• 2015 CoSIDA Special Awards general announcement/release
• Special Awards feature story schedule
Editor's note: Oliver Pierce retired in September 2014 after serving 33 years in the college athletic communications field. In 2011, he was awarded the U.S. Basketball Writers Association's Katha Quinn Award for outstanding service to the media and to the game of college basketball.
At the time of his honor, Jim O'Connell, the former USBWA president and well-known AP national college basketball writer noted that "As faces of (men's basketball) coach Mark Few and several of the premier players become known to fans across the country, the national media had its trust in Oliver. There's no reason why professional service to the media can't be accompanied by a smile, and Oliver managed that while always wearing his light blue Gonzaga shirt."
Pierce will be honored along with all the other 2015 CoSIDA Lifetime Achievement Award recipients during the CoSIDA convention during Hall of Fame luncheon on Monday, June 15 in Orlando.
by Linda Chalich, Washington State Assistant Director of Athletic Communications/CoSIDA Special Awards Committee
Oliver Pierce spent 33 years as a member of the College Sports Information Directors of America (CoSIDA), including 26 years as the assistant athletic director and sports information director at Gonzaga University.
Pierce joined the Bulldogs in 1989 and was responsible for the overall operations of the sports information office, overseeing a staff responsible for publicizing Gonzaga’s combined 31 NCAA post-season appearances involving the sports of men’s basketball, women’s basketball, volleyball, men’s soccer, women’s soccer, women’s golf, baseball and women’s rowing.
The Zag men’s basketball team won or shared 16 West Coast Conference titles and recorded 19 wins in 17 NCAA appearances, reaching
the Sweet 16 five times and the Elite 8 once. The Gonzaga women’s hoop team won 10 league titles and made seven NCAA appearances during Pierce’s tenure, reaching the Sweet 16 twice and the Elite 8 once. Gonzaga men’s soccer and women’s golf competed in the NCAA tournament twice and the Zag baseball, volleyball and women’s rowing reached the NCAA post-season championships once each.
In 2011, Pierce was honored by the U. S. Basketball Writers Association with the
Katha Quinn Award for outstanding service to the media. He also directed the media campaign that led to Gonzaga’s Adam Morrison sharing the 2006 USBWA Oscar Robertson Trophy as national player of the year.
While at Gonzaga, Pierce toured the Soviet Union’s Georgia Republic with the Bulldog baseball team on a 10-day goodwill trip in 1989, served as media relations director for the Pacific-10 Conference North Baseball Tournament from 1989-91, directed media relations efforts for the 1992 USA Women’s Olympic Basketball team during its one-week training session held at Gonzaga, and was editor of the National Collegiate Baseball Writers Association monthly newsletter from 1991-94.
A native of Spokane, Washington, Pierce was a 1971 graduate of Lewis and Clark High and during his undergraduate years at Washington State University, he worked in the Cougar sports information office. Following graduation from WSU, Pierce served as a sports writer for the
Tri-City Herald in Pasco, Washington. He was as the assistant SID at his alma mater from 1977-85.
While at WSU, he assisted with the 1982 and 1984 NCAA First and Second Round Men’s Basketball Tournaments hosted by the Cougars and was the SID for the Pac-10 North All-Star
baseball team that participated in the Honkball (Baseball) Tournament in Haarlem, The Netherlands, in the summer of 1984.
Pierce was a regular attendee and participant in CoSIDA’s annual summer workshop. He also was a member of the United States Basketball Writers Association and the National Collegiate Baseball Writers Association. In addition, he was active with American Legion Baseball during the summer, serving as a regional tournament media coordinator for 17 of the past 18 years. He served on the awards committee for the West Coast Conference and is a former chair of the WCC Sports Information Directors.
He married Maribeth Frazier in May 2001.