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2019 Special Awards Announcements
Nearly 60 recipients selected for recognition.
CoSIDA concludes its weeklong announcement of its 2019 Special Awards by recognizing more than 40 members for distinguished Lifetime Achievement contributions to the profession or for a quarter century of service to the athletic communications profession.
The
CoSIDA Lifetime Achievement Award is presented to members who have served at least 25 years in the profession and who are retiring, have retired or are leaving the profession.
Receiving their Lifetime Achievement Awards this year are
Liz Abel, senior associate athletics director for communications at the University of Utah;
Glenn Alford, the former sports information director at Idaho State (retired);
Tim Bourret, the former sports information director at Clemson University (retired);
Robert Schabert, the former assistant athletic director for sports information and broadcasting at Tennessee Tech University (retired);
Steve Schwepker, the sports information director at Point University; and
Steve Ulrich, the executive director of the Centennial Conference.
The
CoSIDA 25-Year Award is presented to members who have completed 25 years in the profession. Nearly 30 members will be recognized this summer. A complete list of 25-year Award recipients is listed below.
All 2019 Special Award winners will be honored at CoSIDA's annual convention which takes place June 9-12 at the Orlando World Marriott in Orlando, Florida. The Lifetime Achievement Award winners will be recognized during the CoSIDA Hall of Fame luncheon on Monday, June 10, and the 25-Year Award winners will be presented during the CoSIDA divisional day breakfast and kickoff presentation on Tuesday, June 11.
Lifetime Achievement Award Recipients
LIFETIME ACHIEVEMENT AWARD
Liz Abel – Utah, Senior Associate AD for Communications
Serving the Utes for more than 30 years.
Abel began her career at Utah in 1983 as an assistant sports information director. Five years later in 1988, she was promoted to associate SID and became the primary contact for football in 1989, one of the first women to cover that sport. Abel was then promoted to the head sport information director position in 1991, to assistant athletic director in 2000, to associate athletics director in 2004 and has served as Senior Associate AD of Communications since 2011.
Abel announced in late February that she would be retiring in August 2019 after 36 years serving the Utes athletics department.
In addition to her duties in public relations, she manages the new media and broadcast/video divisions and is Utah's liaison with the Pac-12 Enterprises. Under Abel, Utah's sports information department received the Football Writers Association of America (FWAA) Super 11 award in the first two years it was presented (2009 and 2010). The Greater Salt Lake chapter of the Public Relations Society of America (PRSA) awarded Abel the Golden Spike Award for "Communicator of the Year" in the state of Utah in 2014. She has also been named the Region Gymnastics Administrator of the Year six times by the National Association for Collegiate Gymnastics Coaches.
LIFETIME ACHIEVEMENT AWARD
Glenn Alford – Idaho State (retired), Sports Information Director
Retired long-time and award-winning communications professional at Idaho State.
Alford will receive two honors at the 2019 CoSIDA Convention following a long-time retirement from Idaho State athletics department. He will receive a Lifetime Achievement honor, having served as the sports information director at Idaho State from 1967-98. Alford also will receive a CoSIDA 25-Year Award in June.
Following his 31-year career in the Bengals sports information office, he retired from that position before taking on another campus responsibility. He was then a writer for the ISU University Relations office for nine years, serving from 1998-2007.
Among his honors, Alford was recognized with an Idaho State Letterwinners Club Lifetime Achievement Award in 1998. A few years later, he was inducted into the Idaho State Athletic Hall of Fame (2001) as an honorary inductee.
LIFETIME ACHIEVEMENT AWARD
Tim Bourret – Clemson (retired), Sports Information Director
40 years in the business with the Tigers.
Bourret retired on July 1, 2018 after serving as a 40-year employee of Clemson University, leaving with the title of Clemson Football Communicators Director – yet he was so much more for the Tigers athletic department, serving with distinction.
Bourret began his career at Clemson in 1978, yet his love of the Tigers started a year earlier. While working in sports information at Notre Dame, his alma mater, under the legendary CoSIDA Hall of Famer Rodger Valdiserri, he traveled to Clemson for a football game. He loved the people and the hospitality so much that he accepted the job under another SID legend and CoSIDA Hall of Famer, Bob Bradley, a year later.
While at Clemson, Bourret served as the sports information director for football and men’s golf, and also called more than 1,000 basketball games, a job he still continues after retirement. He was inducted into the CoSIDA Hall of Fame in 2017 and his received his 25-Year Award from the organization in 2009.
In retirement Bourret continues to be involved in athletics, working for the Tigers’ radio network as a statistician and basketball on-air commentator. He also is working for Golf Channel/NBC working with the broadcasting teams as a communications and statistics assistant and had the opportunity to work the 2018 British Open, Ryder Cup Matches and numerous other tournaments during the PGA’s 2018 season.
LIFETIME ACHIEVEMENT AWARD
Rob Schabert – Tennessee Tech (retired), Assistant AD for Sports Information and Broadcasting
Setting the standard for the Golden Eagles.
After 33 years at Tennessee Tech as the assistant athletics director for sports information and broadcasting, Schabert retired in 2018. He joined the Tech staff in 1982, publicizing Tech’s student-athletes and staff but also doing promotions and marketing for the athletics department. Schabert established several programs within the department, including the Athletic Director’s Honor Roll in 1987, the President’s Awards program in 1991, the Woman of the Year/Man of the Year awards and the Outstanding Male and Female Athlete awards.
As a member of CoSIDA, he has attended the organization’s annual convention in 32 of his 37 years in the profession. He has served on numerous CoSIDA committees, past and present, including Ethics, Academic All-America, Writing, and Olympic Liaison. He also volunteered at the 2002 Olympics in Salt Lake City. In 2004, he was voted winner of Tech’s Outstanding Professional Award.
LIFETIME ACHIEVEMENT AWARD
Steve Schwepker – Point, Sports Information Director
Well-traveled and experienced SID for over 40 years.
Schwepker began in his sports information career in 1980 as the sports information director at Biola University. A well-traveled SID, he also served at Saddleback College, Wheaton College, Southwest Baptist University, Mid-Continent University, Arizona Christian University, and Grace University. He will retire this year after serving as the SID at Point University for the last three years.
Schwepker attended 14 CoSIDA conventions and is also a member of NAIA-SIDA. More than 20 of his publications have received award from CoSIDA,
Amateur Wrestling News or the NAIA. In 1984, Schwepker was an assistant venue press chief with the Los Angeles Olympic Organizing Committee.
Last spring, he was named the 2018 Appalachian Athletics Conference Willie Belcher Sports Information Director of the Year.
LIFETIME ACHIEVEMENT AWARD
Steve Ulrich – Centennial Conference, Executive Director
Conference leader since 1993, SID prior to conference leadership.
Steve Ulrich has served as Executive Director of the Centennial Conference since its inception in January 1993. He came to the conference after serving as sports information director at Yale University from 1989-92.
He will be retiring at the end of the 2018-2019 academic year.
Prior to Yale, Ulrich served as the assistant SID at Cornell University from 1986-89 and was the sports information director at McDaniel College from 1983-86. During that time, he also was the publicity director of the Centennial Football Conference, the forerunner to the all-sports Centennial Conference, in 1984 and 1985.
Ulrich has served on many national and regional committees, including a two-year stint as President of the Division III Commissioners Association in 2000-01 and was chair of the NCAA Division III Men's Basketball Committee in 2014. One of the founders of the Middle Atlantic Regional Commissioners Association (MARCA), Ulrich has also served on the NCAA Men's Golf Committee.
25-Year Award Recipients
Updated May 3, 2019
The following CoSIDA members will receive a 25-Year Award at the June convention for their quarter century of full-time service to the profession:
They are:
Glenn Alford – Idaho State, Sports Information Director
John Cade – Mississippi State, Assistant AD/Communications
Mike “Mex” Carey – Michigan State, Associate Director Athletic Communications
Steve Conn – Yale, Associate Athletics Director/Sports Publicity
Dom Donnelly – Tusculum, Assistant Athletic Director for Communications
Jerry Emig – Ohio State, Associate Director of Communications - Football
Jeff Febus – Calvin College, Sports Information Coordinator
Charlie Fiss – Cotton Bowl, VP of Communications
Tim Glon – Ohio Northern, Director of Sports Information
Bill Gorman – Wentworth Institute of Technology, Senior Associate Director of Athletics (Communications, Compliance, Scheduling, Financial Operations)
Geoffrey Hassard – SUNY Oneonta, Assistant Director of Athletics/Sports Information Director
Bob Heller – Lincoln University, Sports Information Director
Steve Kirschner – University of North Carolina, Senior Associate Athletic Director/Strategic Communications
Joni Lehmann – Big 12 Conference, Director Media Services
Pete Lefresne – Earlham College, Director of Sports Marketing & Communications
Steve Levy – UMBC, Associate AD/Communications
Mike Lund – Portland State, Associate Athletics Directror/Media and Communications
Mike Mahoney – University of Pennsylvania, Director of Athletic Communications
Brian Morgan - Universlty of North Florida, Assistant AD for Communications
Scott Musa – Shenandoah University, Assistant AD/Athletic Communications Director
Brad Nadeau – Middlebury College, Director of Athletic Communications
Darrell Orand – Coastal Carolina University, Assistant Director for Media Relations
Gregory Ruff – Trevecca Nazarene University, Director of Sports Information
Tom Schulz – Montana State University, Director of Athletics Communications
Steve Schwepker – Point University, Sports Information Director
Terry Small – New Jersey Athletic Conference, Commissioner
Mike Stamus – Georgia Tech, Associate Director for Communications & Public Relations
Steve Ulrich – Centennial Conference, Executive Director
Dan Wallenberg – Ohio State University, Associate AD for Communications - Men's Basketball
Dave Walters – Guilford College, Sports Information Director
Matt Zircher – University of Northwestern Ohio, Sports Information Director