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
Dave Geringer (UMass Dartmouth) joins roll of 2012 CoSIDA 25-Year Award winners
by Larry Scott, Minnesota State University Moorhead (retired)
Dave Geringer, in his seventh year as the Sports Information Director at the University of Massachusetts Dartmouth, is surely in a select group of collegiate athletic administrators. Make that two groups.
Geringer has practiced his craft on virtually every level of intercollegiate athletics and will receive a 25-year award from CoSIDA this summer (on June 24 during the St. Louis Convention).
“I’ve been on five different levels - NCAA Divisions I, II and III, NAIA and junior college. In 2005, I moved from the southernmost four-year school in the country, Texas-Pan American, to the northernmost, Alaska Fairbanks,” Geringer noted.
As a member of the Corsair staff, he directs communication efforts for a broad-based, 27-sport NCAA Division III program. Since he joined the staff in 2005, UMass Dartmouth has redesigned its athletic website (www.corsairathletics.com) three times. His office is responsible for maintaining and updating the website, handling live stats and video streaming from home venues, handling media operations and assisting with event management, and recruiting, hiring and training a staff of student statisticians, announcers and photographers.
During his tenure at UMass Dartmouth, the Corsairs have hosted numerous post-season events, including first and second rounds of the NCAA Division III men’s basketball and hockey championships, Eastern College Athletic Conference Northeast and Massachusetts Collegiate Athletic Conference hockey championships, Little East Conference championships in men’s basketball, women’s swimming, men’s and women’s tennis, cross country, and track and field and Great Northeast Athletic Conference golf championships.
Prior to coming to Massachusetts, Geringer spent a year as SID at University of Alaska Fairbanks, directing efforts for an NCAA Division II program that included Division I hockey. UAF hosted the Top of the World Classic and the Mount McKinley Bank/North Star Classic, and men's and women's basketball tournaments that featured the Nanooks competing in Division I fields. He joined UAF after spending three years as SID at Texas-Pan American helping promote the finest men's basketball season in 30 years, as well as the inception of the South Padre Island Roundball Invitational Tournament and the UTPA-Al Ogletree Classic.
A native of New York City, Geringer completed an undergraduate degree at the University of Buffalo and started his lifetime association to the sports information profession as an undergraduate.
“When I first went to college at Buffalo, I had never heard of sports information," he noted.
"I was working for the student newspaper, and they helped out the sports information director bringing information along on the road and making post-game calls. That was how I got introduced.”
He began his career at Florida International University after working in radio handling news and sports. Geringer was on the ground floor of the Golden Panthers' transition from Division II to Division I before spending the next seven years as Associate SID and SID for non-revenue sports at Big Sky power Idaho State.
Landing his first head position at Lynn University, Geringer was on staff when the Fighting Knights were admitted to NCAA Division II and the Sunshine State Conference and won NAIA championships in soccer, tennis and golf. After a year at Bemidji State, when the Beavers hosted and won the NCAA Division II Hockey Championship, he headed east spending two years as the SID at Alfred State and two more years at New York Institute of Technology before accepting the UTPA post.
Clearly, there have been major innovations in the sports information business, and Geringer realized the need to adjust.
“The nature of the job is different today," Geringer said. "You’re dealing with people you haven’t dealt with before, and you’re doing things you haven’t done before. When I first started, we were dealing mostly with the media, but everything is instant now. The media has changed completely, too. The print media has cut down on space, and the local television sports has cut down on time. They can’t compete with ESPN, and they don’t do what they used to do.”
To SIDs across the land, including Geringer, the website is seen both as a blessing and a curse.
“You can put things up instantly with the internet, and you can distribute your own stories. Our audience is much bigger, and with video streaming and live stats, people can follow the game, but we’re not ESPN, and not everything will go perfectly.”
While Geringer readily accepts the time demands of the job, his friends are not as understanding.
“From Labor Day to Memorial Day, I work six days a week, sometimes seven. Somebody asked me last year about it (workload), and after I explained it, they looked at me like I had four eyes.”
“I still think it’s a people business,” Geringer concluded. “I’ve made a lot of friends I wouldn’t have otherwise. I would much rather work more hours at something I like than fewer hours at something I didn’t like, and I’ve liked it enough to stay with it as long as I have.”
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 - by Larry Scott, Minnesota State Moorhead (retired)
Tue., 22: Dave Geringer (University of Massachusetts-Dartmouth): 25-Year Award - by Larry Scott, Minnesota State Moorhead (retired)
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