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• 2022 Special Awards Announcements
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CoSIDA Special Awards Program
• #CoSIDA22 Convention Homepage
• Past Recipients: Mary Jo Haverbeck Trailblazer | Lester Jordan | Bud Nangle | Achievement
Six more award recipients were recognized today with 2022 CoSIDA Special Awards: April Emory will receive the Mary Jo Haverbeck Trailblazer Award; Blake Timm (GNAC) is the Bob Kenworthy Community Service Award winner, while current CoSIDA President Cindy Potter (Columbia College) received the Nangle Award. Doug Tammaro (Arizona State) and Jason Bryden (Washington College) are the Achievement Award recipients, and Kevin Lanke (Rose-Hulman) was selected for the Lester Jordan Award.
The College Sports Information Directors of America (CoSIDA) continues its week-long announcement of the 2022 Special Awards on Thursday by recognizing six more outstanding members for distinguished contributions to the profession.
April Emory, who previously worked at St. Paul's College, Elizabeth City State University and Albany State University, 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 and inclusion within CoSIDA.
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
Blake Timm, the Assistant Commissioner for Communications at the Great Northwest Athletic Conference.
Doug Tammaro, Arizona State University Assistant Athletic Director for Media Relations, and
Jason Bryden, Washington (Md.) College Coordinator of Athletics Statistics and Media Services, are winners of the
CoSIDA Achievement Awards for the University and College Divisions, respectively. The award goes to individuals with 10-or-more years of experience in athletic communications for outstanding service, and who are associate or assistant directors and have not served in the lead role overseeing a sports communications office.
Current CoSIDA President
Cindy Potter of Columbia College (Mo.) will receive the
Bud Nangle Award, which is presented to a CoSIDA member or an individual outside of CoSIDA who embodies the ideals of intercollegiate athletics by showing ethics, integrity, compassion and/or bravery in a singular act or under an unusual or stressful personal or professional situation. The award is presented only when worthy candidates are nominated. Potter will be just the fifth recipient of the Nangle Award since it was created in 2011.
Kevin Lanke, Assistant Athletic Director for Sports Information and Communications at Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology, is the recipient of the 2022
Lester Jordan Award. This is presented to an individual for exemplary service to the CoSIDA Academic All-America® Program and to the promotion of the ideals of being a student-athlete.
CoSIDA's 65th annual convention this June will be held at the Mandalay Bay in Las Vegas, Nev. from June 26-2 and all Special Awards honorees will be recognized during that time.
March through May, feature stories on all Special Awards recipients will be posted on CoSIDA.com and on CoSIDA social channels.
A closer look at the individuals honored today:
CoSIDA ACHIEVEMENT AWARD - College Division
Jason Bryden – Washington College (Md.) (Coordinator of Athletics Statistics and Media Services)
Jason Bryden has worked at Washington College since July 2006, originally as assistant sports information director, and has been coordinator of athletics statistics and media services since 2013. Bryden serves as the lead statistician for all of Washington College's 18 varsity sports, the chief historian of the department, and as the primary liaison between members of the media and the College's coaches and student-athletes.
From April 2020-February 2021, in addition to his role in athletics, Bryden assisted Washington College's Office of Enrollment Management & Marketing Office In his role with the office, he helped transfer information, bios and photos as the College transitioned its website platform to OU Campus. Following the transition, he created new pages, updated and edited webpages and presented how to create on OU Campus during a webinar.
Bryden is an active member of the Eastern Athletic Communication Association (EAST-COMM), formerly ECAC-SIDA, where through the years he has been on the local organizing committee, and newsletter, website and committees and served as a workshop presenter and moderator.
During his career, he has volunteered at NCAA, youth lacrosse and field hockey championships and previously was official scorer at Chesapeake Bayhawks home games for Major League Lacrosse from 2013-18.
Before his arrival at Washington College, Bryden held SID positions at the University at Albany and Southern Connecticut State University. He got his start in sports information as a student assistant at SUNY New Paltz, where he won the 2001 Athletic Director's Award, given for dedicated service to the department.
After earning a B.A. in public relations from New Paltz in 2001, Bryden spent two years working in finance administration for NBT Bancorp in Norwich, NY before entering the SID field.
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.
CoSIDA ACHIEVEMENT AWARD - University Division
Doug Tammaro – Arizona State University (Assistant Athletic Director)
Doug Tammaro has served on the Arizona State Athletics Media Relations staff since 1993 and is currently Assistant Athletic Director for Media Relations.
He began his career in college athletics as a sports information assistant at the University of Cincinnati in 1991, then served in the same role at the University of Notre Dame from 1992-93.
Second in ASU's athletic communications team to 2022 CoSIDA Hall of Famer Mark Brand, Tammaro has given back to the profession in multiple ways, including mentoring hundreds of current and former student interns, many of whom are working in the athletic communications field.
He worked on the NCAA Men's Basketball Final Four committee from 2005 through 2017 and was a Final Four host in Phoenix in 2017.
Tammaro has also been recognized multiple times as ASU Employee Of The Month.
He is the Arizona State contact for the Pat Tillman Foundation, he has helped promote an annual fundraising event, the Pat's Run, which has grown to nearly 30,000 participants. He also helped facilitate Tillman jersey sales and help publicize Tillman Scholars since 2006. Tillman was a former ASU football standout and NFL player, and a CoSIDA Academic All-America and CoSIDA Academic All-America Hall of Fame inductee. In the aftermath of the attacks on September 11, 2001, Tillman put his NFL career on hold to serve in the U.S. Army and was killed in Afghanistan in 2004.
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.
MARY JO HAVERBECK TRAILBLAZER AWARD
April Emory – Previously at St. Paul's College, Elizabeth City State University and Albany State University
Currently freelance communications and event planning professional
April Emory became the first African-American woman to serve on the CoSIDA Board of Directors when she was selected to fill the final two years of an open Board term in 2005, while working at Elizabeth City State University.
Following that two-year period, she was then elected to serve an additional three-year term on the Board, carrying through 2010, which gave her five years serving in a national leadership role with CoSIDA.
Emory's service on the Board opened doors for other women of color, who earned leadership positions within the organization in the years since. That list includes current Board member Jessica Poole, who will become CoSIDA's first African-American female president later in 2022.
Emory has also been a mentor to numerous sports information professionals across the country.
Emory worked in athletic communications at three institutions: her alma mater, Saint Paul's College (1999-2001), Elizabeth City State University (2001-17) and Albany State University (2017-18) where she served as assistant athletic director for communications and marketing. She currently resides in North Carolina where she is a freelance communications professional and event planner.
She was honored by CoSIDA as a winner of a Rising Star Award in 2009, after previously being selected as the Central Intercollegiate Athletic Conference's (CIAA) John Holley Sports Information Director of the Year in 2007. Emory served on the CoSIDA Scholarship Committee and Special Awards Committee and was also secretary of the Black College Sports Information Directors Association (BCSIDA).
Emory is a 1999 graduate of Saint Paul's College with a bachelor's degree in English (mass communications).
Mary Jo Haverbeck Trailblazer Award
Presented annually to an individual who is a
pioneer in the field of athletic communications who has mentored and helped improve the level of diversity within CoSIDA.
Voted on by the Special Awards Committee.
LESTER JORDAN AWARD
Kevin Lanke – Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology (Assistant Athletic Director for Sports Information and Communications)
Kevin Lanke is in his 24th year as the primary sports information contact at his alma mater, Rose-Hulman, and currently serves as Chair of the CoSIDA Academic All-America® Core Committee with long-time service to the committee.
In this important year-round role as chair of the committee which coordinates CoSIDA's signature program, Lanke supervises a committee of 150 CoSIDA members from NCAA Division I, II, III, NAIA and the College Division as they coordinate the Academic All-America® program's publicity, operations and new media efforts.
He was promoted to assistant athletic director for sports information and communications in 2009 and oversees communications efforts for 20 athletic teams. Lanke has served as the primary media contact for Rose-Hulman's hosting of numerous NCAA Division III national championships in women's basketball, indoor track and field, cross country and NCAA regionals in baseball and cross country.
On campus, Lanke served as chair for a Rose-Hulman campus committee that helped create the college's Diversity Center in 2010-11. He has twice received the Institute's Excellence in Service Award for work on campus projects and z earned the President's Outstanding Service Award at Rose-Hulman's 2006 Commencement ceremony.
Lanke has received 28 national publication awards from the College Sports Information Directors of America (CoSIDA) since 2002. His honors include eight "Best in the Nation" honors along with six "Best Cover" awards.
He earned a bachelor's degree in economics from Rose-Hulman in 1997 and completed a master's degree in recreation and sport management from Indiana State University in 2010 where he was named the department's top graduate for the 2010-11 academic year.
Lester Jordan Award
Presented to an individual for
exemplary service to the Academic All-America® Program and the promotion of the ideals of being a student-athlete. Nominations solicited by, and voted on, by the Academic All-America® Core Committee.
BOB KENWORTHY COMMUNITY SERVICE AWARD
Blake Timm – Great Northwest Athletic Conference (Assistant Commissioner for Communications)
Having previously received the Warren Berg Award in 2017 for outstanding contributions to the profession and being inducted into the CoSIDA Hall of Fame in 2020, this is the third major award that
Blake Timm has received from CoSIDA.
Timm has served as the Great Northwest Athletic Conference's assistant commissioner for communications since July 2015 after spending 16 years as sports information director at Pacific University in Forest Grove, Ore.
His long list of community service involvement covers a broad range from civic clubs and churches, to Habitat for Humanity, the Oregon Road Runners Club, CoSIDA and beyond. He has volunteered for over 200 hours each of the last four years, according to volunteer and charitable work totals tracked through the CoSIDA Volunteer 15 program.
A member of the Rotary Club of Forest Grove, Ore. since 2010, Timm served as club Membership Chair (2012-16), was on the board and foundation Board of Directors (2013-19) and was Club President (2018-19). Timm is currently the club's social media specialist, webmaster and newsletter editor and has been an active member in many of the club's service projects.
Timm serves as moderator at the Forest Grove United Church of Christ, a role where he is the top lay leader in the church. He runs executive board meetings and serving as a liaison between the senior minister, church staff and the congregation. He previously served on the church's Worship Commission.
For 10 of the last 12 years, Timm has served as the master of ceremonies and live auctioneer for the church's Caring for our Community auction which has raised nearly $100,000 all-time for the church and a number of local non-profit organizations in Washington County. In 2020, he coordinated, produced and hosted a live webcast of the auction to raise funds during the COVID-19 pandemic.
He also volunteered as the master of ceremonies for the West Tuality Habitat for Humanity's online "Hearts For Habitat" gala in May 2021 which raised over $50,000 for the organization.
With the Oregon Road Runners Club, he regularly serves as a volunteer at local running events, mainly as pre-race and awards announcer.
Within CoSIDA, Timm is Vice Chair of the Special Awards Committee and is in his seventh year on the committee. He previously served two terms on the CoSIDA Board of Directors (2004-10), first as a College Division Representative, (2004-07) and then as an At-Large Representative (2007-10). During that time, he proposed and developed the "Rising Star" award concept, and that honor has been part of CoSIDA's Special Awards program since 2006.
He is also secretary of the Division II Sports Information Directors Association and is a Regional Coordinator for the D2CCA Volleyball All-America Program (2015-present).
Among highlights of other CoSIDA service, Timm served on the CoSIDA College Division Management Advisory Council (2008 to 2014), was Membership Services Committee chair (2009 to 2013), a district coordinator on the Academic All-America Committee (2003-09) and a member of the CoSIDA Executive Director Search Committee in 2007-08.
Since 2003, Timm has volunteered in various media operations roles with national pro and amateur sports, with most recent work at the MLS Cup (2021), Prefontaine Classic (2021) and IAAF World Indoor Track and Field Championships (2016). He has also worked at numerous NCAA Championship events in cross country, men's basketball, women's basketball, softball and track and field.
Timm earned a 2018 Excellence in Communications award from the U.S. Track and Field & Cross Country Coaches Association (USTFCCCA). At Pacific, Timm received the Jack Sareault Award as the Northwest Conference's Sports Information Director of the Year in 2007 and 2011.
Bob Kenworthy Community Service Award
Presented annually to a CoSIDA member for
civic involvement, community service and accomplishments within and/or outside of the sports information profession.
Voted on by the Special Awards Committee.
BUD NANGLE AWARD
Cindy Potter – Columbia College (Mo.) (Senior Deputy Director of Athletics)
The Bud Nangle Award will be the third major CoSIDA award for current CoSIDA President
Cindy Potter, who was named a CoSIDA Rising Star in 2008 and then received the 2020 Warren Berg Award, which is presented to a college division member who has made outstanding contributions to the field of athletic communications.
Potter is just the fifth recipient of the Nangle Award, which is presented to a CoSIDA member or an individual outside of CoSIDA who embodies the ideals of intercollegiate athletics by showing ethics, integrity, compassion and/or bravery in a singular act or under an unusual or stressful personal or professional situation.
When Columbia volleyball student-athlete Shelby Meyer tragically lost her life on September 21, 2019, Potter was a professional in the face of the tragedy and provided the media with the information they needed, while comforting the Columbia campus and honoring Shelby's memory. Throughout the remainder of the season, she monitored social media and helped shape the narrative of this tragedy.
During this period, Potter also served as interim athletic director at Columbia, which is her alma mater, in 2019 and handled the day-to-day activities of the athletic director's office, while continuing to serve in her role as Director of Media Relations and Compliance – and also serving in the CoSIDA officer rotation.
Prior to the COVID-19 pandemic hitting, a difficult family issue arose for the Potter family in February 2020. Potter has been very public about her six-year-old daughter Caitlynn Jae (CJ) being diagnosed with Type 1 Diabetes and the effect that it has had on the family and Potter's professional and personal life. She chronicled this in her
January 2022 CoSIDA 360 President's message.
Potter is in her 19th year at Columbia College and was recently promoted to Senior Deputy Director of Athletics, overseeing the day-to-day operations. Formerly the Associate Director of Athletics and Director of Media Relations and Compliance, Potter is one of the most decorated athletic communications professional in NAIA history.
When appointed to the CoSIDA board of directors in 2011, she became the first NAIA member to serve in that capacity. Fast forward to 2018 when Potter was selected to the organization's officer rotation, making her not only the first-ever NAIA member to serve as CoSIDA President, but the first-ever female not from an NCAA Division I institution to take the role. She took the gavel as president in the summer of 2021.
In 2008 Potter received the CoSIDA College Division Rising Star Award and was the 2020 recipient of the CoSIDA Warren Burg Award.
Also in 2020, she was named the Co-Sports Information Director of the Year for the American Midwest Conference and was the NAIA's Clarence 'Ike' Pearson Award winner. The Award is the association's highest honor for sports information directors and recognizes its honoree for accomplishments and service performed over their career.
Potter is a past president of NAIA-SIDA after serving a three-year role as president.
She was a graduate assistant in the Cougar athletic department. In January 2005, while completing her undergraduate degree, she had a demanding but rewarding three months when she filled in as the acting Sports Information Director.
Potter played with the Cougar softball team for two years where she was a captain and awarded NAIA Scholar Athlete, All-Conference, All-Region and National Tournament All-Tournament Team. In the fall of 2012 she was inducted into the Columbia College Athletic Hall of Fame for her softball contributions.
During her work as a Columbia sports information graduate assistant, Cindy received her Master of Arts in teaching. Previous to this she was Assistant Coach for the Cougar softball team and received her Bachelor of Arts in Interdisciplinary Studies with a major in education and a minor in psychology.
Bud Nangle Award
Presented to a CoSIDA member or an individual outside of CoSIDA who embodies the ideals of intercollegiate athletics by showing ethics, integrity, compassion and/or bravery in a singular act or under an unusual or stressful personal or professional situation.
Note: Voted on by the Special Awards Committee only when worthy candidates are nominated.
Honoree information complied by CoSIDA Special Awards Committee Chairman Jeff Hodges (University of North Alabama) and Barb Kowal, CoSIDA Director of Professional Development and External Affairs.