• 2015 CoSIDA Special Awards general announcement/release
• Special Awards feature story schedule
by Mary Ann Mitchell, University of Missouri-St. Louis Assistant Director of Athletics for Media Relations/CoSIDA Special Awards Committee
Southern Illinois University Edwardsville and Sports Information Director Eric Hess are nearly synonymous with each other. How could they not be when Hess has spent his entire 25-year career there as the Cougars’ SID?
“It hit me not too long ago that I’ve done this job now for more than half of my life,” said Hess. “Time just flies by and you don’t even realize it.”
Hess, who graduated from Edwardsville High School, where he was a manager for several teams, always wanted a career in sports. He had intended to be a sports writer upon graduation from the University of Iowa in 1988, but the doors weren’t opening in that field for him. So he called SIUE and inquired about any possible full-time positions. He was told there wasn’t anything available except a graduate assistantship in the sports information office under SID Steve Weller.
“Steve was the one who got me here and really took me under his wing,” said Hess.
However, Weller was also heavily involved with Olympic baseball and shortly after Hess started, he left for nearly a month for the 1998 Olympics
in Seoul, leaving Hess in charge of the office operations.
“It gave me a lot of experience really quick,” Hess said. “I was essentially running a one-man shop as a graduate assistant.”
Weller then left SIUE for another job a year later and Hess, who said he just happened to be in the right place at the right time, took over as the SID in February 1990 and has been there ever since.
“I remember telling myself two or three years in, that as long as there was something new or something challenging, that I would stay here.”
It’s safe to say that Hess has experienced plenty of change during his 25 years at SIUE. He’s had at least 10 different offices in a handful of different buildings. Technology wise, he remembers fax machines not even being present in the office when he first started and remembers desktop publishing just starting to become popular.
“Then all of a sudden technology was a big deal, but I feel like I have been able to grow with the position.”
Hess has also seen SIUE transition from NCAA Division II to Division I.
“I feel like I’ve been a jack of all trades,” he said. “I think I’ve done almost everything in the department at one point other than actual coaching. There have been a lot of changes, but I’ve also been able to see this department grow. When I started, there were less than 10 full-time people and now we have four times that.”
He has also seen SIUE win a pair of national championships – women’s tennis in 1989 and softball in 2007 – which he ranks among the many highlights of his career. Hess has also enjoyed hosting several other national championships, including four NCAA Division II Track and Field Championships, the 1991 NCAA Division II Cross Country Championship, and the 2008 NCAA Division II Baseball Championship in Sauget, Illinois.
Hess also helped for six years as a media relations associate for the NCAA Division II Basketball Championships in Louisville, Kentucky, and was a media liaison for the 1994 U.S. Olympic Festival in St. Louis in which SIUE was a host site for the wrestling and track and field events.
Maybe even more important than all the championships he’s hosted or been a part of are the relationships he’s developed with co-workers, colleagues, student-athletes and coaches.
“The student-athletes and coaches are what get you up every day and the great thing about coming to work is being able to spend time with people who are like-minded. They love sports and like myself are competitive people who want to succeed.”
An active member of CoSIDA, Hess serves on the Committee on Committees and has won several awards for publications.
In 2012, Hess was honored by the Great Lakes Valley Conference (GLVC) with the Dr. Thomas Kearns Service Award. The award is presented to an individual or group that has contributed to the success of the GLVC as it relates to the NCAA Division II attributes of learning, balance, resourcefulness, sportsmanship, passion and service. Hess made significant contributions to the GLVC as its original web site designer as well as sports information contact for numerous sports. He was the host sports information contact for every GLVC sport at some point while SIUE was a member of the conference (1994-2008).
Hess is married to Kelly Thompson-Hess. His step-daughter, Kayla, is a freshman at SIUE.