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Like many of the professionals currently holding positions in media relations in colleges and universities throughout the country and Canada,
Hunter Reid may have had dreams of playing collegiate sports. And like so many of us, he never realized that dream. Alas, he found something better and maybe even more enjoyable – a career in sports information.
Reid has spent over 30 years in the sports information, including 29 at Furman University where he currently carries the title of Associate Athletics Director/Sports Information. He will be one of 14 CoSIDA members receiving a CoSIDA 25-Year Service Award on June 11 during the group’s annual workshop at Orlando, FL.
“I’ve always felt incredibly blessed to have a career firmly centered in one of my greatest passions and interests,” said Reid after being informed of his pending honor. “I’ve often said that if you can’t play it or coach it, sports information was about as close as you could get to it (sports). That makes me one fortunate person whose work has brought me untold joy and satisfaction.”
A member of the Furman athletics staff since 1985, Reid is the longest-tenured SID currently serving in the Southern Conference. He oversees publicity efforts for the school’s twenty (20) intercollegiate sports, with direct responsibility for football, women’s basketball and baseball.
His hard work and professionalism have brought untold honor and recognition to Furman athletics. During his 29 years at
Furman, the Paladins have won 68 Southern Conference
regular-season championships and 76 SoCon tournaments, while the school’s teams have also made 73 NCAA tournament appearances, including winning a Division I-AA (now FCS) Football National Championships in 1988. Fifty-two Furman football players have been honored as NCAA All-Americans during the Reid era.
In addition, his publications have won numerous CoSIDA awards, including Furman’s football programs being rated “Best in the Nation” in 1988 and “Third in the Nation” in 1987. The school’s football brochure ranked “Second in the Nation” in both 1989 and 1990 and “Fourth in the Nation” in 1988.
He formerly served as a member of CoSIDA’s Academic All-America® Committee and served as a district coordinator.
Reid’s easy-going demeanor has been one of his greatest assets, according to his assistants, former assistants, sports writers and colleagues around the country.
“His ability to relate to coaches and student-athletes of all ages is unique,” said former Furman quarterback and head football coach Bobby Lamb, now the head football coach at Mercer. “Hunter does a great job of building relationships with the student-athletes, and these relationships continue beyond the undergraduate years. Student-athletes come back to Furman to visit their coach, and their next stop is Hunter Reid’s office.”
Long time Greenville sports writer Rudy Jones notes Reid’s relationship with the media over the years.
“I have known Hunter since his days as the student SID at Presbyterian College, beginning in the late 1970s,” writes Jones. “Even then, he was a stickler for details, doing things in a professional manner and being responsive to media requests…Hunter has always adhered to the highest standards.
“I’ve had the privilege of working with some of the best Sports Information Directors in the Southeast – Bob Bradley of Clemson, Rick Covington of Furman and Appalachian State, Claude Felton at Georgia, Bill Hamilton at South Carolina State, Emil Parker at Davidson, Tom Price at South Carolina and Steve Price at Western Carolina among them. Hunter Reid meets the same high standard as the others I’ve mentioned.”
Reid, a native of Madison, Ga., began his 34-year journey in sports information as an 18-year old freshman in 1983 at Presbyterian (SC) College, his alma mater, where he was student SID for four years. After that, he spent one year at Winthrop as a graduate assistant (1984) before moving to Furman as an assistant in 1985. He was elevated to the top position for the Paladins one-year later.
Reid and his wife, Jeanne, are the parents of a son, Alexander Symmes Reid, nine.