College Sports Information Directors of America

Related Content
• 2023 Special Awards Announcements and Features
• #CSCUnite23 Convention Home
• Past Lifetime Achievement Award Recipients

---

David Alexander – former Assistant Athletics Director for Communications at the College of Saint Rose

CSC Lifetime Achievement Award

by Dennis O’Donnell – University of Rochester (retired) // CSC Special Awards Committee member and 2023 CSC Lifetime Achievement Award recipient

When he was at the University of Rhode Island as an undergraduate, David Alexander wasn’t planning on becoming a sportswriter. Granted, he was studying journalism and writing for the school newspaper, but his post-graduate career plans tilted more towards news coverage or politics. That changed after a late-summer conversation in the mid-80s.

“In my junior year, the sports editor decided he didn’t want to cover the football team, so he asked me to do it,” Alexander said.

URI had a strong football reputation and the SID was Jim Norman, one of the long-time and esteemed professionals in the business. Norman accepted the novice sportswriter under his wings and helped David connect with the professional sportswriters who covered the URI team. Walk into the Rhode Island press box on a home Saturday and you could find writers from a wide range of cities, including Boston and Providence, maybe even New York if it was a big enough game.

“The sportswriters were very helpful,” Alexander said. “They taught me the importance of asking questions and treated me as an equal.” He received an education in listening to the answers, analyzing what was said – and not said - in the same conversation.
 

After graduation in 1986, he relocated to Maryland to live with his brother. He planned to pursue his goal of covering politics. The Capitol Newspapers chain in the Washington-Maryland area hired him as a part time sportswriter, which he accepted to get his foot in the door. He eventually secured an internship at the University of Maryland, Baltimore County working for Steve Levy in the sports information office.

“Steve gave me a chance and I learned so much from him,” Alexander recalled. “My time there inspired me to pursue a career in athletics communications. It was a one-person shop in the days of faxing rosters and dictating game stories plus box scores over the phone.”

After a year, he wound up back at URI interning for Norman. In 1992, he accepted a position as sports information director at The College of Saint Rose in Albany, N.Y. It was a 12-sport athletic program and in the early stages of supporting NCAA Division II athletics. There were four full-time employees in the athletic department, with David sitting in one of the chairs.

As the Saint Rose program grew, David grew as well. He was promoted to assistant athletics director and took on administrative duties, including constant meetings with coaches, touching areas like recruiting and scheduling. In his last two years, he had administrative oversight of two programs, helping them to set recruiting targets, fundraising, and doing annual reviews.

The teams were successful. Saint Rose sent four basketball teams to the NCAA Elite Eight. Baseball reached the Division II College World Series in 2000. Eight women’s soccer teams reached the national semifinals, culminating in the 2011 NCAA Division II National Championship. Those were good times – on the playing field and in the office.

With the NCAA successes, Alexander noted that “I had the chance to pitch more stories to the media.”  Administratively, he worked on the NCAA protocols, setting game times and practices, establishing and reviewing the starting lineup formats. Soccer’s success – typically in mid-November – came as basketball and the swimming & diving teams were getting underway.

Alexander worked at Saint Rose for 30 years before changing his path at the end of the fall season in 2022 and retired from college athletics. He shifted to work in the private sector, working as a communications specialist for the New York State Bar Association.

For his long-time commitment to college athletics, Alexander will receive a CSC Lifetime Achievement Award in Orlando, Florida in June.

This is one of a collection of honors for Alexander. Saint Rose presented Alexander with a Service Excellence Award in 2007 and EAST-COMM (formerly known as ECAC-SIDA) bestowed the Irving T. Marsh University Division Service Award in 2019. CSC presented his 25-Year Award in 2017.

Over the years, he had an excellent support staff and a large number of students available to work. It meant that well-trained staff members and students could help run home basketball games and swim meets while he was working with others at the NCAA soccer matches. Post-game interview sessions ran smoothly since student staff could get game two started while he was doing media interviews after the opener.

Groundwork for that student staff was set in his early years. He trained students to cover all aspects of an event – from setup to tear down. As technology grew in leaps and bounds, he arranged live streaming of home events and provided data for announcers – both in the venue as a game operations role and for the broadcasters.

He was active with both CSC and EAST-COMM. He was elected to the EAST-COMM Board of Directors in 2009 and spent a four-year term there, culminating in a year as President in June, 2012. He served as past president in 2013.

Alexander was a member of CSC’s former Workshop (Convention) Committee as well as the organization’s mentoring program. He still stays in touch with some of his mentees.

Saint Rose was always supportive of David’s efforts on behalf of the College.

He cites four Saint Rose administrators who were outstanding leaders in helping him develop his career: Former Athletics Director Cathy Haker; current AD Lori Anctil; long-time head men’s basketball coach Brian Beaury; and his former assistant, Don Bassett.

As he noted, “I am deeply appreciative of his fellow EAST COMM board members for the hands-on education I received, working with Steve (Levy) and Jim (Norman) when I took my first steps as an SID.”

Alexander also said that he has been fortunate to be surrounded by a supportive family.

Now, Alexander’s work with the New York State Bar Association is somewhat similar to his former line of work, although the day-to-day topics are different. The organization has numerous publications to which he contributes and edits, along with a website which covers events. He also does some speech writing.

Alexander admits it is a challenging job, yet one which gives him a steadier schedule. And one big importance in that regard? Time for a new beginning: David will marry his fiancé, Nancy, in August.