Note: This is the 25th 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 Steve Colquitt
University of Georgia Sports Communications Associate Director
Serving as the media relations director for Georgia's nationally ranked baseball and women's tennis teams, not to mention having several responsibilities with the Bulldogs' football team and serving on various professional committees,
Associate Sports Communications Director Christopher Lakos knows about hard work and long hours.
Staffing events, editing copy for game programs and helping select award winners comes with the territory for SIDs, including Lakos. But when faced with unusual or stressful situations, it takes a special athletic communications professional to demonstrate an even higher level of ethics and integrity.
The Georgia baseball team was rocked by a catastrophic injury not once but twice. In the fall of 2009, second baseman Chance Veazey was involved in a scooter accident on the Georgia campus. Then in 2011, Johnathan Taylor collided with a fellow outfielder while diving for a fly ball. The incidents left both Veazey and Taylor paralyzed from the waist down.
Following each accident, media attention was predictable — and Lakos was the man contacted for information and with interview requests from both local and national outlets. Not only did he have to try to facilitate requests from the likes of ESPN and Sports Illustrated, he did so with a heavy heart.
Lakos, who always has developed strong relationships with the student-athletes, was aching emotionally right along with the Georgia players and coaches. Following each accident, Lakos was one of the first members of the Georgia staff to arrive at the hospital.
But knowing he had a job to do, Lakos showed the mettle that made him the first recipient of CoSIDA’s inaugural Bud Nangle Award. This award was recently established by the CoSIDA Board of Directors and will be presented annually to an individual outside of CoSIDA or to a member of CoSIDA who shows ethics and integrity under unusual or stressful situations.
It is named for and honors Owen "Bud" Nangle, former longtime Sports Information Director at Northern Illinois and CoSIDA Hall of Famer who, in 1974, authored the CoSIDA Code of Ethics which is the standard for the profession to this day.
Lakos will receive the Nangle award at the CoSIDA Convention's Special Awards Luncheon on Friday, June 14 at Orlando's World Center Marriott, site of the convention.
Lakos showed the respect deserved by Veazey and Taylor, their families, their teammates and their coaches during these horrific ordeals. Lakos was the ideal liaison with these groups and the press.
And while he made several of the interviews possible, he also was not afraid to say no in allowing Veazey and Taylor the time they needed to cope and focus on their rehabilitation processes.
"We could not do it without Christopher," Georgia baseball coach David Perno said. "He's as good as it gets. He's very professional and I cannot imagine this program without his involvement. He handled these situations the way he handles everything else — in a first-class manner. He was thorough, he was out front, he was forward thinking, he made sure all the lines of communication stayed open. He handled every detail in a professional way that helped all of us deal with an extremely tough situation."
Athletic communications professionals are trained for the "normal" aspects of their jobs - compiling stats, facilitating interviews, developing and maintaining web sites, notes and media guides, and staffing a press box. But there is no handbook for when crises arise. So much of what Lakos and the other members of the Georgia baseball team dealt with were foreign feelings. Their response was the humanistic approach of simply doing what was in the best interests of Veazey and Taylor.
Throughout the process, Lakos cobbled together an outline of what was done and, perhaps as importantly, what wasn't done. His notes included:
• How best to manage the information flow and what the tones of press briefings should be;
• Establishing a policy of "one voice," identifying who would speak on behalf of the program with information updates;
• Using traditional and social media to help promote fund-raising opportunities;
• Extended media training for the players and coaches, reminding them to "stick to what you know and don’t speculate."
Moreover, Lakos assisted administrators from other athletic association departments as they worked with hospitals, insurance companies, attorneys, counselors, the players' professors, scooter safety instructors and fund-raisers.
Similar accidents later occurred with student-athletes at fellow SEC institutions, and Lakos was quick to reach out to the SIDs at those schools to offer his assistance and to relay his own roadmap.
"Every sports information department in America would be blessed to have Chris on its staff," said Claude Felton, Georgia Senior Associate Athletic Director. "He's the kind of man who makes the people around him better. When we all heard about Chance and Johnathan, it was just natural that we were equally concerned about Chris. I knew how talented and respected Chris was in our field, but in the days and weeks and months that followed the accidents, those realizations ramped up even more.
I know he must have been hurting and that he was emotionally and physically drained, but he never let it show. He did so much for those young men, and I'm sure there was a great deal that they don't even know about. But that's Chris' way. He rolls up his sleeves and does his job without any fanfare. The way he dealt with those situations was an incredible example for all of us."
Today, Veazey and Taylor remain close to the Georgia program as they serve as student assistants and are continuing their studies at UGA. Periodically, requests for additional interviews and photo shoots reach Lakos' desk — most recently from UGA’s alumni magazine and
Spinal Column, a quarterly publication produced by Atlanta’s Shepherd Center (where both Veazey and Taylor were treated). And, as from the start, Lakos handles them with great aplomb.
A veteran SID, Lakos has a background that prepared him for the Veazey-Taylor situation. A member of the Georgia staff for two decades, Lakos has accompanied the baseball team to the College World Series four times and has been a part of the host SID staff for 14 championships in five sports. In addition, Lakos has game-day and practice duties with the football team and he is the managing editor for the award-winning football game-day program.
During the 1996 Olympics in Atlanta, Lakos oversaw a 68-member staff as the Venue Press Chief for baseball. His staff also assisted in the opening and closing ceremonies. Moreover, Lakos sits on the CoSIDA Convention Program Committee and is on the Peach of an Athlete Selection Committee that is part of the Boy Scouts of America's Atlanta Area Council.
Said Perno, "We'd have a tough time surviving without him. He's the best in the business."