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CoSIDA Hall of Fame
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CoSIDA Special Awards Program
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2019 Special Awards Announcements
Nearly 60 recipients selected for recognition.
These three will be honored, along with all the 2019 Special Award recipients, during the June CoSIDA Convention in Orlando, Florida. Lohse is a double-award winner as he also will go into the CoSIDA Hall of Fame.
The College Sports Information Directors of America (CoSIDA) continues its weeklong announcement of its 2019 Special Awards Thursday by recognizing three more outstanding members for distinguished contributions to the profession.
Dave Lohse, Associate Athletic Communications Director at the University of North Carolina, will receive the
Mary Jo Haverbeck Trailblazer Award which honors a pioneer in the field of sports information who has mentored and helped improve the level of ethnic and gender diversity within CoSIDA. Lohse will be a double-Special Awards winner in 2019 as it was announced earlier this week that he would be a 2019 inductee into the CoSIDA Hall of Fame.
The
Bob Kenworthy Community Service Award, presented annually to a member for civic involvement, community service and accomplishments outside of the sports information office, will go to
Kenisha Rhone, the Director of Digital Media and Social Strategy at Belmont University.
The
Bud Nangle Award is presented to a member of CoSIDA or to an individual outside of CoSIDA who shows
ethics, integrity and
bravery under unusual or stressful situations while carrying out their job duties.
Tom Satkowiak, the Assistant Athletics Director for Communications at the University of Tennessee, will accept the 2019 award.
All 2019 Special Award winners will be honored at CoSIDA’s annual convention which takes place June 9-12 at the Orlando World Center Marriott in Orlando, Florida.
MARY JO HAVERBECK TRAILBLAZER AWARD
Dave Lohse – North Carolina, Associate Athletic Communications Director
A leader for diversity and inclusion.
A double-CoSIDA awards winner in 2019, Lohse is the anchor of the athletic communications office at UNC, having worked there since he began his sports information career in 1979. After earning his bachelor of arts degree from Purdue University in 1977 with distinction and Phi Beta Kappa honors as a political science major, he joined the North Carolina media relations staff.
Lohse has been a “national championship SID” 19 times, directly handling publicity and coverage for the Tar Heels’15-time NCAA national champion women’s soccer program and four-time men's lacrosse champions, while assisting with the men’s basketball national championship teams in 1982 and 1993.
Throughout his career, Lohse has been a pioneer and a trailblazer in the area of diversity and inclusion and has been a mentor for not only young athletic communications professionals, but for everyone in the profession.
A passionate and tireless champion for the student-athletes and staff at UNC, he has raised tremendous awareness for the teams he work with, in particular for Olympic sports, while also being an advocate for awareness and acceptance of those in the LGBTQ+ communities.
In 2001, he took the bold step discussing his sexual orientation in an Outsports.com feature as he announced his status as an openly gay man in intercollegiate athletics, a rarity at the time. He continues to be a caring advocate and mentor for UNC student-athletes and for his peers in the LGBTQ+ community.
Lohse was an original member of the CoSIDA Diversity and Inclusion Committee.
The Hall of Fame and Haverbeck Trailblazer awards mark the third and fourth honors he has received from CoSIDA. In 2015, Lohse earned a 25-Year Award for his long-time service to the profession. A year later, he was the university division recipient of the CoSIDA Achievement Award, given to an associate or assistant SID for outstanding athletic communications commitment and service. Additionally, he received the Ernie Williamson Award from the UNC Department of Athletics in 2014 which is given for service to UNC student-athletes and staff over the years. He has also won more than 50 CoSIDA publication awards.
BOB KENWORTHY COMMUNITY SERVICE AWARD
Kenisha Rhone – Belmont, Director of Digital Media and Social Strategy
Award-winning civic volunteer and mentor serving Belmont and the Nashville community.
Rhone has served at Belmont since 2005 and is actively involved in the campus and Nashville communities as a award-winning volunteer, civic leader and mentor of young women.
At Belmont, she serves as an undergraduate advisor for the Delta Sigma Theta (Tau Nu) sorority undergraduate and graduate chapters. She also has served on numerous campus committees, including the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Planning Committee and the Staff Affairs Council. She has also served as on-campus advisor for the Black Student Association and the undergraduate chapter of the Phi Beta Sigma Fraternity, Inc (Gamma Alpha Eta).
In addition to being a mentor and advisor on her campus, Rhone is an active member of the Nashville chapter of “Play Like a Girl,” the non-profit organization that promotes sports opportunities and physical activity for girls ages 9-13 - the a time where girls are most likely to drop out of sports competition. For her efforts, Rhone was named the organization’s 2018 National Volunteer of the Year.
She also serves on the steering committee for the Greater Nashville Susan G. Komen Race for the Cure and volunteers frequently to speak to various youth groups including the Girls Scouts of Greater Nashville. The Susan G. Komen local organization also named Rhone its Volunteer of the Year.
Rhone also is a leading figure in the National Association of Black Journalists (NABJ) and NABJ-Nashville, where she has held an executive board positions.
Within CoSIDA, Rhone is a member of the WoSIDA (Women of CoSIDA) Steering Committee and has served four years on the CoSIDA convention programming committee. She also currently serves as president of the Black Sports Information Directors of America (BC-SIDA).
Prior to joining the Belmont staff, Rhone worked as the coordinator of sports information at Tennessee State in 2003-04 and also served as an athletic communications assistant at the University of Pennsylvania (2000-02).
BUD NANGLE AWARD
Tom Satkowiak – Tennessee, Assistant AD for Communications
Performing his duties admirably and bravely through life-threatening illness.
A two-time Tennessee graduate, Satkowiak began his sports information career as a student assistant with the Vols in 2002 before becoming a graduate assistant. He was promoted to assistant director and associate director before being named the assistant athletics director for communications in 2016.
In 2000, while working for Tennessee athletic communications, Satkowiak was diagnosed with a rare liver disease. There is no cure – the only fix is a liver transplant. Satkowiak spent more than four years on the transplant list before getting a new liver last October. He also battled with osteoporosis as a side effect of his disease causing micro fractures and broken bones.
Despite everything Satkowiak was going through, he continued to organize volunteer opportunities for his staff at Love Kitchen, serving the homeless. Prior to the transplant, he organized his office to cover his absence, making sure the student-athletes and staff at Tennessee would receive the coverage they deserve. After his transplant, Satkowiak returned to work at the end of November of 2018, doing what he loves to do the most – covering Tennessee sports.
He is the primary communications contact for the Tennessee men's basketball program, entering his 11th year with that program in 2018-19. During his tenure with the Volunteers basketball program, Satkowiak has promoted and provided media training and personal branding consultation for four NBA Draft picks, eight first-team All-SEC selections, one Freshman All-American and more than 20 student-athletes who went on to sign professional basketball contracts. He transitioned to working with the Vols basketball program after four years as the Tennessee baseball team’s primary media contact where he publicized the team's run to the 2005 College World Series and promoted 11 players who earned All-American or Freshman All-American honors.