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2021 Special Awards Announcements
March-April-early May
Written feature stories on each Special Awards recipient posted on CoSIDA.com, social channels.
May is CoSIDA Awards Month
A video series highlighting 2020 and 2021 Special Awards honorees will be showcased on CoSIDA.com.
Plans are underway to honor the 2020 and 2021 CoSIDA Hall of Fame classes and the CoSIDA Academic All-America® Hall of Fame classes of 2020 and 2021, with pre-recorded video presentations during the June virtual convention.
The College Sports Information Directors of America (CoSIDA) organization continues its weeklong announcement of its 2021 Special Awards Thursday by recognizing two members and a national media personality.
Today’s honors include recognition for the 2021
Jake Wade Award (media award) and for the CoSIDA Achievement Awards in the University and College Division.
Gus Johnson, award-winning sports broadcaster and currently the lead play-by-play announcer for Fox Sports’ college football and men’s basketball coverage, is recipient of the Jake Wade Award. The Jake Wade Award is presented annually to an individual in the media who has made an outstanding contribution to intercollegiate athletics.
Brian Mason, the Assistant Director of Brand Communications at the University of Wisconsin, and SUNY Cortland Associate Director of Athletic Communications
Dan Surdam are recipients of this year’s Achievement Award for university and college divisions, respectively.
The CoSIDA Achievement Awards are presented to associate or assistant media relations directors with 10 or more years of athletic communications service who have made outstanding contributions to the field and provide exceptional service to their institution or conference office.
A closer look at the individuals honored today:
JAKE WADE AWARD
Gus Johnson – Fox Sports (College Football & Basketball Play-by-Play Announcer)
Dynamic broadcaster with a passion for college athletics.
Known for his enthusiastic and passionate play-calling and catchphrases,
Gus Johnson is the lead play-by-play announcer for FOX Sports’ college football and college basketball coverage. Since 2011, Johnson has served as FOX Sports’ lead college football play-by-play voice and has held that role in the network’s college basketball coverage since 2013, the first year FOX Sports carried national college basketball games.
On FOX Sports’ college football coverage, he teams with analyst Joel Klatt and sideline reporter Jenny Taft to call the “Big Noon Saturday Game of the Week.” For basketball coverage, Johnson joins legendary college basketball analyst Bill Raftery and former NBA veteran Jim Jackson for top games on FOX and FS1, including the BIG EAST Tournament from New York’s legendary Madison Square Garden.
Earlier in his career, Johnson called play-by-play for the NBA’s Minnesota Timberwolves (1996–97), Big East Conference Basketball on the Big East Network, college ice hockey and college basketball on ESPN, and Canadian Football League games for ESPN2. He also called NFL games for CBS from 1998 to 2010.
As one of CBS’s top college basketball play-by-play voices from 1996 to 2011, Johnson’s most recognized role was as play-by-play announcer for CBS' NCAA Men’s Basketball March Madness coverage. Clips of his dramatic and exciting calls in the deciding moments of NCAA Tournament games became part of the fabric and promotion of the events - and were the foundation of Johnson’s rise as a YouTube sensation.
While at CBS, he also did play-by-play for NFL games, college football, track and field, boxing and the bobsled and luge events at the 1998 Olympic Winter Games in Nagano, Japan, among numerous other events.
He is a 1990 political science graduate of Howard University where he played baseball for four years.
Born in Detroit, Johnson attended the University of Detroit Jesuit High School and Academy, where he was an all-league quarterback on the football team, an all-league shooting guard on the basketball team and an all-league baseball player as a first baseman and catcher. Elected into the Detroit Jesuit High School Hall of Fame’s inaugural class, was voted into Michigan’s Catholic High School Hall of Fame.
Jake Wade Award
Presented annually to an individual who has made an
outstanding contribution in the media to the field of intercollegiate athletics. Voted on by the Special Awards Committee.
Nominee must be a member of the media.
ACHIEVEMENT AWARD - UNIVERSITY DIVISION
Brian Mason – Wisconsin (Assistant Director of Brand Communications)
Innovative storyteller and promoter for Wisconsin Athletics.
In his 15th overall year at Wisconsin,
Brian Mason has served the football program as communications contact for players and assistant coaches for the last decade. This tenure as a football athletic communications contact includes a run that includes three Big Ten championships, five appearances in the Big Ten Football Championship Game and five New Year's Six bowl games.
As an Assistant Director of Brand Communications for the Badgers, he is the day-to-day contact for football, targeting media relations, stats, records, and press box oversight. Mason's creativity has blossomed in the COVID pandemic year as he found numerous creative ways to focus on the Badger athletes and coaches to increase engagement on the Badgers’ communications platforms.
Mason and the football athletic communications staff received a 2018 Super 11 Award from the Football Writers Association of America for their noted work, dedication and service to the media.
On the forefront of national promotional campaigns, Mason has promoted 20 first-team All-Americans including awards campaigns for two Heisman Trophy finalists. Three Wisconsin players won the Doak Walker Award as the nation’s top running back, and Mason also championed the story of D’Cota Dixon as the winner of the 2018 Jason Witten Collegiate Man of the Year Award.
In addition to working with the football program, Mason served as the secondary contact for the men’s basketball team for the Badgers’ NCAA tournament appearance in 2010 and Sweet 16 season in 2011 and has helped on the coverage of UW’s consecutive runs to the Final Four in 2014 and 2015.
Mason has been a long-time member of the CoSIDA Academic All-America committee. He also is the second Wisconsin staff member to receive the CoSIDA Achievement Award. Diane Nordstrom, associate director in the department, was the inaugural recipient of the university honor in 2015.
Before joining Wisconsin, Mason served for three years in the athletic media relations office at his alma mater, the University of Northern Iowa. He worked primarily with the softball and track and field programs.
CoSIDA Achievement Award
Presented annually to two CoSIDA members – one in the University Division (NCAA DI) and one in the College Division (NCAA DII, DIII, NAIA, Two-year Colleges, Canadian/U Sports) – currently serving in the role of an associate or assistant director in the sports information field who have made outstanding contributions to the field of sports information and provided exceptional service to their institution, conference office or intercollegiate athletics affiliated association. A nominee must have 10-or-more years of experience in the sports information profession and must have not served in the lead role overseeing a sports information office. This award, introduced in 2014-15, is designed for an individual who has not been a recipient of any prestigious CoSIDA major award (Arch Ward, Warren Berg, CoSIDA Hall of Fame) in their careers.
Voted on by the Special Awards Committee.
ACHIEVEMENT AWARD - COLLEGE DIVISION
Dan Surdam – SUNY Cortland (Associate Sports Information Director)
Leader in developing athletic communications professionals and telling the stories of Red Dragon student-athletes.
Dan Surdam has worked at SUNY Cortland for 20 years and is recognized as an important leader in the athletics department. In his athletic communications role, he oversees the training of student workers, a high number of which have gone on to careers in sports information after graduation.
Surdam is Cortland’s primary contact for men’s and women’s soccer, men’s and women’s ice hockey, men’s and women’s lacrosse, field hockey, and wrestling.
Throughout the years, he produces a majority of Cortland’s game programs, recruiting guides and publications, whether they be printed or in digital formats now. He oversees the Red Dragons’ athletic website content and also serves as the Cortland’s announcer for soccer, field hockey, lacrosse, and wrestling.
Surdam was honored by SUNY Cortland with its 2017 Fraser Stokes Award for contributions to Cortland Athletics.
He has spent his college and professional careers in upstate New York, as he is a Dean’s List graduate of Syracuse University where he studied writing for television, radio and film at SU’s prestigious Newhouse School of Communications.
CoSIDA Achievement Award
Presented annually to two CoSIDA members – one in the University Division (NCAA DI) and one in the College Division (NCAA DII, DIII, NAIA, Two-year Colleges, Canadian/U Sports) – currently serving in the role of an associate or assistant director in the sports information field who have made outstanding contributions to the field of sports information and provided exceptional service to their institution, conference office or intercollegiate athletics affiliated association. A nominee must have 10-or-more years of experience in the sports information profession and must have not served in the lead role overseeing a sports information office. This award, introduced in 2014-15, is designed for an individual who has not been a recipient of any prestigious CoSIDA major award (Arch Ward, Warren Berg, CoSIDA Hall of Fame) in their careers.
Voted on by the Special Awards Committee.