• 2015 CoSIDA Special Awards general announcement/release
• Special Awards feature story schedule
by Jim Seavey, Massachusetts Maritime Academy Director of Sports Information
Betsy Van Sickle began her career in sports information back in the mid-1970’s like many women did at that time - as a secretary.
However, she went very quickly from transcribing notes for others to writing her own script for success, and that storybook ending led to her selection as the 2015 recipient of the Mary Jo Haverbeck Trailblazer Award presented by the College Sports Information Directors of America. Van Sickle will receive the honor, named for her longtime friend and mentor, on Wednesday, June 17th during a Special Awards luncheon at CoSIDA’s annual convention in Orlando, Florida.
“I was honored to learn of my selection for this award but overwhelmed to receive it in Mary Jo’s name,” Van Sickle said. “At the beginning of my career, I relied on her for advice. We got to know each other better when we worked together at the Pan American Games in Caracas, Venezuela, thanks to Mike Moran at the USOC.”
A native of McKees Rocks, Pennsylvania, Van Sickle’s journey down the sports information superhighway began not long after her graduation from Edinboro University in 1973. She took a position teaching English and journalism at the high school level shortly after her matriculation, but budget cuts abruptly eliminated her position. That stroke of an accountant’s pen thus began a legacy of success that countless student-athletes benefitted from.
Van Sickle began work toward earning her master’s degree at Duquesne University, where she took a position in the Dukes’ office and, as she says, “caught the sports information bug” thanks to the guidance and mentorship of the legendary Nellie King. Van Sickle’s career began to take flight, and her next stop was Old Do
minion University, where she arrived just in time to promote the Monarchs’ national champion women’s basketball team as women’s SID.
The joy of that experience quickly changed when ODU’s sports information director left the position, and Van Sickle found herself “over her head” in the day-to-day demands of the office.
She relied heavily on her secretary and student assistants, including CoSIDA Hall of Famer Carol Hudson Jr., to meet those demands, and he credits Van Sickle with helping to develop his own skill set in the profession.
“This was a time when ODU’s women’s athletic programs were beginning to emerge nationally,” Hudson says. “Betsy helped lay the groundwork for national publicity of those teams, especially women’s basketball. As an undergraduate and graduate at ODU, she helped students like myself pursue our dreams and improve our skills for this field.”
“The women’s basketball program at ODU was getting national publicity that required my full-time attention,” said Van Sickle, “so my buddy Carlos, as I call Carol, coordinated media and
game-day relations for men’s basketball. I needed the assistants and secretary more than they needed me.”
Van Sickle’s journey took a turn northward in 1979, as she left the warmth of Norfolk for the cozy confines of Milwaukee and the position of sports information director at Marquette University, a program that just two years earlier basked in the glow of the school’s first NCAA men’s basketball championship under the guidance of the larger-than-life Al McGuire. The Warriors were continuing their run of success under McGuire’s longtime assistant, Hank Raymonds, who quickly became a role model, mentor and friend to Van Sickle as both the basketball coach and director of athletics. She recalls fondly the impact that he had on her, then and now.
“I admired Hank as a coach but when he became full-time athletic director, we developed a friendship,” said Van Sickle. “He was so appreciative of everything that was done for student-athletes, especially for the non-revenue sports. When my son, Mike, was being recruited for golf in high school, Hank went to the Marquette golf coach and encouraged him to sign Mike. It is because of Hank’s encouragement that Mike ended up at Marquette on a golf scholarship.”
The decade of achievement that Marquette enjoyed under Van Sickle’s leadership was unprecedented in that era, and her list of accomplishments is long, including:
• 15 citations for excellence in Publications from CoSIDA, including “Best in the Nation” for her 1980-81 men’s basketball guide
• Selection by the United States Olympic Committee as a press liaison officer for both the 1982 National Sports Festival and the 1983 Pan American Games in Venezuel
• Selection as an Outstanding Young Woman of America in 1981
• Three-time selection in Who’s Who of American Women and a two-time selection in Who’s Who of Emerging Leaders in America
• Recipient of Pacesetter Award of Excellence for professional achievement in communications from the International Association of Business Communicators for her work on Marquette’s 1987-88 men’s basketball guide
• In addition to her impressive professional accomplishments, Van Sickle also dedicated her time to charitable causes in the Milwaukee area, including Brewer Hall of Fame broadcaster Bob Uecker’s Ride for the Performing Arts, Midwest Athletes Against Childhood Cancer and Al’s Run to benefit Milwaukee Children’s Hospital.
Building relationships within the Marquette and Milwaukee communities strengthened Van Sickle’s professional reputation, but she is extremely proud of the relationships she built with the media who covered Warrior athletics on a day-to-day basis.
“I love Marquette to this day,” Van Sickle said. “I was hired by wonderful people who gave me the opportunity and then helped me to succeed. The writers and broadcasters who covered Marquette became my friends. It was a great time in the journalism profession.
Some amazing people covered our basketball games and all these years later, I’ve got some wonderful memories and friends.”
In the current era where the media is taken for granted at times, those relationships were greatly appreciated by media members who relied heavily on Van Sickle’s office to do their jobs. Mary Schmitt Boyer, who covered Marquette for
The Milwaukee Journal during Betsy’s tenure, spoke fondly of their relationship:
“Betsy was always the epitome of professionalism, setting standards way above what was the norm at that time,” Schmitt Boyer, who now writes for
The Cleveland Plain Dealer, says of Van Sickle. “When I think of Betsy's time at Marquette, one of the first things that comes to mind are the press guides. I'd have to say that she revolutionized the medium. Whereas previous college press guides contained the basic biographical and statistical information about coaches, players and schools, I think Betsy was one of the first (and best) to produce a press guide with a theme that was consistent throughout the book. Her use of art and graphics was rarely duplicated in those days.”
Among Van Sickle’s more noteworthy efforts: the 1982 Marquette season ticket brochure for men’s basketball that unfolded into a board game, which
Sports Illustrated highlighted in its weekly Scorecard section; trading cards for the men’s basketball team players and coaches; and a media guide that included a jigsaw puzzle that, when assembled, was the team picture from the cover.
“Betsy also insisted those on her staff conducted themselves in a certain manner, and that made it much easier for those of us who covered the team,” Schmitt Boyer added.
Back then, the marriage between the media and the sports information office was one that benefitted both parties in terms of institutional publicity. Ironically, it was the actual marriage between the media and sports information director that began the next chapter of Van Sickle’s life.
In 1984, Betsy married Gary Van Sickle, a longtime reporter for
The Milwaukee Journal who is recognized as one of the world’s outstanding golf writers, having worked for both
Golf World and
Sports Illustrated magazines. In 1986, the Van Sickles welcomed their son Michael into the world, and two years later, Gary’s career path took a permanent swing toward the links and they moved to Connecticut.
“When Mike was born, I continued to work but was conflicted,” she said. “I loved my job, I loved my son, I was riddled with guilt. Gary’s job change forced the issue.”
Though it has been 26 years since she last oversaw a sports information office, Van Sickle’s impact still resonates today. She was a visionary and pioneer who brought great perspective and a work ethic to every possible angle of the job. Another pioneer in the profession, recently retired ESPN Senior Vice President Rosa Gatti, who like Betsy began her career as a secretary in a sports information office, recalls the difference that her friend made.
“Betsy was extremely professional, creative and thorough,” Gatti, the 2009 recipient of the Haverbeck Trailblazer Award, says. “I remember her outstanding media guides and programs for which she received many awards. Betsy also had great perspective and judgment. Her engaging personality led to great relationships with fellow sports information directors and the media, and her student assistants would rave about her mentoring and have gone on to successful careers in the profession.”
Marquette continues to hold a special place in the hearts of the Van Sickle family. Michael graduated from the university in 2009 after establishing himself as the greatest golfer the Golden Eagles have ever seen following an All-America career, and he continues to blaze his own trail while working toward earning his PGA Tour card.
Fortunately for him, he has his own trailblazing role model that he can learn from and emulate every day.