Note: This is the 28th article in the CoSIDA Special Awards feature series which is highlighting 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 Barb Kowal
CoSIDA Director of External Affairs
A great friend and resource for CoSIDA and its members will step away into retirement this summer after a distinguished 38 years of service at the NCAA. And, will be solely missed.
Jim Wright, Director of NCAA Statistics, who has been involved with the College Sports Information Directors of America (CoSIDA) organization for over 40 years, will retire on July 5, 2013.
Wright will receive a CoSIDA Lifetime Achievement Award during the Special Awards Luncheon (June 14) at the 2013 CoSIDA Convention in Orlando.
Wright’s relationship with CoSIDA began when he joined the sports information staff at the Air Force Academy as an assistant SID in 1970. He left the Academy in 1974 to serve as the Sports Information Director at the University of Southern Colorado. The following year he was named to the NCAA statistics staff where he embarked on a career with the national intercollegiate governing body that has lasted to this day.
In 1993 Wright was named the NCAA’s Director of Statistics and, in this role, has interacted with SIDs from all divisions. Wright now works with an expanded staff of nine full-time statisticians and five media coordinators at the NCAA to produce weekly national rankings and annual records books for 14 sports in all divisions, as well as statisticians’ manuals.
The statistics staff also is responsible for providing daily and weekly statistics updates for numerous sports, a Rating Percentage Index (RPI) for 11 Division I championships and score-reporting data for Divisions II and III, while the media coordination staff handles press operations for most the biggest NCAA events.
Under Wright’s direction, the statistics staff has digitized its vast historical records and each year has expanded its archives which serve as a valuable resource for the college athletic community. In an expanded role with CoSIDA, Wright has chaired the NCAA Statistics and Records Advisory Board for many years which is comprised of NCAA staff members and college athletic communications professional.
“I’ve been very fortunate to have worked both with great folks as part of the NCAA statistics staff, as well as hundreds of dedicated, hard-working SIDs across all divisions,” Wright noted. “There is no way our staff could do the work we do, generating weekly stats, annual records books, and all kinds of other cool numbers, without the consistent help from a great group of professionals, both at schools and conference offices. I’ll miss the daily interaction with everyone, but I also am confident that our NCAA staff will continue to maintain the terrific relationship we have with SIDs everywhere.”
Wright has received two of CoSIDA’s highest honors during his distinguished career. In 2008, Wright was inducted into the CoSIDA Hall of Fame at the organization’s annual convention held in Tampa, Fla. It was his second major CoSIDA award as he received the Arch Ward Award in 2003 which is given to a CoSIDA member who has made outstanding contributions to athletic media relations and who brings dignity and professionalism to the profession.
Wright served as media coordinator for 34 national championships in his NCAA career. He has worked the Division I Wrestling championship, the Women’s Final Four and, for 25 years, was media coordinator for the College World Series in Omaha.
In addition to his CoSIDA Hall of Fame and Arch Ward Award honors, Wright was acknowledged by the American Baseball Coaches Association (ABCA) with its Meritorious Service Award in 2004 and also was presented the 1989 Wilbur Snypp Award, awarded annually for contributions to the sport of college baseball, by the National Collegiate Baseball Writers Association (NCBWA). In 2010, he was elected to the Ball State University Journalism Hall of Fame.
A native of Connersville, Indiana, he was awarded both a bachelor’s and master’s degree in journalism from Ball State University in Muncie, Indiana (where he was a classmate of David Letterman).
Wright is a lifelong Cincinnati Reds fan and still has the box score he kept at his first game between the Reds and the New York Giants with Willie Mays.