College Sports Information Directors of America

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B.L. Elfring – University of Southern Maine, Assistant Director of Athletics for Compliance & Athletic Media Relations (Retiring)

CoSIDA Lifetime Achievement Award

by Jim Seavey – UMass Dartmouth, Director of Athletic Communications(retired)

College sports information has been a Maine focal point of B.L. Elfring’s life for over four decades.
 
Literally.
 
The decorated athletic communications professional has seen it all during a career that began as a student in Northern Maine, took him to the Merrimack Valley region of Massachusetts and is now wrapping up back where it started in the state that proudly proclaims itself as “the way life should be.”
 
Elfring is set to retire from his position as the Assistant Director of Athletics for Communications and Compliance at the University of Southern Maine where he has spent the last 26 years. He is now being honored with a CoSIDA Lifetime Achievement Award for his award-winning career.
 
Opportunity knocked for Elfring while he was working at the University of Maine’s student radio station in 1977. B.L. was covering the fledgling Black Bears’ men’s ice hockey program when he was offered a work study job by then-UMaine SID and longtime mentor Bob Creteau, whom Elfring credits for building his career foundation.
 
“I was so lucky to come under Bob’s guidance and mentorship,” Elfring said. “He gave me the skill set to carve out a career in this profession, and everything I’ve achieved is a tribute to his patience and friendship.”
 
Three years later, Elfring made the four-hour trek from Orono to Lowell, Massachusetts to become the first full-time sports information director at the University of Lowell. He quickly gained a well-earned reputation as one of the best in the business. The challenges presented by a school that sponsored some of the nation’s best teams were something B.L. relished, yet the memories and friendships he made along the way are what stand out the most.
 
 
“Where to begin? Stepping into a national ice hockey championship my first year to two more titles and many more individual champions and All-Americans,” he said. “I was certainly lucky to be in the right place at the right time with so many great people.”
 
In 1995, opportunity came calling once again for Elfring. The chance to return to his home state was presented when Southern Maine was looking to fill a full-time athletic communications position; the Huskies’ affable athletics director knew he had the right person for the job.
 
“B.L. is extraordinary—the consummate professional,” said Al Bean, who previously served in the position in the 1980’s. “His mind is always churning, looking for solutions, new directions and the right pathway to make us better. He has the respect of his peers, our entire staff and our student-athletes.”
 
So B.L., his wife Maureen and their son Michael packed up and headed back north where the Elfrings settled in Buxton, raised a family and honed a legacy. For the last quarter-plus century, Southern Maine has reaped the benefits of his hard work, knowledge, relationships and commitment. Individual accolades and national championships have followed, and the visibility a small school located not too far from the Atlantic Ocean has stretched from coast to coast.
 
“I’ve learned a great deal from him,” Bean said. “There are few people who can match his work ethic. B.L. has left an amazing mark on the profession and the University, and his legacy will be felt for many years to come.”
 
Though he is more comfortable with nominating for awards, Elfring has been bestowed with well-earned honors of his own.
 
He received ECAC-SIDA’s highest accolade, the Irving T. Marsh Service Bureau Award, at the organization’s 2002 workshop fittingly held in Lowell. Three years ago B.L. took his rightful place among the all-time greats with induction into the CoSIDA Hall of Fame. In 2013, Elfring was also recognized as one of the nation’s best compliance officers by NADIIIAA with the Transitional Athletic Administrator Award.
 
He has been a trusted friend, colleague and mentor to many in the business, including former CoSIDA President Eric McDowell, who credits Elfring with being a driving influence in his career.
 
“B.L. quietly and assuredly does his job and does it well, but his actions and words speak loudly to those of us who have learned from him,” McDowell said. “He always puts others first. So many of us in the profession owe B.L. a debt of gratitude as a mentor who put us on a successful path.”
 
As for what the future holds, Elfring is ready for the simple serenity that Maine prides itself on.
 
“I see a lot more golf in my future, and we’ll just see what else tomorrow brings.”
 
B.L. Elfring’s impact on our profession will last long after his final walk out of the office later this summer. In a career filled with service to others, he will soon reap the richly deserved reward for a job well done.
 
The way life should be.