Six-member College Sports Communicators Hall of Fame Class of 2025 highlights Special Award honorees
The first full-time Sports Information Director for Southeastern, his alma mater,
Larry Hymel served in that capacity for 28 years. He was named to the position shortly after graduation while he was working as the sports editor for
The Daily Star in the same year. Previously as an undergrad, he worked for the university as a student worker for public information and as a staff member of
The Lion's Roar (student paper).
After retiring as SID in 2005, Hymel was director of Southeastern Louisiana's University Center for 11 years. Upon that retirement in 2016, he began work as the Alumni Athletic Coordinator for the Southeastern Alumni Association and coordinated the university's Hall of Fame Day activities.
In 2017, he established The Endowed Scholarship for Sports Journalism at Southeastern Louisiana.
Among his honors, Hymel was the 2017 Southeastern Louisiana University Lion for Life Lifetime Achievement Award recipient. He was inducted into the Louisiana Sports Writers Association Hall of Fame in 2011 with the organization's Distinguished Service Award for Journalism - the highest accolade bestowed by the LSWA. Also in 1997, Hymel received a CoSIDA (CSC) Lifetime Achievement Award and a CoSIDA 25-Year Service Award.
In 1994, he was inducted into the Southeastern Louisiana Athletics Hall of Fame (Distinguished Service) and the Louisiana Sports Writers Association Max Russo Award, which recognized his valuable and varied contributions to the organization.