College Sports Information Directors of America

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• Past Achievement Award Recipients

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Susan Lax – University of Kentucky, Director of Athletics Communications and Public Relations

CSC Achievement Award
Presented annually to two College Sports Communicators members – one in the University Division (NCAA DI) and one in the College Division (NCAA DII, DIII, NAIA, Two-year Colleges, Canadian institutions) – currently serving in the role of an associate or assistant director in the athletics communications field who have made outstanding contributions to the field of athletics communications and provided exceptional service to their institution, conference office or intercollegiate athletics affiliated association. A nominee must have 10-or-more years of experience in the athletics communications profession and must have not served in the lead role overseeing an athletics communications office. This award is designed for an individual who has not been a recipient of any prestigious CSC major award (Arch Ward, Warren Berg, Hall of Fame) in their careers. Voted on by the Special Awards Committee.


by Tony Neely – University of Kentucky, Assistant AD/Athletics Communications and Public Relations // CSC Professional Development and Continuing Education Committee

J.J. Weaver sat at the table, nervously rubbing his 11 fingers together while he waited for the interview to begin.

No misprint. The University of Kentucky linebacker was born with polydactyly, six fingers on one hand. Not painful physically, but certainly emotionally. He had grown up teased and bullied about the situation, so much so that he became very shy. When he arrived at UK, he wanted absolutely nothing to do with interviews.

That is, until he met Susan Lax, UK’s Director of Athletics Communications and Public Relations, and recipient of the 2023 CSC Achievement Award in the university (Division I) division, which she will receive during CSC UNITE 23 in Orlando in less than two weeks. At the event, Lax also will receive her 25-Year Award from the organization.

While there are multiple ways to describe why Lax is worthy of the Achievement Award -- and there are many -- undoubtedly first on the list is relationships.
 

Known as "Slax" to all who meet her, Susan has an astounding gift for making people feel welcome, comfortable and appreciated. From coaches and administrators, to student-athletes and their parents, to the media who are fortunate to cross her path, Susan becomes the go-to person to get something done, to get that cool story angle, or to simply be a listening ear on a difficult day.
 
Her ability for building relationships that turn into stories is reflected in her effectiveness at promoting UK Athletics and the players. Over the years, Slax has been responsible for launching countless print and video features and providing unique human-interest notes on television broadcasts, because of her close relationships with the media and her remarkable penchant for discovering and developing storytelling ideas and what's special about her student-athletes.

For so many Wildcats, "Slax" is their mom-away-from-home, their friend, their confidante. They become comfortable with telling her what's interesting about themselves, things they've done, what's important to them and who they are, deep down inside.  

"Everyone has a story," Lax says of her approach. "You just have to find it."

And, find it she does.

In Weaver’s case, the story was obvious. The obstacle was getting him to talk about it.

“He wouldn’t let me tell the story,” Lax recalled. “I was like, ‘We have to do the story. You don’t understand. You’re going to help people!’”

Eventually, as Weaver grew trust in Lax, he relented. Enduring an interview became a comfort level that turned into other interviews. His inspiring story landed in multiple outlets, all the way to ESPN College GameDay. Sharing his emotional pain became others’ gain.

Among those were a teacher who emailed Lax and said she also had six fingers on one hand, as did two children in her class.

“I started crying and said, ‘JJ, do you even understand what you’re doing?’ And then he started crying,” Lax recalled when relating it to the player.

Now? Weaver has his own clothing line and the former introvert has held football camps for children, teaching them the lessons he has learned.

That’s just one of many examples of Lax’s ability to discover what makes student-athletes tick, or help them put their best foot forward when talking about themselves and their teams. 

In addition to her remarkable storytelling, it's important to know that Lax also is accomplished with the nuts-and-bolts of our profession. She cranks out social posts, news releases, game notes, awards nominations and media guides with the best of us. Her success, of course, didn’t happen overnight.

Lax’s collegiate path began as a tennis player at NAIA’s Freed-Hardeman University in Tennessee, and she broke into the communications profession as an assistant sports information director at Murray State. She arrived at Kentucky in the fall of 1997, as primary contact for women’s basketball and assistant contact for football, just in time to land in the middle of a media circus – working with quarterback Tim Couch, eventual Heisman Trophy finalist and the No. 1 overall NFL draft pick. 

In 2015, Lax gave up women’s basketball to become the primary football contact. She has publicized the Wildcats through seven straight bowl games. Numerous Wildcats have been named All-America and all-conference while winning honors such as the Bronko Nagurski Award, Chuck Bednarik Award, Paul Hornung Award, Ronnie Lott Trophy, Ray Guy Award, Danny Wuerffel Trophy, Pop Warner Award, Mayo Clinic Comeback Player of the Year, CSC Academic All-America and National Good Works Team, among others.

Lax’s efforts have been noted and recognized by the Football Writers Association of America, which twice has given UK the “Super 11” Award for being one of the top media relations operations in the country. 

Oh, and along the way, Lax has invested major amounts of her personal time working with the Oats Strong Foundation, named for former UK player Chris Oats, who sustained a major stroke. 

Kentucky head coach Mark Stoops is certainly appreciative of what Lax does for his program and his players.

“I have a lot of respect for Susan and the job she does because first of all, she’s a tireless worker,” Stoops said. “It’s one of those jobs where at times it just doesn’t stop. I can relate to that. You just don’t know when things are going to come at you. She really works extremely hard, whether she’s on vacation or working in the office or at home, the job never leaves her, so she has to have the work ethic that she definitely has.”

(Thanks to Tyler Thompson of Kentucky Sports Radio for her contributions to this feature.)