• 2016 CoSIDA Special Awards general announcement/release
• Special Awards feature story schedule
By Dennis O’Donnell, Director of Athletic Communications, University of Rochester/
CoSIDA Special Awards Committee
Every young SID waits for that big chance – the opportunity to run an event start to finish. Do the program, assign the staffing, cover the event, distribute the results, get the word out. Plenty of work. Plenty of experience, too.
In Kevin Southard’s case, that opportunity came along much sooner than he expected. Southard had just completed his MA at Ohio State after earning a BA at Penn State. He went to the CoSIDA Convention in Dallas in 1982 to find employment. He met Paul Newman of Edinboro University. Newman offered a position as a graduate assistant.
One of the student workers was Pat Gillespie who worked at Alfred University and Cornell University. Newman fell ill and was hospitalized. “I took over as the interim for the remainder of the fall semester,” Kevin recalled. He and Gillespie were the office staff.
That semester, they hosted the Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference (PSAC) football playoffs, the PSAC volleyball championships, and an NCAA volleyball regional. He had resources to tap.
“If I had a question about how to handle something, I could pick up a phone and call Rich Herman at Clarion and John Carpenter at Slippery Rock,” Kevin said. “People cared about other people.”
Southard will receive the Lifetime Achievement Award from CoSIDA this June. One of the people joining him in this “Lifetime class” is Herman, a longtime friend and colleague.
In December, 1983 he moved to St. Francis College (eventually St. Francis University) of Loretto, Pennsylvania. That was a tremendous amount of hands-on work: beat writers covering the teams, dictating stories over the telephone to the
Associated Press office in Pittsburgh, providing the box scores for AP, phoning nominations to conference offices for player of the week honors.
One of the basic tools of Southard's operation was a Radio Shack Tandy 102 computer. He could type the story into the machine, then hook it up to a telephone and transmit right to the newsroom. “It had a small screen, so I could only see one paragraph at a time,” Kevin said. If he wanted to check a reference in the story, he had to scroll back up to find it, then scroll back down and resume typing.
He met writers throughout the league and became familiar with their needs and their styles. “Tony Graham of the
Asbury Park (NJ) Press wrote all his stories using just one finger on each hand,” Kevin recalled. “It was amazing to watch him work.”
Deadlines are the bane of any writer and it’s the SID’s job to help whenever possible. St. Francis played in the NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament in Utah against sixth-ranked Arizona. The Red Flash wouldn’t tip off until 8 p.m. Mountain Time, 10 p.m. in western Pennsylvania. Sam Ross was there from the
Johnstown Tribune-Democrat. Ross had a midnight deadline. He asked for more time and the desk gave him until 12:30 a.m. to file.
He and Kevin made a pretty good combination. Ross started writing while Southard chased down quotes. He brought some back, then left to get more. “He wrote a 30-inch story in 30 minutes,” Kevin said. All with some help.
In May, 1999, he left St. Francis and returned home to northeastern Pennsylvania to help his sister care for their aging mother. He worked in the public relations office at the University of Scranton. He walked into SID Ken Buntz’ office to offer help if Buntz wanted it.
“Funny you should offer,” Buntz said. He told Southard he was leaving. Kevin thought he would do the SID’s job for six months and then step aside when UofS found someone. Athletics Director Toby Lovecchio asked Southard to stay.
Kevin enjoyed his time in Division I at St. Francis. “But you left on a road trip on Wednesday,” he explained. “The men’s team played on Thursday and Saturday. You stayed with the women who played Sundays and Tuesdays. Then you came back. You got on a bus at 9:30 p.m., arrived at 2 a.m., and I had to be back in the office by 9 a.m.”
He retired from Scranton in August, 2015. He wanted to keep busy and is a high school basketball official who also does some volleyball matches.
“I’m on the other side of the table now,” Southard says.
And still enjoying himself.