• 2016 CoSIDA Special Awards general announcement/release
• Special Awards feature story schedule
by Steve Shutt, Wake Forest University Associate AD, Athletic Communications /CoSIDA Special Awards Committee member
Art Chase is celebrating his 25th year as a sports information professional with another stellar year. An overtime New Era Pinstripe Bowl win over Indiana to close the 2015 season was one highlight. Being honored by the College Sports Information Directors of America (CoSIDA) for his 25 years in the profession will be another.
Chase is in his 16th year at Duke, and currently in the role of Assistant Director of Athletics/External
Affairs. He joined the Blue Devil staff in 2000 and rose from associate director to sports information director to assistant athletic director before earning another promotion to his current title in 2013.
His 25-year journey started after graduating from Guilford College in Greensboro, North Carolina. After a “brief” baseball playing career for the Quakers – most notably as a reserve shortstop behind future MLB All-Star and World Series champion Tony Womack – Chase started by covering baseball and performing all four press box responsibilities - scorekeeping, scoreboard, public address and between innings music director. Hired by Tom Neff at Guilford, Chase graduated in 1991 and was hired as an assistant SID at The Citadel.
“Tom Neff got me going,” said Chase. “Josh Baker and Andy Solomon (at The Citadel) taught me the passion and the nuances; the unwritten intangibles necessary to be good in this business.”
And what are the intangibles that an SID must know in order to be successful?
The first thing Chase tells young professionals is that they must be selfless.
“There isn’t a staff in the country that wouldn’t accept one more body in order to cover all the bases,” said Chase. “You have to have every member of the unit willing to drop what they’re doing to help their co-worker because without that, the unit won’t be successful.
“Number two is fostering relationships,” Chase continued. He related that there is not a textbook that will instruct the budding SID on the proper moment to interrupt a head coach who is in the middle of a postgame locker room tirade but still has to meet media obligations.
“Nobody teaches you the timing when to walk into the locker room,” said Chase. “But if your relationship is healthy with that coach, then your margin of error expands. You may be five minutes too soon or five minutes too late and if you’ve done your work on the front end in relationship building, you’ll be okay.”
Among those that Chase has built a solid relationship is Duke head football coach David Cutcliffe.
“When I first heard of this award, a lot of things went through my mind,” said Cutcliffe. “First of all, how has Art Chase stayed in this business for 25 years? Second, when did he find time to stop eating cookies and playing basketball to find any time to work? It’s an amazing feat, without a doubt, that a man can work generally the same number of days as Santa works a year and win an award.
“Let me finish in all seriousness, Art Chase is a hero of mine. He does his everyday duties with such
Chase and his wife, Kaye
attention to detail and passion that he makes us all better. I can call him first a great friend, but certainly also a great friend who I admire very much. Congratulations, Art.”
In 1993, Chase became the SID at Presbyterian College, then returned to The Citadel as the head SID in 1996 before landing at Duke. Hunter Reid, now at Furman, preceded Chase at Presbyterian and the two have remained long-time friends.
“Art Chase is a member of the fraternity of people I consider to be a true blessing to humanity, that the world needs more of from an intelligence, sincerity, and wit standpoint,” said Reid. “He is a consummate professional whose outstanding people skills have long made him an ideal ambassador for Duke University and our profession. We are all better people for having known and worked with Art over the years, even during his tenure at The Citadel.”
Jon Jackson, Duke’s Senior Associate Athletic Director of Athletics/External Affairs, brought Chase to Durham in August of 2000.
“Art is among the most passionate and competitive people I’ve ever known,” said Jackson. “Given that drive, there is not a person who’s made a greater impact on media relations at Duke than Art has. We are amazingly fortunate that he’s been such an integral part of our team for so many years. There’s rarely a day that goes by when I don’t lean on him for counsel and perspective. As much as I admire him professionally, and that is considerable, I respect him even more personally. I love him like a brother.”
A native of Chapel Hill, North Carolina, Chase is married to the former Kaye Watts and the couple has one yellow labrador, Samson.