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Mark Fleming – Moravian University, Director of Athletic Communications
CSC 25-Year Award
by Larry Happel – Central College, Athletics Communications Director // CSC Special Awards Committee member
Back when Google didn’t have an answer, Division III athletics communications professionals could turn to Mark Fleming.
Now in his 26th year as director of athletic communications at Moravian University (Pa.), the CSC 25-Year Award honoree’s name surfaced on a national level early in his tenure as a one-man Division III communications channel.
As the 21st century dawned, the NCAA and even what was then-CoSIDA did not yet have comprehensive SID contact lists. Former Westchester University (Pa.) SID Tom DiCamillo assembled such a list for Division II. Intrigued, Fleming discussed it with DiCamillo and other SIDs at the 2000 CoSIDA convention in St. Louis. Fleming returned home and unleashed a small cadre of student workers who tracked down contact info for every Division III SID as well as each school’s football press box phone number, a valuable resource in the days before cell phones became ubiquitous.
The Mark Fleming family: Sons Justin and Ryan with Sandy & Mark in York, Maine for Mark’s younger sister’s wedding at the famed Nubble Lighthouse.
Quickly, Division III SIDs learned the value of connecting with each other. Have a starting basketball lineup with triplets, or a third baseman who hit two grand slams and wonder if it’s happened in Division III before? Ask Fleming to send out a mass email for a quick answer. Soon, coaches associations and CoSIDA and NCAA officials were asking Fleming to share information with his D3 colleagues.
Fleming’s email service is largely a memory, much like the pencils and scorebooks which comprised the extent of his game-day equipment long ago.
“When I started, you could do a scorebook by hand for baseball or softball or even soccer,” stated Fleming, who is in the CSC Hall of Fame. “You just pick up the phone afterwards, call the newspaper and here’s the final score and who had the goals. You didn’t have to worry about writing a story, updating a website and updating your statistics. You could wait until the next morning. Now you need 10 people because you need to do live stats, you’ve got a video stream with announcers, we’ve got a photographer at every event for photo galleries, and we’re doing postgame interviews and highlight videos.”
But Fleming embraces the changes as he adapts and seeks fresh ways to promote the Greyhounds.
“We definitely need to evolve and keep up,” he said. “Coaches need us for recruiting. You’ve got to make sure you’ve got high quality graphics and video.”
Fleming’s athletics communications career actually spans more than 30 years, interning with Edinboro University’s Todd Jay for an hour a day as a high school senior in 1990. When Fleming enrolled there the following year, Jay quickly made him a sport contact. Later, he landed a graduate assistant position for the late Pete Nevins, a CSC Hall of Famer.
“I have always said I probably learned more in that 10-11 months sitting next to Pete Nevins than I have at any time in my life,” Fleming said. “I was just a sponge that year.”
To complete his master’s degree he needed an internship so served as assistant SID for another CSC Hall of Famer, Dick Lipe, at Bentley College (Mass.), before getting his current post at Moravian.
Lipe, a long-time fixture with the CSC Academic All-America® program, needed a women’s soccer academic district coordinator and turned to Fleming.
“If I had known I would have to type 117 or whatever nominations, I might not have said yes,” he said with a laugh.
But he flourished in the role, receiving the Lester Jordan Award for his service in 2013, and in 2022, Fleming completed a four-year term as chair of the Academic All-America® Hall of Fame Committee. He served on the CSC board of directors from 2011-14, chaired the College Division Management Advisory Committee from 2014-17 and served as communications director for the Division III Sports Information Directors board since the organization launched in 2009.
Fleming’s 25-Year Award will join a crowded office display. He followed mentors Nevins and Lipe into the CSC Hall of Fame in 2021 and in 2022, received the organization’s President’s Award.
With more than 30 years in the rear-view mirror, Fleming is still looking forward to the next game.
“Honestly, as long and hard as the hours are at times, I don’t feel like I work,” Fleming said. “I enjoy what I’m doing. There’s not any real feeling of ‘I have to go to work today,’ or ‘I have these events today.’ We may occasionally get that when you’ve got like seven straight home games and you get close to the end, but I’ve never been one of those that thinks, ‘Oh, I hate this.’ I like being around the student-athletes, we’ve always had a great coaching staff and I enjoy being around the coaches and administrators.”
Those relationships with student-athletes are what he treasures more than his modest paycheck.
“It’s the student-athletes, getting to promote them and hearing from their families that they’re happy with what we’re doing,” he said.
Gallery: (5-11-2023) Mark Fleming, 25-Year Award