli (Notre Dame): 25-Year Award - by Debbie White (Old Dominion)
Wed. 14: Peter Schlehr (Towson University): Lifetime Achievement Award – by Ann King (The Sage Colleges)
Fri. 16: Debbie Copp (University of Oklahoma): CoSIDA Hall of Fame - by Ann King (The Sage Colleges)
Mon. 19: Chuck Sadowski (University of Bridgeport): 25-Year Award - by Ann King (The Sage Colleges)
Wed. 21: Bob Condron (USOC): Lifetime Achievement Award and Keith Jackson Eternal Flame Award - by Mike Mahon, former Drake & South Dakota SID
Fri. 23: Jack Neumann (University of Calgary): Warren Berg Award - by Paul Carson, former University of Toronto SID
Mon. 26: John Lewandowki (Michigan State): 25-Year Award - by Jamie Weir-Baldwin (Michigan State)
Wed. 28: Kennan Timm (Wisconsin-Oshkosh): CoSIDA Hall of Fame - by Tim Peterman (UW-Eau Claire)
April
Mon., 2: Tom Di Camillo (Pac West Conference, Central Arizona College): CoSIDA Hall of Fame - by Dan Drutz (Saint Peter's College)
Wed., 4: Dave Wohlhueter (CoSIDA treasurer, Cornell-retired): Lester Jordan Award - by Dan O'Connell (Towson University)
Fri., 6: B.L. Efring (Southern Maine): 25-Year Award - by Sheila Stevenson (Rowan University)
Mon., 9: Lawrence Fan (San Jose State): CoSIDA Hall of Fame and Arch Ward Award - by Jack Neumann (University of Calgary)
Wed., 11: Sue Edson (Syracuse): CoSIDA Hall of Fame - by Larry Dougherty (Temple University)
Fri., 13: Mark Bankert (Malone University): 25-Year Award - by Mike Leggert (Malone University)
Mon., 16: Rich Herman (Clarion): Bob Kenworthy Award - by Bob McComas (Slippery Rock)
Fri. 20: Michael MacEachern (Young Harris College)- 25-Year Award - by Tam Flarup (Wisconsin)
Mon., 23: Shelly Poe (Ohio State): Trailblazer Award - by Jeff Hodges (North Alabama)
Tue., 24: Shirley Jones Hill (Southern Mississippi): 25-Year Award
Wed., 25: Joe Dier (Mississippi State): 25-Year Award
Fri. 27: Roy Pickerill (Kentucky Wesleyan): 25-Year Award
Mon., 30: Bob Noss (Wright State): 25-Year Award
May
Wed., 2: Wallace Dooley (formerly of Tennessee State): Lifetime Achievement Award
Fri., 4: Jeff Nelson (Penn State): Bill Esposito Award
Mon., 7: Bill Turnage (Florida Southern): Lifetime Achievement Award
Wed., 9: Herb Vincent (LSU): 25-Year Award
Fri., 11: Mike Mahon (formerly of Drake & South Dakota): Lifetime Achievement Award
Mon., 14: Bill Wagner (DePauw): 25-Year Award
Wed., 16: Fred Huff (formerly of Southern Illinois-Carbondale): CoSIDA Hall of Fame [Veteran Award Committee recipient]
Fri., 18: Phil Haddy (University of Iowa): Lifetime Achievement Award
Mon., 21: Dave Geringer (University of Massachusetts-Dartmouth): 25-Year Award
Wed., 23: Charles "Chuck" Prophet (deceased; formerly of Mississippi Valley State): CoSIDA Hall of Fame
Fri., 25: Robert Wilson (Florida State): 25-Year Award
Awards to be presented during CoSIDA St. Louis Convention, St. Louis, Missouri Sunday, June 24: Kickoff Luncheon
Awards presented: 25-Year Awards; Trailblazer, Kenworthy Community Service, Rising Star (University and College Divisions), Keith Jackson honors
Monday, June 25: (two award presentations)
CoSIDA Hall of Fame luncheon
Awards presented: Esposito, Lifetime Achievement, CoSIDA Hall of Fame awards
Capital One Special Awards Gala (dinner/ceremony)
Awards presented: Arch Ward, Warren Berg, Jake Wade, Lester Jordan, Enberg awards; Capital One Academic All-America® Hall of Fame induction