Note: This is the eighth story/announcement in the CoSIDA Special Awards feature series which will highlight all 2013 Special Award recipients. All recipients will be honored at the
CoSIDA Convention (June 12-15) in conjunction with the NACDA and Affiliates Convention at Orlando's Marriott World Center.
See the full list of recipients and features schedule.
by Bob Olson
Associate Athletic Director/Media Relations, UC Irvine
From the moment she handed in her application for a student assistant’s position with the UC Irvine SID office, one knew that
Stacey King was serious about entering the profession.
Her application was typewritten (yes, on a typewriter in those days) and the other candidates submitted handwritten forms. If that wasn’t enough, she had worked during the summer for the Internal Revenue Service, which also tends to take matters seriously.
King was hired as a full-time assistant in the UCI SID office in September 1987 and this year, she is being recognized as a recipient of CoSIDA’s 25-Year Award.
The loyalty to her alma mater has never been questioned and King has devoted over half of her life to publicizing the Anteaters on a wide scale, including serving as the primary media contact for UCI’s three-time, national-championship men’s volleyball program.
She demonstrated professionalism beyond her years from day one, and that work ethic has not gone unnoticed.
“From the media's standpoint, Stacey is a real pro,” said Mark Whicker, veteran Orange County Register columnist. “She has a great passion for the people that she represents and has a way of anticipating the media's needs. And at a place like UC Irvine, where everyone is accustomed to putting in long hours, she is capable of handling every sport.”
King’s dedication to UCI doesn’t stop with traditional and modern-era SID duties. She has covered tennis tournaments, soccer matches and baseball games in adverse weather conditions, helped mop a flooded basketball court and raced to the UCI SID office to retrieve historical records when a wildfire was threatening to reach the campus in the fall of 1993.
She is a member of several campus committees, has worked in various capacities at NCAA postseason basketball tournaments and was media coordinator for the 2008 Men’s Volleyball National Championship at UCI. In 2007, she received the Grant Burger Media Region SID Award from the American Volleyball Coaches Association which recognized her as the top Division I volleyball media relations contact in the nation.
Even with these accomplishments, she has not lost sight of her primary mission to expand the awareness of Anteater Athletics, even if it requires going beyond her job expectations.
“I am so grateful to have Stacey as a part of my team,” UCI women’s golf head coach Julie Brooks said. “She has an incredible work ethic and she truly loves what she does. She is very dedicated to her teams and will go the extra mile for the coaches.”
King has also watched student-athletes she covered enter the coaching ranks.
“It has been a pleasure to have known Stacey for almost 10 years as both a student-athlete and employee of the women's basketball program,” said current UCI women’s basketball assistant coach Annie Mai. “She exemplifies professionalism, creativity, and her dedication to her career can been seen through the success of the athletic department. As a student and co-worker, I have seen Stacey go above and beyond what her job entails, and appreciate all of the knowledge she has passed down to myself and others.”
Those comments are echoed by Anteater men’s volleyball head coach David Kniffin, also a former UCI student-athlete.
“There aren’t enough Red Velvet cupcakes in the world to thank Stacey for all that she has done, and continues to do for the image and benefit of UC Irvine,” Kniffin said.
“Like a team, the success of an athletic department and institution is in the details. Stacey has always had us covered. She has become my standard for an SID at the collegiate level,” Kniffin added.
She might have a name similar to a former Oklahoma basketball standout, but this Stacey King has left her own impression on the growth of UC Irvine Athletics.