Release and image courtesy of
St. Lawrence Athletics
Wally Johnson, Director of Athletic Media Relations at St. Lawrence University has announced his retirement.
Johnson will retire June 1, 2016, ending a four-decade career at St. Lawrence. The 1995 winner of the ECAC's Irving T. Marsh Award, 2001 CoSIDA Warren Berg Award recipient, 2012 ECAC Pete Nevins Award winner and 2013 inductee into the College Sports Information Directors' Association Hall of Fame, he has seen the St. Lawrence athletic program grow from 13 teams on his arrival in 1975 to its current 32-program offering. He served on the ECAC-SIDA board of directors for 25 years and was long-time CoSIDA Workshop Exhibits Committee Chair.
A native of St. Albans, VT., he began his career in athletics as a sportswriter and general reporter for the St. Albans Messenger and Vermont Sunday News. He went on to write for the Burlington Free Press as education reporter and then assistant sports editor before joining the St. Lawrence staff in July of 1975. He is a 1971 graduate of the University of Vermont and was the 1971 Vermont Sportswriter of the Year.
"The main reason for my long tenure at St. Lawrence is the outstanding people who have been administrators and coaches at the University," Johnson said. "Dick Metcalf and Bob Sheldon took me under their wing when I first arrived in Canton and while there might have been a couple of temptations to look at other, bigger places along the way, nothing ever matched what St. Lawrence has to offer. It has been a lot of fun and an exciting run, but now it is time to turn it over to the younger generation."
In addition to day-to-day coverage of St. Lawrence's athletic program, Johnson designed and built the University's first athletic web site and has been the color commentator on broadcasts of the Saints men's Division I hockey program since 1975. He also helped establish the St. Lawrence Athletic Hall of Fame and has been a member of its selection committee since its inception in 1978.
He has been host SID for two NCAA Division I Skiing Championships, a NCAA Division I ice hockey championship, two NCAA Division III Outdoor Track and Field Championships and NCAA Division III finals in men's soccer in addition to a number of NCAA tournament games in a variety of sports.