Information courtesy of Austin Peay Athletics
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CLARKSVILLE, Tenn. – Two of the greatest Governors athletes in their respective sports and the department’s longtime sports information director have been selected to Austin Peay State University Athletics Hall of Fame. In addition, a former superb football/basketball player who paid the ultimate price in defense of his country, was selected to the Hall of Fame as part of it Legends category.
Nick Stapleton, the greatest scoring point guard in Austin Peay history who remains one of two Governors to tally more than 2,000 career points; Shawn Kelley, arguably the best “big game” pitcher in APSU history whose 2007 NCAA dual with Vanderbilt’s David Price remains as the best single-game pitching performance in APSU history, and Brad Kirtley, who has publicized Austin Peay sports for the past 30 years, have been elected to APSU Athletics Hall of Fame. Reedy Sears, a wide receiver for the football team and a 5-9 guard on the basketball team in the early 1940s, was chosen from the Legends category.
The quartet will be honored in a luncheon ceremony on Saturday, Feb. 1 (11:30 a.m.). They also will be introduced during halftime ceremonies of the Governors’ Jan. 31 contest with Murray State. They will become the 104th, 105th, 106th and 107th members of APSU’s Athletic Hall of Fame.
Inductee Brad Kirtley
After spending nearly six years in the newspaper profession before working in Southeast Missouri State’s sports information office, Kirtley arrived at Austin Peay as the department’s sports information director in Winter 1984, replacing Sherwin Clift, who also is University Athletics Hall of Fame member. He has been responsible for publicizing all 15 APSU sports at some point in his career, in particular during the first 15 years when there was no assistant. Currently he handles publicity for football, men’s basketball, men and women’s golf.
In fact, Kirtley was responsible for the restoration of the office’s fulltime secretarial position in the mid-1980s and nearly 15 years later turned that position into a fulltime assistant when Cody Bush was hired. Bush has continued in that position since 1999. Then in 2010 he was able to hire a second fulltime sports information assistant when Alaric Klinghard was hired. Colby Wilson now holds that position.
The Cape Girardeau, Mo., native has produced media guides (now online publications) for all APSU sports. Back in the mid-1980s, he worked with the late Bob Bibb and Coca-Cola to produce four-color cover media guide covers for the department’s revenue sports. He also created post-season media guide publications for multiple sports, including men’s basketball, baseball and most recently the NCAA Golf Regional in Tempe, Ariz., and the Dustin Korte piece for the NCAA Championship. He also assisted and edited numerous other NCAA post-season pieces.
Along the way Kirtley assisted with game promotions, in particular during the first 15 years of his tenure, resulting in posters and schedule cards being produced for the respective Govs and Lady Govs sports.
He has represented Austin Peay by volunteering at NCAA events, most recently the Basketball Regional in Nashville in March 2012. He has been invited to work at this spring’s NCAA Women’s Final Four in Nashville.
He has provided written athletics-related content for APSU’s Alumni publication for the past 30 years, including the first sports features written by anyone other than the school’s public relations staff. He produces along with edits written content for APSU’s athletics website, Let’sGoPeay.com, and also has provided numerous features on the website.
Kirtley spearheaded multiple publicity and All-America campaigns, in particular for Bubba Wells and Trenton Hassell, who earned Playboy All-American in 2001-02. He also Helped APSU maximize national publicity with the Wells’ leg injury/return from media outlets such as NBC (Today Show), CBS (At the Half), USA Today and Los Angeles Times.
He is a member of the College Sports Information Directors of America (CoSIDA), having served on multiple committees. Twice Kirtley served as cohost of the student-worker table topic program at the organization’s annual convention.
Over the years, he has supervised more than 150 student workers, including four who went on to become members of the profession. Kirtley has helped supervise and develop interns who later went onto become sports information professionals at Florida Atlantic, Cincinnati, Stetson, Sewanee, Curry College, Alabama State, Michigan and APSU.
One of Kirtley’s greatest accomplishments can be directly attributed to a leadership style that has nurtured growth and advancement within the profession. Kirtley’s office has seen great progression in everything from a web presence which transitioned from an in-house to a professionally managed site, drastic improvement of the Governors Sports Network broadcast quality, development of Austin Peay’s social media presence and the eventual creation of a Marketing and Promotions Coordinator position within the Athletics Department.
Through CoSIDA, he has been responsible for nominating numerous student-athletes for CoSIDA's Captial One Academic All-America® program, including 26 (out of APSU’s total 30) earning either first-, second- or third-team Academic All-America® under his watch. More than 100 APSU student-athletes have earned CoSIDA Academic All-District since 1990.
Kirtley also has taken great pride and responsibility in authoring nomination content for numerous OVC and national awards, in particular the league’s Steve Hamilton Sportsmanship Award; Austin Peay student-athletes have earned the prestigious honor nine times since inception in 1998-99.
He has served on University committees, including the Hall of Fame Committee for the past 30 years as well as being an original member of the University’s Peay Pride Committee