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Mike Kirk Photo Gallery
Mike Kirk (University of Central Oklahoma) – CoSIDA Hall of Fame and Lifetime Achievement Award
by Chris Brannick, University of Central Oklahoma Director of Sports Media Relations
The Kirk family (l-r): Daughter Jessica, Mike, wife Debbie and son Alex.
Mike Kirk was hired by then Central State University in the fall of 1987, October to be exact. Football season had already begun, and Kirk, a Perry, Oklahoma, native and Oklahoma State University journalism graduate, jumped right into the mix and got to work.
Rinse. Repeat.
Like most athletic media relations directors, Kirk settled in, did his job, and then did it again just like the season before. He went on to do just that for 29 years as Central State became the University of Central Oklahoma, as the sports information industry changed the way it operated, and as the media he worked so closely with changed its basic day-to-day duties. He just kept doing what he was supposed to do.
“It sounds so simple,” Kirk said. “You just do what you’re supposed to do. It can be challenging at times, and it’s a heavy workload, but you just do your job.”
Kirk also happened to do his job very well. He performed his duties a bit above average in the eyes of his peers.
That’s why this June, Kirk is heading to the College Sports Information Directors Association (CoSIDA) Hall of Fame and will also be honored with the CoSIDA Lifetime Achievement Award. He will receive his awards at the organization’s annual convention in National Harbor, Maryland during the Hall of Fame luncheon on Thursday, June 28.
“Mike Kirk thoroughly deserves recognition in the CoSIDA Hall of Fame,” Rich Tortorelli, SID of nearby Oklahoma City University said. “I have asked myself many times when confronted with difficult situations in our profession - what would Mike do? His consummate professionalism, can-do attitude and commitment to promoting Central Oklahoma’s varsity intercollegiate sports has inspired those who observe him to strive towards excellence and commanded respect from colleagues, media and student-athletes alike for around 30 years. It has been my privilege to know him first as a student reporter at the University of Central Oklahoma, then as an
Oklahoman reporter, and now as a peer.”
Kirk still works for UCO. He became a part-time assistant SID following his retirement in the summer of 2016, ushering in a new wide-eyed rookie SID. He still helps at most of the games, inputting stats and writing stories. Just being at the games was what made the job fun for all those years.
“As much work as you have to do and as many hours as you have to put in, just being at the games makes it a lot of fun,” Kirk said. “You have to be there early and get set up, and you have to stay after to write a story and post it to your website and send it to the media, but just being able to watch all of the games is the fun part of the job. You see so many great kids in so many different sports. The teams change every year too. That helps to not be so repetitive.”
Kirk said he enjoyed traveling with teams to. In an interview with the Oklahoma Sports Network, Kirk said, “one of the best things I like about the job is going on the road, even though it took me away, but that’s when you get to know the student-athletes better and on a more personal level and find out some more back stories about them that actually help you do your job better. That was always fun. It’s great to be around young people like that and see the way they approach things and their attitude, to see how they can be great athletes and still study on the road and on the bus.”
Championships make the job a little more fun too. And Kirk saw more than his fair share of those.
UCO had won nine national championships when Kirk arrived on campus in 1987. The wrestling team accounted for seven of those and had won four consecutive NAIA titles leading up to Kirk’s hiring. It wouldn’t take long for Kirk to see some more of that.
UCO, which now competes in NCAA Division II, won wrestling national championships in 1989, ’92, ’93, ’94, ’95, 2002, ’03, and ’07. He also saw the first women’s national championship in school history when the softball team won it all in 2013. Kirk has been around for nine of UCO’s 18 national championships.
Kirk seeing all these different teams win the highest honor in their respective fields is really just a mirror of what he accomplished in his.
The Hall of Fame, and subsequent Lifetime Achievement Award is an appropriate culmination for Kirk, who won nearly 60 special publication awards, including 27 Best in the Nation citations, from CoSIDA throughout his 29 years on the job.
"I just did my job," Kirk said. "I loved what I was doing. I loved being at the games and being around the teams. I was having fun just doing my job."