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One of the true pioneers of the sports information profession will get the recognition so justly deserved this coming June. Wayne Block will be inducted into the CoSIDA Hall of Fame at the 2014 convention in Orlando, Florida.
Block is no stranger to sports. He became involved early as the ball boy for the New York Knicks of the NBA. H
e was the student assistant on
Howard Cosell’s radio show before graduating from Hofstra University but the big city boy from Manhattan made his mark in sports information at a Division III program.
“Wayne Block can be described as a true pioneer in the field of sports information,” states long time friend and colleague Bill Steinman, former Sports Information Director at Columbia University, who spearheaded Block’s nomination.
Wayne’s first SID job was at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute for two years beginning in 1968. In 1970 he moved to C.W. College for one year. The next four years from 1971 to 1975 he served as assistant sports information director at Virginia Tech University under the late CoSIDA Hall of Fame member Wendy Weisend, who Block considers his mentor.
"Wendy truly taught me the vast majority of what I know about sports information, not from a technical standpoint, obviously everything has changed drastically, but in terms of how an SID should conduct himself and his job. It was all about professionalism. I always hoped I could join Wendy in the Hall of Fame,” states Block.
Block was awarded a CoSIDA special publications award in 1974 for Best Special Project of the Year for a recruiting brochure based on Virginia Tech’s championship of the NIT the previous year.
The next three and half years were spent at Hampton University of for seven months where he served as Director of the University’s new bureau before taking jobs with a couple of radio stations in Virginia.
The lure of being a SID brought Block back to the profession in 1983 when he joined Christopher Newport University where served for 27 years as Assistant to the Athletic Director of Communications until retiring in 2010.
Another individual who was influential in Block’s career is the late C.J. Woolum, the late former men’s basketball coach and Athletic Director at Christopher Newport.
"C.J. and I worked together for 26 years at CNU. He arrived the year after I did as head basketball coach and soon became Athletic Director. His influence on me had little to do with the technical aspects of being an SID, after all that wasn't his area. It was the support he gave me. He provided all the tools I could ever need to build a strong sports information operation, including bringing in two full-time assistants. I can't give enough credit to those two individuals, Francis Tommasino and Dave Gosselin. All that we accomplished at CNU was a three-way collaboration. C.J.'s passing last year was heart-breaking for all involved in CNU athletics, and many others
,” Block states.
At Christopher Newport, just as he had done at RPI, he brought D-1 sports information methods to
a D-III program. Thanks to Block, CNU
became well-known for its publications. He established an athletics website years before most D-1 schools did, and was among the first nationally in D-III to initiate fax-back, and to utilize the Internet for televising and broadcasting. While at Christopher Newport Wayne earned 80 national awards of excellence - 17 noted as "Best in the Nation.” He authored
Christopher Newport University Athletics: A Championship History, the first athletic history of Christopher Newport University, a 150-page book published in the summer of 2011.
He helped to found the Virginia State SID’s Association. And as Chair of CoSIDA’s Committee on Committees, he teamed with Debbie Copp, his successor, to restructure what had always been an unwieldy committee. Truly, Wayne is a pioneer in Division III sports information.
Upon retiring Wayne and his wife, Linda, moved to Arizona. Refusing to stay retired, he has gone back to work as the part-time SID at Mesa Community College, a large (25,000 students) two-year college in Mesa, Ariz. In addition to vastly improving the Thunderbirds' website, he has pioneered live streaming TV of Mesa’s football, basketball, volleyball and other sports, often doing the play-by-play himself. He has added a dimension to Mesa Athletics it never enjoyed before.
“Wayne has transformed our athletic department in many ways. His expertise has guided us on how to share information on the success of our athletic programs which include; streaming of sporting events, Facebook, Twitter, and Intranet posting. His contributions to are athletic department cannot be put into words as we are experience a following of our athletic programs of which I have never seen. We are extremely fortunate that he is with us and I hope that he will continue his work at our college for many years to come,” states Mesa Community College Director of Athletics, John Mulhern.
During his 37 years in the profession Block found time to serve CoSIDA. He attended 27 CoSID workshops, serving on the Committee on Committees for 17 years including nine as Chair. In addition he served on the former Computer Committee (now the New Media Committee) for five years.
When Block is inducted in June the award will join a long list of previous honours this deserving individual has received. In June 2005 Wayne
received the Warren Berg Award that goes to the College Division SID that has served the profession with dignity. In June 2010 he received a Lifetime Achievement Award from CoSIDA. He was inducted into the Christopher Newport Athletic Hall of Fame and was USA South Athletic Conference Hall of Fame in 2011. In 2006 he received the Bob Moskowitz Award (Peninsula Sports Club) for local media efforts.
Having worked 44 years in the profession, Block credits his spouse, Linda, and son, Kevin as integral partners to his success. His son sold programs at games when he was young while his wife has served as football scoreboard operator and statistician.