Six-Member Hall of Fame Highlights CoSIDA's 2021 Special Award Honorees
Chris Plonsky – Texas (Executive Senior Associate Athletics Director/Chief of Staff)
Multi-honored women's sports pioneer serving as a leader in numerous collegiate national organizations.
Chris Plonsky has worked in college athletics since 1976 and is in her 32nd year at The University of Texas. She is executive senior associate athletics director/chief of staff and is UT's senior woman administrator for Big 12 Conference and NCAA governance.
In 1979, Plonsky began her career as the women's sports information director at Iowa State before moving into the same role at Texas in 1982.
Plonsky served at the Big East Conference for eight years as the director of communications and associate commissioner before returning to the Longhorns as the senior associate athletic director. During her time at UT, Plonsky also served as the women's athletic director at Texas for 15 years.
In CoSIDA, Plonsky was a member of then-president Roger Valdisseri's task force committee to consider the organization's direction. Plonsky also helped start the CoSIDA Writing Contest. In 2010, Plonsky received the Mary Jo Haverbeck Trailblazer Award, presented annually to an individual who is a pioneer in the field of sports information and who has mentored and helped improve the level of ethnic and gender diversity within CoSIDA.
As a Texas administrator, Plonsky has been a noted presenter during CoSIDA conventions, webinars and podcasts through the years.
Among her other numerous honors, Plonsky was named the Women Leaders in College Sports Administrator of the Year in 2014. She is a USA Basketball board member, a USOC Collegiate Advisory Council member and an emeritus board member of the National Football Foundation/College Football Hall of Fame.
Past President of NACDA, NACMA and Women Leaders in College Sports (formerly NACWAA), she is a past member of the NACDA Board, the LEAD1 board (formerly Division 1AD Association), and has served NCAA committees on Academic Performance, Women's Basketball Competition and NCAA Commercialization activities. She chaired the NCAA Division I Management Council in 2003.
The CoSIDA Hall of Fame Class of 2021 was honored virtually during the 2021 Virtual Convention.
Watch the original awards show here.
Updated June, 2021