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Arch Ward Award
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2025 Special Awards Announcements Schedule
Please note: Following this week's announcements of all awards, CSC will highlight recipients throughout the spring with special individualized content and social media recognitions and honor them in person during the June CSC UNITE25 convention in Orlando (June 8-11).
On the second day of 2025 Special Awards announcements, CSC recognizes two outstanding athletic communicators with the Arch Ward and Warren Berg Awards, and spotlights its four Rising Star Award honorees.
By Blake Timm, Pacific University Associate Director of Communications/Vice Chair, CSC Special Awards Committee
College Sports Communicators honors excellence in both its longtime members and some of its newest professionals with the announcement of 2025 winners of its Arch Award, Warren Berg and Rising Star awards.
Tony Neely, the associate athletic director for athletic communications and public relations at the University of Kentucky, adds a second 2025 Special Award to his résumé, as he will receive the 2025 Arch Ward Award
. Mark Fleming, the director of athletic communications at Moravian University and a 2021 CSC Hall of Fame inductee, will receive the 2025 Warren Berg Award.
This is the second 2025 Special Awards honor for Neely, who also was
selected to the 2025 CSC Hall of Fame as announced January 6.
The Arch Ward and Warren Berg awards are presented annually to CSC members who have made outstanding contributions to the field of athletic communications and, who by his or her activities, has brought dignity and prestige to the profession. The Warren Berg Award is exclusively a College Division honor for members at NCAA Division II & III, NAIA, two-year and Canadian institutions.
Four young professionals are being recognized as the 2025 CSC Rising Stars.
Dani Gariglio, the director of creative services at Davidson College, and
Keonte' Herrera, assistant communications director at Louisiana State University are the University Division winners of the Rising Star Award. Two NAIA standouts will receive the College Division Rising Star Award:
Alisha Alexander, assistant athletic director – sports information and senior woman leader at Lewis-Clark State College, and
Katie Green, senior manager of athletic communications and media at the NAIA national office.
First awarded in 2006, the Rising Star Award honors CSC members with 10 years of service or less whose work, service, dedication, energy and enthusiasm make that professional a "rising star" in athletic communications.
All CSC Special Awards honorees will be recognized during CSC's annual convention, CSC Unite 2025, which takes place June 8-11 at the Orlando World Center Marriott in Orlando, Florida. The convention is held in conjunction with NACDA and Affiliations Convention Week.
A closer look at these six awards winners:
ARCH WARD AWARD
Tony Neely – University of Kentucky
Assistant Athletic Director for Athletics Communications and Public Relations
Tony Neely will receive two 2025 Special Awards honors during the CSC Unite 25 convention, as he also will be one of six athletic professionals, current or retired, to be enshrined in the CSC Hall of Fame.
Neely has devoted 42 years to the sports communications profession, with 31 of those years spent in distinguished service at the University of Kentucky where he serves as Assistant AD for Communications and Public Relations.
UK's communications/public relations staff have been named one of the best in the country by the Football Writers Association of America (FWAA) three times under Neely's direction with a Super 11 honor. The Super 11 annual recognitions are designed to identify and reward the sports communications departments and programs that exemplified excellent media relations.
Neely currently serves on the CSC Professional Development and Continuing Education Committee where he has been one of CSC's key contributors and lead moderators for convention sessions and webinars over the last decade. Throughout his years of membership in the organization, he also served on the Scholarship and Grants Committee and the former CSC committees for NCAA Legislative Liaison and Publications Award Publicity.
Neely earned his 25-year Award at the 2018 CSC Convention and has won numerous publications and writing awards in the CSC Fred S. Stabley Sr. Writing Contest during his tenure. He also co-wrote the official University of Kentucky book commemorating the UK 1998 NCAA Men's Basketball Tournament championship.
Neely began his sports communications career as an undergraduate at Vanderbilt University in 1978, and spent 16 years in communications at his alma mater through 1994. He was hired full time as an assistant sports information director before finishing his final semester as a student, was promoted to associate SID in 1990, and then was named sports information director two years later. In 1994, he accepted the SID position at Kentucky.
Arch Ward Award
Voted upon by the Special Awards Committee, the Arch Ward Award is presented annually to a CSC member who has made outstanding contributions to the field of college athletics communications and, who by his or her activities, has brought dignity and prestige to the profession.
WARREN BERG AWARD
Mark Fleming – Moravian University
Director of Athletic Communications
A 2021 CSC Hall of Fame inductee,
Mark Fleming adds the Warren Berg Award to an already impressive résumé of honors in his three-decade career at Moravian University.
In his 28th year leading communications efforts for Moravian's 23 NCAA Division III programs, Fleming also oversees the department's coordination of game contracts, works as a member of the university's Game Scheduling Committee and serves as the site supervisor for the Greyhounds' swimming programs.
The Warren Berg Award is the fourth major CSC award that Fleming has received, ranking him among an elite list of professionals who have received four or more awards from the organization. In addition to his induction into the CSC Hall of Fame, Fleming received the 25-Year Award in 2023 and was honored with the President's Award in 2022.
In June 2013, he was the recipient of the Lester Jordan Award, honoring individuals who have provided exemplary service to the Academic All-America Program. Fleming served the Academic All-America Core Program Committee in a variety of roles from 1996 to 2015, when he became the first vice-chair of the Academic All-America Hall of Fame Committee. Fleming served as the committee's chair from 2018 to 2022 and continues to actively serve as a committee member.
In addition to dedication to the Academic All-America program, Fleming has served in several CSC leadership roles. A longtime member of CSC's former College Division Management Advisory Council, chairing the group from 2014 to 2017, he also was a College Division Representative on the CSC Board of Directors from 2011 to 2014. Fleming has served as the communications director for the Division III Sports Information Directors Association since its inception in 2009.
Prior to his arrival at Moravian, Fleming spent one year (1996-1997) in a dual role as the assistant sports information director at Bentley (Mass.) College and the Northeast-10 Conference. He began his career as a student, serving one year (1995-1996) as a at East Stroudsburg University graduate assistant and four years (1990-1994) at a student assistant at Edinboro University where he graduated from in 1994 before getting his master's at East Stroudsberg.
Warren Berg Award
Voted upon by the Special Awards Committee, the Warren Berg Award is presented annually to a CSC College Division member (NCAA Divisions II & III, NAIA, two-year colleges and Canadian institutions) who has made outstanding contributions to the field of college athletics communications and, who by his or her activities, has brought dignity and prestige to the profession.
Rising Star Award
Voted upon by the Special Awards Committee, the Rising Star Award is presented annually to CSC members in both the University Division (NCAA Division I) and College Division (NCAA Divisions II and III, NAIA, two-year colleges and Canadian institutions) with 10 years of service or less at their institution, conference office or intercollegiate athletics-affiliated association and whose service, dedication, energy and enthusiasm to the profession make them a "rising star" in athletic communications.
RISING STAR AWARD, UNIVERSITY DIVISION
Dani Gariglio – Davidson College
Director of Creative Services
In her eighth year in the profession,
Dani Gariglio has quickly established herself as one of CSC's top advocates for the next generation of college athletic communications professionals.
Now in her fifth year at Davidson. Gariglio was recently promoted to director of creative services after spending two years (2022-24) as the college's associate director of athletic communications. That promotion came after just two years as an assistant director of athletic communications.
Gariglio served as the creative lead for the Wildcats while also handling athletic communications duties for three sports. She is the primary social media manager for the athletics department after realizing a 200% growth in the women's basketball account in her first two years at the institution.
An active member of the CSC Young Professionals Committee, Gariglio chaired the committee from 2022 to 2024 and, along with committee member Cole Helman, worked to make CSC's 30 Under 30 program a reality. She was honored as part of CSC's inaugural 30 Under 30 class in 2022.
Gariglio has served as the new media director for the Academic All-America Core Committee since 2021, which includes coordinating video interviews of the program's divisional team members of the year. She is also an active participant in CSC's Mentorship Program, both as a mentee and a mentor.
Prior to her tenure at Davidson, Gariglio spent from 2018-20 as an athletic communications graduate assistant at Concordia-Chicago. She began her career as a sports information assistant at Union College (N.Y.).
Gariglio received her bachelor's degree in journalism from the University of Rhode Island in 2017, where she was a four-year starter and two-year captain for the Rams' softball program. She earned her master of business administration from Concordia-Chicago in 2020.
RISING STAR AWARD, UNIVERSITY DIVISION
Keonte' Herrera – Louisiana State University
Assistant Communications Director
In his ninth year in the profession, and his third as an assistant communications director at Louisiana State University,
Keonte' Herrera is an active leader in a number of CSC's most active committees.
Herrera is currently vice-chair of CSC's Career Services Committee, charged with helping professionals find their first, or next, job and providing professional development to help CSC members advance. He is part of the team creating and producing the committee's regular social media content, including the CSC "Monthly Install." He also serves as a member of the CSC U Committee, which develops programming to educate new members of the profession and college students considering careers in athletic communications.
Herrera also has a leadership role within the Black College Sports Information Directors of America (BCSIDA). He is also a member of the Minority Opportunities Athletic Association (MOAA) and serves on the organization's Awards Committee.
Since joining CSC as a student in 2015, Herrera has moderated and served as a panelist for several webinars as well as at CSC's annual convention, CSC Unite, in 2024 in Las Vegas. He has volunteered at both the Rose Bowl and the Sugar Bowl and has worked games for the NFL's New Orleans Saints.
Prior to his arrival in Baton Rouge, where he is the primary contact for the Tigers' volleyball and softball programs, Herrera served two years (2019-21) as the assistant athletics communications director at Texas State University, one year (2018-19) as the associate sports information director at NCAA Division II St. Edward's University and two years (2016-18) at the assistant sports information director at NCAA Division II Texas A&M-Kingsville.
Herrera earned his bachelor's degree in kinesiology from Southeastern Louisiana University in 2014 and a master's degree in coaching, sport, recreation and fitness administration from Angelo State University in 2016.
RISING STAR AWARD, COLLEGE DIVISION
Alisha Alexander – Lewis-Clark State College
Assistant Athletic Director – Sports Information & Senior Woman Leader
Now in her eighth year in the profession and her seventh at Lewis-Clark State College,
Alisha Alexander continues the tradition of ground-breaking female leaders rising from the profession's NAIA ranks.
A member of the NAIA-SIDA Board of Directors, Alexander was elected as an at-large member in 2022 before being selected as second vice president in 2023 and first vice president in 2024. She is in line to become the organization's president in 2027.
In 2023, in the ninth year that the award was presented, Alexander became the first woman to be named the NAIA's Sports Information Director of the Year. A year earlier, Alexander was a member of CSC's inaugural 30 Under 30 class. She is also a ground-breaker within the Cascade Collegiate Conference, where she was the first woman named the conference's SID of the Year in 2021 and repeated as winner in 2023.
In 2021, Alexander was named the NAIA finalist for the American Volleyball Coaches Association's Grant Burger Media Award, honoring the top communications professionals in the sport. She has successfully nominated eight CSC Academic All-Americans.
At Lewis-Clark State, Alexander oversees communications efforts for the Warriors' 13 sports and is the media director for the Avista NAIA Baseball World Series, which is held annually on the LCSC campus. Her initiatives in the advancement of the promotion of Warrior Athletics include enhancements to social media and streaming, leadership of the school's Student-Athletic Advisory Committee and helped create the LCSPYs, a student-athlete awards banquet.
Alexander arrived in Lewiston after one year (2017-18) as the sports information assistant at NCAA Division III Claremont-Mudd-Scripps in Claremont, California. She spent two years as a graduate assistant at her alma mater, Concordia University Irvine, where she also interned with the NCAA Division II PacWest Conference.
Alexander graduated from Concordia in December 2016 and earned her master's degree in coaching and athletics administration from Concordia in 2018.
RISING STAR AWARD, COLLEGE DIVISION
Katie Green – NAIA
Senior Manager of Athletic Communications & Media
In her ninth year as an athletic communications professional,
Katie Green continues to rise through the NAIA ranks with excellence and energy.
A member of the NAIA communications staff since 2017, Green was promoted to senior manager of athletic communications and media in 2023. She is the NAIA National Office's primary communications contact for 12 sports, coordinating all media coordination and streaming for those sports' respective national championships.
Green is also the department's liaison to the NAIA's National Administrative Council, coordinates raters and voters for the NAIA's Player of the Week programs, and assists with other awards efforts. Green is an ex-officio member of the NAIA-SIDA Board of Directors and is a regular attendee of CSC's annual convention, CSC Unite.
Prior to joining the NAIA staff, Green spent on year (2016-17) as the assistant director of athletic communications at NCAA Division I University of Louisiana-Monroe, where she was primary contact for volleyball, women's basketball, beach volleyball and softball, and one year (2015-16) as a graduate assistant at her alma mater, Missouri Baptist University.
Outside of the athletic communications office, Green is in her seventh year as an age group for the Legacy Juniors Volleyball Club in Kansas City, Missouri.
Green received her bachelor's degree in sport management in 2016 and her master's in sport management in 2016, both from Missouri Baptist.