• 2015 CoSIDA Special Awards general announcement/release
• Special Awards feature story schedule
by Dennis O’Donnell, University of Rochester Director of Athletic Communications/CoSIDA Special Awards Committee
Most SIDs have a story about “the time they left me behind” – in reference to a team leaving the hotel ahead of schedule to head to the arena, or maybe departing the game site early. The SID has to find his –or her – own way there or wait for the team to notice and return.
But when you are 6,700 miles away….
It happened to Mady Salvani just before Christmas in 1985 when she was in Japan with the men’s basketball team from the United States Military Academy (with its athletics program recently rebranded as Army West Point). The men’s teams from Army, Navy, and Air Force were in Japan to play against each other in the Suntory Ball.
Army played its games in two different cities. Salvani was there on behalf of Army’s sports information office, run in those days by Bob Kinney.
One of Army’s key players was Kevin Houston, a sharp-shooting junior guard. A year later (1986-87), Houston would lead Division I in scoring and earn All-America honors for the third consecutive season. The crowds rooted heavily for Navy – especially its star center, David Robinson – the same David Robinson who became a No. 1 NBA draft pick for San Antonio one year later.
Japanese teams used to play American colleges but the results were usually one sided. Organizers began inviting the American
colleges to play against each other in the Land of the Rising Sun.
“One of our assistant coaches’ wives spoke Japanese,” Salvani said. “We made sure to stay near her.”
The NCAA sanctioned the games and wanted statistics; enter the SIDs. Before the game, the American representatives met with their Asian hosts – very formal, bowing and smiling. Then the hosts pointed to the top of the arena. That’s where they had seats for the SIDs to watch the game.
“Eventually, we convinced them we needed to sit as close as possible to the court so we could keep stats,” Salvani recalled. “I’ve always told my teams ‘Don’t forget me.’”
In the days before electronic communication, SIDs ran for phones, typewriters, and telecopiers after a game to report results. Sometimes, the teams had to wait for a few minutes while the SID finished post-game chores. Other times, the teams left sans SID, which always provided the SID with an anecdote – once the frustration was over.
After the game, the Army West Point entourage left the building through a different doorway, leaving Salvani with the thoughts of ‘Now what?’ But someone in the group realized she was missing and returned.
It was a wonderful experience from a cultural standpoint, but it came with challenges. Early in the trip, Kinney called and asked her to pick up newspapers so they would have them for the files. She found them, “but I couldn’t read them,” she said with a chuckle.
Salvani is finishing her 47th year with the athletic communications office at the U.S. Military Academy, her 30th year as an assistant director. In 2001, she received the Irving Marsh Service Bureau Award from ECAC-SIDA for her lifetime commitment to the profession. At the CoSIDA Convention on June 15, she will receive a Lifetime Achievement Award. It’s been a lifetime of wonderful memories and changes.
Salvani began her career at West Point in 1963 working in the Civilian Personnel Office, where she processed people to be hired at the Academy. A year later, she moved to the Gifts Program Office and spent four years there as a secretary.
She was hired in the sports information office in 1968, originally as an administrative assistant. Women were admitted to the Academy as cadets in 1976 and women’s basketball operated as a club team for one year. In 1977-78, the program was elevated to Division I status and Salvani began helping out as a public affairs specialist.
It took some time to adjust to the new office. Salvani played basketball when it was six vs. six with the three guards remaining in one half of the court and the three forwards on the other half. Only forwards could shoot the ball. When she was reading press releases written by Kinney, she was puzzled when he wrote that guards led the team in scoring.
Women were forbidden in the press box for football games. The exception was the Army-Navy game at Franklin Field in Philadelphia. Women were in the press box as teletypists, who sent reporters’ stories to papers around the nation.
Kinney asked Salvani to work in his press box at Michie Stadium as a play-by-play typist for one game. She kept switching stencil backs, depending on which team had the ball. Army’s plays appeared in one color, the opponent in another. She adapted and Kinney asked her to stay in the role. During the fourth home game, she watched a play, turned to her caller and asked “Was that a screen pass in the right flat?” Reporters’ heads spun in the front row, mouths agape.
She remembers the coaches and the athletes – and they remember her. Retired Brigadier General Rebecca Halstead (USMA ’81) was a manager for the women’s basketball team. She returned to campus and was walking through the athletic center where she found Salvani.
“Hello, Mady, how are you?” Halstead asked. “Hi, Becky,” Salvani replied. Cadets in the hallways stood there dumbfounded. Salvani was calling a retired general by a shortened version of her first name.
“When she was where you are,” Salvani told the cadets, “we were on a first-name basis.”
General Halstead was the first female graduate of West Point to rise to the rank of Brigadier General. She is one of a number of former student-athletes who rose to a high military rank. One Superintendent was a fencer at the Academy. A Commandant of Cadets was an All-American squash player.
“I’m still waiting for the first female Commandant of Cadets and the first female Superintendent,” Salvani says. “The cadets of today are tomorrow’s leaders.”
With quiet efficiency, Salvani has commanded respect for a long time. In September, she will formally retire from 52 years of government service. The Academy will not replace her.
No one can.