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
Former Southern Illinois University SID Fred Huff is 2012 Veteran CoSIDA Hall of Fame inductee
by Bill Little, University of Texas/Special Awards Committee member
The historic link between the iconic Bismarck Hotel in Chicago and the College Sports Information Directors of America goes back more than 50 years.
Fred Huff knows. He was there.
Huff, the long-time Sports Information Director and Assistant AD at Southern Illinois University in Carbondale, Ill., is the latest veteran SID to be approved for induction into the CoSIDA Hall of Fame. Nominated by the veterans subcommittee and endorsed by the Special Awards Committee, Huff becomes the eighth former SID to enter the Hall of Fame under the vintage selection process.
“I had been on the job just a few weeks when I attended my first CoSIDA Convention in Chicago in the summer of 1960,” said Huff. “At my first meeting, they announced that for the first time ever attendance had hit the 100 mark. It was a major happening. What I remember, too, was how nice everyone was to me and my wife , Ann. She was far more popular than I was.”
At the time, CoSIDA was held during the week of the College Football All-Star game (which matched the NFL champion against a group of college all-stars) in conjunction with a meeting of the Football Writers of America, and the grand old Bismarck was its annual headquarters until 1972.
Huff’s odyssey to the SID profession had included a year at Marquette University before he accepted a job working at a daily newspaper in Du Quoin, Ill., where he spent 13 years doing everything from writing sports to helping typeset and deliver the paper. All of that changed in the late spring of 1960, when he began the first of two stints a few miles away with the athletics department at SIU.
For the next 11 years, he followed teams to the baseball College World Series and national championships, as well as the 1967 NIT crown (when he worked with the legendary star Walt Frazier). His career in sports took another turn in 1972, when he left SIU and became the general manager of the Du Quoin State Fair. There, he was in charge of the Hambletonian — the most famous harness race for horses in America.
The race, known as “the Kentucky Derby of Harness Racing,” brought Huff in contact with such sports journalism legends as Red Smith, Jim Murray, and Sports Illustrated writers such as Douglas Looney. Managing the fair, which annually draws 350,000 to 400,000 visitors, brought entertainers such as Bob Hope, Red Skelton, the Carpenters, Liberace and Liza Minelli into his life.
In 1977, a new SIU athletics director named Gale Sayers contacted Huff about returning to work with the Salukis, and Huff accepted a position as Sayers’ only assistant athletics director. Twenty-four years later, he retired after a total of 35 years in the SID profession, during which time he and Ann annually attended the summer workshop. He received CoSIDA’s Lifetime Achievement Award upon his retirement in 2001.
When Fred received the Missouri Valley Conference’s Hall of Fame award in 2010, more than 40 former assistants and student workers who had spent time at SIU returned to honor him.
Since retiring, he has written a 416-page “coffee table” book on the history of SIU athletics. He also writes a weekly column for a chain of six daily newspapers in southern Illinois and a column for a chain of 16 weekly papers in the area about - obviously - SIU and Missouri Valley Conference athletics.
Besides the MVC Hall of Fame, he is a member of the SIU Hall of Fame, was named Du Quoin’s “Citizen of the Year” in 2003, and is finishing a two-year term as the city’s Chamber of Commerce president.
Fred and Ann will celebrate their 62nd wedding anniversary a week before the CoSIDA Workshop in St. Louis. They have three children, Carol, Susan, and Fred.
Note: The “veterans” category was established at the CoSIDA Workshop in Tampa in an effort to recognize SIDs who had served the profession in the past and were deemed worthy of induction by the subcommittee. Others so honored include Herb Hartnett, Penn and Maryland; Bill Sansing, Texas; Phil Langhan, Cornell (deceased.); Ace Higgins LSU (deceased.); John Eggers, Oregon State (deceased), Dave Kellogg, Air Force; and Dan McDonald, Louisiana-Lafayette.
The veterans subcommittee includes Langston Rogers, Ole Miss; Rod Commons, Washington State; Dave Wohlheuter, Cornell; Nick Vista, Michigan State and Bill Little, Texas.
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 - by Debbie Davis (Conference USA)
Wed., 25: Joe Dier (Mississippi State): 25-Year Award - by Tammy Boclair (Special Awards Committee; former CoSIDA President)
Fri. 27: Roy Pickerill (Kentucky Wesleyan): 25-Year Award - by Ann King (The Sage Colleges)
Mon., 30: Bob Noss (Wright State): 25-Year Award - by Matt Zircher (Wright State)
May
Wed., 2: Wallace Dooley (formerly of Tennessee State): Lifetime Achievement Award - by Bill Hamilton (South Carolina State)
Fri., 4: Jeff Nelson (Penn State): Bill Esposito Backbone Award - by Bill Little (University of Texas)
Mon., 7: Bill Turnage (Florida Southern): Lifetime Achievement Award - by Tam Flarup (Wisconsin)
Wed., 9: Herb Vincent (LSU): 25-Year Award - by Tammy Boclair (Special Awards Committee; former CoSIDA President)
Fri., 11: Mike Mahon (formerly of Drake & South Dakota): Lifetime Achievement Award - by Jack Neumann, University of Calgary
Tue., 15: Bill Wagner (DePauw): 25-Year Award- by Larry Happel, Central College
Wed., 16: Fred Huff (formerly of Southern Illinois-Carbondale): CoSIDA Hall of Fame [Veteran Award Committee recipient] - by Bill Little, University of Texas
Fri., 18: Phil Haddy (University of Iowa): Lifetime Achievement Award
Tue., 22: 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
Tue., 29: Dave Fischer (USA Hockey): 25-Year Award
June
Fri., 1: Bud Ford (Tennessee): Lifetime Achievement Award
Mon., 4: Robert McKinney (Willamette University): 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