Note: This is the 16th article 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 Joe Keniston
St. Lawrence University Co-Director of Athletic Media Relations
Wally Johnson, Director of Athletic Media Relations at St. Lawrence University, has been chosen for induction into the College Sports Information Directors of America (CoSIDA) Hall of Fame Class of 2013. The induction will take place at the CoSIDA Hall of Fame Luncheon on Friday, June 13th during the 56th annual CoSIDA national convention in Orlando, Fla.
“All of us in the athletic department are thrilled for Wally, as we all know how hard he has worked over his 38-year tenure at St. Lawrence,” said University Director of Athletics Margie Strait. “As time has passed, Wally was able to adapt to the challenges of sports information and new modalities for sharing information about deserving student-athletes at St. Lawrence University.”
Johnson has put together a storied career in sports information, becoming the first college division sports information director to win all three of the profession’s major awards, including CoSIDA’s Warren Berg Award (2001), the Eastern College Athletic Conference's (ECAC’s) Irving T. Marsh Award (1995) and the Pete Nevins Award (2012). Temple’s Al Shrier is also the winner of the Marsh and Nevins Awards and the CoSIDA’s Arch Ward award which is the annual award given to a university division (Division I) athletic communications professional.
Johnson was also the 1971 Vermont Sportswriter of the Year.
His dedication to his work was also exhibited through service, as he served for 25 years on the ECAC-SIDA board and was a long-serving chairman of the CoSIDA Workshop Exhibits Committee. Johnson is a founding member of St. Lawrence University’s Athletic Hall of Fame and continues to provide coverage for 12 Saints teams.
“Wally has been a true professional, a teacher, a mentor, and most importantly a friend,” said Roger Crosley, Director of Communications of the ECAC and a 2010 inductee of the CoSIDA Hall of Fame. “Many of those he has trained as his assistants have gone on to leadership positions in athletic communications, and many of his peers (me included) have relied on him for sound advice.”
A native of St. Albans, Vt., and a 1971 graduate of the University of Vermont, he was the assistant sports editor of
The Burlington Free Press prior to joining the staff at St. Lawrence. He was also a sportswriter and columnist for
The Vermont Sunday News and
St. Albans Messenger and worked as a commentator on University of Vermont basketball broadcasts.
He currently does the color commentary for St. Lawrence University men’s ice hockey games on the radio in addition to providing home and away articles for various North Country newspapers.
“Wally is a legend in CoSIDA, and has been a proponent of the organization since the first day I met him,” added Gary Mikel, the Sports Information Director at North Country rival Clarkson University. “Through his actions, he has shown me how to handle the various demands of the job with professionalism, integrity and thoughtfulness to others.”
During his tenure at St. Lawrence, Johnson has covered nine Division I men’s hockey NCAA Tournaments with St. Lawrence including five ECAC Championships. He also worked with each of the University’s three NCAA Division III national championship teams: men’s swimming (1975), wrestling (1988) and men’s soccer (1999).
Johnson resides in Canton, N.Y. and is both an avid golfer and reader.