Six-Member Hall of Fame Highlights CoSIDA's 2021 Special Award Honorees
Rosa Gatti – ESPN (Senior Vice President, Communications Counsel and Corporate Outreach, Retired)
A decorated pioneer for women in the athletics communications college and corporate profession.
Rosa Gatti began her career as the first female SID at a major university, first at her alma mater Villanova and then later at Brown University. She then became an ESPN and cable television pioneer, leaving the Brown college campus in 1980 to join a fledgling ESPN corporation when she was named the organization's director of communications just nine months after it went on the air.
Gatti spent 33 years at ESPN being named vice-president then senior vice president. As director of communications in 1980 and, one year later, as vice president, she built the communications department, establishing policies and best practices. Over the years, she and her team helped to grow the ESPN brand and its drive for diversity for 33 years. She retired in 2013 as Senior Vice President, Communications Counsel and Corporate Outreach. Currently, Gatti serves as a consultant on several non-profit boards.
Prior to joining ESPN, Gatti served on the CoSIDA Board of Directors while at Brown. She was the first female member of a CoSIDA Board and the first female in the CoSIDA officers rotation during the 1979-80 academic year.
Gatti has been recognized by CoSIDA numerous times with some of its highest honors. She received the 1987 Jake Wade Award (for outstanding contributions to college athletics by a media member); the 2003 Keith Jackson Eternal Flame Award (awarded for lasting contributions to intercollegiate athletics with demonstrated a long and consistent commitment to excellence and loyal support of CoSIDA and its mission); and the 2019 Mary Jo Haverbeck Trailblazer Award.
Additionally, due to Gatti's long-time involvement and commitment with CoSIDA, she encouraged ESPN's corporate partner sponsorship of CoSIDA throughout the years she served at ESPN.
Gatti served on the Villanova University board of trustees for 10 years. As a Connecticut resident, she joined the University of New Haven Board of Governors in 2010 and is a past president of the board of directors of the Association for Cable Communicators. Among the boards of directors she served on were The V Foundation for Cancer Research and the Henry C. Lee Institute of Forensic Science. She has received numerous awards for her public and community relations efforts. Among her numerous honors, Gatti received the 2013 Association For Women In Sports Media (AWSM) Mary Garber Pioneer Award.
The CoSIDA Hall of Fame Class of 2021 was honored virtually during the 2021 Virtual Convention.
Watch the original awards show here.
Updated February 22, 2021