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Special Awards Program
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Mary Jo Haverbeck Trailblazer Award
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Bob Kenworthy Community Service Award
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Lifetime Achievement Award
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25-Year Award
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).
Honoree information compiled by CSC Special Awards Committee Chair Jeff Hodges (University of North Alabama) and Barb Kowal, CSC Director of Professional Development and Operations.
College Sports Communicators concludes its week-long announcements of the 2025 Special Award recipients by honoring ten former and current members with Lifetime Achievement Award honors and 26 with 25-Year Awards for a quarter century of full-time service (or more) in the college sports communications profession.
The CSC Lifetime Achievement Awards are presented to members for distinguished career service who have served at least 25 years in the profession and who are retiring, have retired, or are leaving the athletic communications profession.
Receiving their Lifetime Achievement Awards this year are:
- Rich Bertolucci – UCLA (posthumous honor)
- Claude Felton – Georgia (retired)
- Larry Happel – Central College Athletics Senior Editor
- John Heisler – UCF (retired)
- John Kean – Missouri S&T (retired)
- Joni Lehmann – Big 12 Conference (retired)
- Steve Levy – UMBC Assistant AD, Communications (retired)
- Donny Nadeau – Saint Mary's University of Minnesota (retired)
- John Painter – Maryville College (Tenn.) Assistant Athletics Director for Communications
- Larry White – Alabama (retired)
CSC's 25-Year Awards are presented to CSC members who have completed 25 years full-time (or more) in the sports communications profession (as of July, 2025) or who have been a member for 25 years. A complete list of 25-year Award recipients for 2025 is below.
All of the 2025 CSC special award winners will be honored at CSC's 68th annual convention, #CSCUnite25, from June 8-11 at the Orlando World Center Marriott Resort. The convention is held in conjunction with NACDA and Affiliates Convention Week.
A closer look at the honorees:
CSC Lifetime Achievement Award
Presented to individuals who have served at least 25 years in the athletics communications profession (as of July 2025) who are retiring or leaving the profession. Years of service vetted by the Special Awards Committee. Members may self-nominate for this award.
LIFETIME ACHIEVEMENT AWARD
Rich Bertolucci – UCLA (posthumous honor)
Bertolucci, formerly associate sports information director for UCLA Athletics, served on the Bruins athletic staff for 34 years. Bertolucci was hired as assistant sports information director in July of 1981, immediately following his graduation from Santa Clara University where he had earned a B.A. in English. He was then elevated to assistant and then associate SID before his passing on July 28, 2015, following a long battle with cancer. He was 56.
Bertolucci served as the media contact for a number of nationally-recognized Bruin teams throughout his long career, most notably men's volleyball and men's and women's golf. He was also the managing editor of the UCLA football and men's basketball game programs, as well as Bruin Blue, UCLA Athletics' official newspaper.
He was the recipient of a CSC 25-year Award in 2007 and he won numerous CSC publications awards.
Bertolucci worked the gymnastics and tennis events on the UCLA campus in the 1984 Olympics. He also worked at beach volleyball at the 1996 Olympics in Atlanta. He also volunteered at numerous Los Angeles Open golf tournaments and worked numerous NCAA regional and national championship events.
LIFETIME ACHIEVEMENT AWARD
Claude Felton – University of Georgia
Claude Felton, a cornerstone of the University of Georgia Athletic Association since 1979, retired from his official position on Jan. 31, 2024. He continues to serve at UGA on a part-time basis on numerous projects.
One of the most beloved and respected members of the Georgia Athletic Association and across the collegiate athletics landscape, Felton served in the roles of Senior Associate Athletic Director, Associate and Assistant Athletic Director, Sports Communication Director and, most recently, the Loran Smith Senior Associate Athletic Director.
The Savannah, Ga., native was named Georgia's sports information director in July of 1979 after serving as the director of public relations at Georgia Southern University. Over the last 45-plus years, Felton mentored countless individuals and became a leader in college athletics.
He is a member of the College Sports Communicators Hall of Fame, inducted in 2001, and the Georgia Sports Hall of Fame. Felton also received CSC's 2004 Arch Ward Award for outstanding contributions and commitment to sports communications and his 25-Year Award from the organization in 2017.
Felton served as media coordinator for 18 NCAA national championship events. He has also served on the press liaison staff for the U.S. Olympic Committee at the 1984 Olympic Games in Los Angeles and was the press venue chief for the soccer venue at the 1996 Centennial Olympic Games. He was chairman of the former Ethics Committee of the College Sports Communicators from 1985-91 and received the Arch Ward Award in 2004. He has won a myriad of awards including the Football Writers Association of America's prestigious Bert McGrane Award.
During Felton's tenure as Sports Information Director, Bulldog athletic teams won 136 Southeastern Conference titles and 47 national championships.
Felton has been a part of three football National Championships, seven Southeastern Conference Championships in football and 415 wins over the last 44 seasons on the football field. He has also been a trusted advisor for Coach and Athletic Director Vince Dooley, coaches Ray Goff, Jim Donnan, Mark Richt and Kirby Smart, as well as athletic directors Greg McGarity, Damon Evans and Josh Brooks in addition to many long-tenured coaches across all sports.
He handled the publicity efforts for numerous All-Americans and individual honors, most notably the Heisman Trophy campaign for Herschel Walker, who won college football's most prestigious award in 1982.
LIFETIME ACHIEVEMENT AWARD
Larry Happel – Central College
Happel served as athletics communications director at Central College from 1979-2024 before retiring and taking on part-time duties as athletics senior editor. A 1981 Central graduate, he's handled multiple additional roles, including twice serving as the college's communications director for a combined 15 years. In his 46th year of service, he surpassed Iowa State University Hall of Famer Harry Burrell as the longest-serving college or university sports information director in state history.
A Waverly, Iowa native, he was inducted into the College Sports Communicators Hall of Fame in 2010 and received the Warren Berg Award for outstanding achievement in the college division sports information field in 2006.
He served a three-year term on the CSC board of directors and also spent six years on the Division III Sports Information Directors of America (D3SIDA) board, including a two-year term as president. He was the first to serve as the organization's vice president. Happel has been a member of the CSC Special Awards Committee since 1999.
He spent three years on CSC's College Division Management Advisory Committee, served on the organization's Writing Contest Committee, former Allied Organizations Committee and Membership Services Committee, He was on the Hewlett-Packard Division III Football All-America Team Selection Committee from 1991-2000, the Host Communications-NCAA Championships Program Advisory Committee from 2005-09 and has served on the D3hoops.com Women's Basketball Ranking Committee since 2006.
Happel received 22 CSC national publications awards and 18 CSC writing awards, as well as two writing awards from the Council for the Advancement and Support of Education (CASE). His feature on former homeless youth Jaime Miranda, a Central wrestler, was named the National Story of the Year in the 2017 CSC Fred Stabley Sr. Writing Contest.
Following the expansion of P.H. Kuyper Gymnasium, Central's national champions trophy case was named in his honor in 2019. He received the college's Presidential Service Standard Award for Energy in 2009.
While on a sabbatical from Central in 2003-04, Happel spent 10 months as a visiting assistant in the men's athletics media relations office at the University of Tennessee. He's also served on the media relations staff for multiple NCAA Division I and Division III Championships events as well as for Southeastern Conference and Missouri Valley Conference championships.
Happel serves on the board for the Pella CROP Walk for world hunger and spent five years as board chair. He also was a three-year board member for Habitat for Humanity of Marion County and was the adviser for Habitat's campus chapter at Central for 14 years. Since 1981, he's been a member of Pella's Second Reformed Church, where he served two three-year terms as Deacon and another as Elder, including a year as the congregation's First Vice President of the Consistory.
LIFETIME ACHIEVEMENT AWARD
John Heisler – UCF
John Heisler retired in January 2024, after more than a half-century of service at Missouri, Notre Dame and UCF. He began by spending five years at his alma mater, Missouri (the first four as a student assistant), followed by more than 40 years at Notre Dame. In the last five years as senior associate athletics director at UCF, he oversaw the Knights' strategic communications department.
A member of the College Sports Communicators Hall of Fame (class of 2003), Heisler helped originate the writing contest for the organization, now called the Fred S. Stabley Sr. Writing Contest. Among his awards are the Bert McGrane Award for distinguished service to the Football Writers Association of America (FWAA) and citations from the Heisman Memorial Trophy Trust, the Indiana Sportswriters & Sportscasters Association and the Notre Dame Club of St. Joseph Valley. Notre Dame honored him with its special presidential award, and the Notre Dame Monogram Club presented him with an honorary monogram.
Heisler earned 30 "best in the nation" awards from CSC for Notre Dame athletic publications, including 10 of those citations for Irish football media guides.
Heisler has written, co-written or edited 12 books (all but one of those on Notre Dame football), one of them a New York Times bestseller. He was responsible for production of Notre Dame's acclaimed Strong of Heart publication, annually featuring a series of stories about individuals connected to Notre Dame athletics, that three times was voted best in the nation.
While on the Notre Dame athletics staff, he served his final 14 years there as senior associate athletics director. His tenure included 16 years as the university's sports information director, beginning in 1988. Heisler added the title of assistant athletics director in 1995 and became an associate athletics director in 2001.
Working in the areas of media relations, broadcast properties and contest scheduling at Notre Dame, Heisler served as sport administrator for men's lacrosse for more than two decades (and previously for women's lacrosse). He served two years as the Division I administrator on the United States Intercollegiate Lacrosse Association board of directors.
He worked 32 college football bowl games and assisted in the administration of the research operation at two Summer Olympic Games (one for ABC, one for NBC). He provided color commentary on both television and radio for Notre Dame athletic events and won a Telly Award for his video production work.
LIFETIME ACHIEVEMENT AWARD
John Kean – Missouri S&T
After serving as the Director of Athletic Communications for the last 34 years at Missouri S&T, Kean stepped down from that full-time role on August 5, 2024. He continues to work with S&T athletics in a part-time role.
Kean played an integral part in S&T's success since joining the staff in 1990, covering countless stories of the accomplishments of Miner teams and their student-athletes. In his time with Missouri S&T, John has covered several Miner teams that won conference championships as well as over 100 student-athletes who earned Academic All-America honors. Additionally, he promoted seven Academic All-America of the Year selections, 23 GLVC Scholar-Athletes of the Year, six winners of the Richard F. Scharf Paragon Award, and two Ken B. Jones Student Athletes of the Year.
Among his leadership roles, Kean was president of D2SIDA for four years before serving another three years on the College Sports Communicators Board of Directors from 2018-21. He was vice chairman on the College Division Management Advisory Committee within CSC, and served on the GLVC's scheduling committee and the programming subcommittee during the creation of the GLVC Sports Network.
Kean's contributions also extended to several NCAA tournaments, both on the regional and national level. He has worked in nine men's basketball and two women's basketball elite eight championships and helped develop the NCAA DII men's basketball website home page.
Kean was inducted into the CSC Hall of Fame in 2021 and last June, received the 2024 Warren Berg Award for outstanding commitment to athletic media relations in the college division. He received the Dr. Thomas Kearns Service Award from the GLVC in 2018 and the Roy Pickerill Distinguished Service Award from the NCAA Division II Sports Information Directors Association (D2SIDA) in 2023.
LIFETIME ACHIEVEMENT AWARD
Joni Lehmann – Big 12 Conference
One of the leading conference communicators, Lehmann joined the Big 12 Conference staff in August 1998 as assistant media relations director, after spending a year in the same capacity at the Southeastern Conference. She served the Big 12 as associate director of communications from 2005-17, Director of Media Services from 2017-22, Senior Director of Media Services from 2022-24 and retired in July of 2024 as Senior Director of Communications. Lehmann retired in July 2024.
She received a 25-Year Award from the College Sports Communicators in 2019.
Lehmann coordinated the Big 12's media service efforts for the conference's 23 sports and was the primary contact for football and men's basketball upon retirement. She also served as the media coordinator for the Big 12 Football Championship game and the Phillips 66 Big 12 Men's Basketball Championship, as well as the annual football and men's basketball media days, and previously coordinated all communications and media championship efforts for women's basketball.
Lehmann was the local media coordinator for the 2017 NCAA Division I Women's Basketball Final Four and the 2003 NCAA Division I Women's Volleyball Championship. She served as a volunteer on the Women's Final Four Media Coordination Committee and directed the media efforts for six women's basketball regionals hosted by the Big 12. Lehmann staffed two CFP national championship games and numerous Cotton Bowl Classic games.
Additionally, she served as the Conference liaison to the Big 12 Women's Golf coaches and the Big 12 Women's Golf Championship.
The Nowata, Okla., native graduated from the University of Oklahoma in May of 1990 with a bachelor's degree in journalism. After working in the OU Sports Information Department as a student assistant, Lehmann served an internship at the University of Kentucky and spent six years as the women's sports information director at Stephen F. Austin State University.
LIFETIME ACHIEVEMENT AWARD
Steve Levy – UMBC
Levy, a 1985 UMBC graduate and a 39-year member of the athletics staff at UMBC, retired in 2024. He was hired out of college as the assistant sports information director and was shortly promoted to sports information director at the age of 23 in UMBC's first year of NCAA Division I competition. He served as SID from 1986-92 before being named assistant athletics director for athletic communications in 1992. He held that title until 2004 when he was promoted to Associate Athletics Director for Athletic Communications and served in that role until his retirement.
Levy continues to stay very active in intercollegiate sports communications, performing game day and writing assignments for Loyola University Maryland, Stevenson University and Towson University. He also works as a press box attendant for the Baltimore Ravens.
He was inducted into the UMBC Athletics Hall of Fame in October of 2022. On campus, he served on the UMBC Strategic Planning Committee and was a UMBC Professional Staff Senator. He received the Dr. Martin Schwartz Award from the UMBC Men's Lacrosse program in 2013 for outstanding contributions to the program. His UMBC Sports Spotlights earned two awards from the CTV Channel 15 Cam Awards (Prince George's County, Md.) - in 2000 (First Place) and 2001 (Second Place).
Levy served on the CSC Scholarship Committee for more than a decade and received the organization's 25-Year award in 2019. He was also a presenter at the 2018 CSC Convention.
In 1994, Levy chaired the UMBC search committee, which recommended the hiring of US Lacrosse Hall of Fame Coach Don Zimmerman. Zimmerman led the Retrievers to their first six NCAA Tournament appearances in a 23-year tenure. He served as the media director for the 1995 NCAA Division I Men's Basketball Championship first and second round games at the Baltimore Arena (now CFG Bank Arena) and performed the same duties for the 1998 NCAA Division I Women’s Lacrosse Championships and the 2001 NCAA Division I Men’s Lacrosse Championships (quarterfinals).
Levy also was a volunteer official scorer at the 2003-04 and 2007 NCAA Men's Lacrosse Championships (Final Four).
LIFETIME ACHIEVEMENT AWARD
Donny Nadeau – Saint Mary's University of Minnesota (MN)
Donny Nadeau spent his entire 29-year career in athletic communications at his alma mater, NCAA Division III Saint Mary's University of Minnesota. Deemed "Mr. Cardinal" by many inside and outside the Saint Mary's community, Nadeau's impact was far-reaching.
He retired in September 2024 after his distinguished career, going into retirement early as he continues to fight a battle against the progression of Choroideremia, a degenerative eye disease.
Nadeau was inducted into the Saint Mary's Sports Hall of Fame in March 2021.
Among other top honors, received the Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (MIAC)'s Distinguished Service Award and the Mike Augustin Award (an acknowledgement from his peers) in 2011 in recognition of outstanding contributions to MIAC athletic programs and student-athletes. In his tenure, he was a member of MIAC Player of the Week selection committees.
On campus, he received the distinguished Saint Mary's Bishop Patrick Heffron Award in 2014, presented to an employee who has contributed positively to the life of the university, demonstrated a long-term commitment to the values of the university and has been a model of the Lasallian spirit in interactions with colleagues and students. Nadeau also was honored with a Saint Mary's Employee Recognition Award three times. As part of his communications role, Nadeau created and co-hosted a weekly television show, "The Cardinals Nest" to spotlight the athletic happenings. He also was a member of the University's marketing team.
Nadeau received his CSC 25-Year Award in 2020 and was recognized for his storytelling and writing in the CSC Fred S. Stabley Writing Contest, earning several district honors for event coverage and athlete profiles.
The 1985 graduate of Saint Mary's with a degree in print journalism, Nadeau began his career as a reporter, sports copy editor and sports editor, working for the Austin (Minn.) Daily Herald, Winona Daily News, and La Crosse Tribune for a decade. In 1994, he was hired at Saint Mary's and assumed a dual role as an alumni magazine editor and the school's sports information director, before transitioning into the SID role full time.
Nadeau also served as host SID for two NCAA Division III Final Fours and spearheaded all media relations for the annual MIAC Men's Hockey Showcase for the event's 10 seasons from 2009-18.
LIFETIME ACHIEVEMENT AWARD
John Painter – Maryville College (TN)
Painter has served as Assistant Athletics Director for Communications at Maryville College since August 2021, and will be retiring later this year after coordinating all communications and publicity efforts for the 19-sport Division III institution.
On January 6, Painter was announced as one of six who will be inducted into the CSC Hall of Fame in June during CSC's annual CSC Unite 25 convention in Orlando.
Painter had gained more than 30 years of experience in athletics communications, having worked in the NCAA office and numerous Division I colleges. His previous position was as the Director of Athletic Communications at Colgate University; prior to that, he was at the University of Tennessee.
During his time at Colgate, Painter was a member of the very first CSC Division I Cabinet – a 10-member board – and he previously served as chair of the NCAA Statistics and Advisory Committee. Painter also helped his Colgate staff work NCAA championships with Division I baseball, softball, volleyball and FCS football. He was a CSC 25-Year Recipient in 2014, and he won a 2013 CSC Fred Stabley Sr. district first-place writing award.
While at Colgate, Painter managed a staff of seven, covering league championships in football (four), men's basketball (three), men's soccer (three), women's hockey and men's lacrosse. In his role, he served as the day-to-day contact for football, women's basketball, men's lacrosse, rowing and golf.
Painter was the Director/Chief Features Writer for Tennessee's UTsports.com and UTladyvols.com from 2011 to 2012 prior to his stint with Colgate. During that time, he won three 2012 CSC Fred Stabley Sr. district first-place writing awards out of five categories, while designing and directing "On the T," a weekly golf instructional video series with members of the men's and women's golf teams at the University of Tennessee.
From 2001 through 2010, Painter was the associate media relations director and primary head football coach contact for the Volunteers, serving as the primary contact for Phillip Fulmer and Lane Kiffin. In that time, he worked with CSC Hall of Fame members Haywood Harris, Bud Ford and Debby Jennings.
Prior to 2001, Painter served at the NCAA as a senior statistics coordinator for 11 years and as a communications coordinator for one year. He held roles as the Media Coordinator for Division I Ice Hockey and Division I-AA Football Championships from 1994 to 2001 and managed statistics and records for all three divisions. He served on the media coordination staff for the College World Series (1995-2001), the Women's Final Four (1992-1993) and the Division II Men's Basketball Elite Eight (1990-1991), and he later worked as a national office liaison with Baseball Rules and Soccer Rules committees.
Painter began his career as assistant sports information director for women's basketball and football (secondary) at Auburn University from 1988-1989.
LIFETIME ACHIEVEMENT AWARD
Larry White – University of Alabama
Prior to his retirement from the University of Alabama in 2009, White played an important role in public relations for the Crimson Tide for some 25 years. He first came to Alabama in 1982 when there were only three people in the SID office. He was in charge of basketball and helped with football during Bryant's final season. He left in 1984 for a job at SMU, returning to Alabama in 1988. He was named the school's sports information director in 1988, then took the title of associate AD for media relations in 1997. One of the highlights of his 25 years at Alabama was the 1992 football national championship under Gene Stallings.
Following his return from a stint in military service in Vietnam, White began his athletics communication career in the early 1970s as a student assistant to Keith Prince at Louisiana Tech. He later covered Tech athletics for the Ruston Daily Leader and the Shreveport Journal before serving in sports information roles at the Southland Conference, LSU, SMU and Alabama.
25-Year Award Recipients
Congratulations to the following group of athletic communications professionals who have reached the quarter century of service to the profession! Please click on each recipients name to be brought to their biographical information.
Following this week's announcements of our CSC 2025 awards, CSC will highlight all 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).
25-Year Award
Presented to CSC members who have completed 25 years in the athletics communication profession (as of July, 2025). Vetted and voted on by the Special Awards Committee.
How do I calculate my 25-year service to CSC?
To receive a 25-year award at the CSC UNITE convention, you must have been in the sports communications profession full time and/or an active member of the organization for 25 years, at the time of the annual June convention. Your 25-year total must be met by July 1. Thus if you started full time work as of July 1, 2000, your 25 years would be completed in June of 2025 and you would receive the award this academic year — and be saluted leading up to the 2025 convention. If you started in October of 2000, you would complete 25 years in September, 2025 and would receive your award at the 2026 convention.
If you believe you qualify for a 2025 25-Year honor, please contact Jeff Hodges, CSC Special Awards chair (
SportsInformation@una.edu).
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Rob Bentley
Ferris State University
Associate Athletics Director
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Paul Capobianco
University of Wisconsin
Assistant Director of Brand Communications |
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Jeff Conrad
University of Houston
Assistant Athletics Director for Communications
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Drew Dickerson
Atlantic 10 Conference
Assistant Commissioner - Communications
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Steve East
University of Central Arkansas
Associate Athletic Director for Media Relations |
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Steve Fink
University of South Carolina
Senior Associate AD/Communications & Public Relations
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Scott Flanders
UC San Diego
Assistant Director of Athletics for Communications |
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Brian Fremund
Vanderbilt University
Associate Athletic Director, Communications
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Jon Fuller
University of Buffalo
Associate AD/Communications
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Tom Gilbert
Kansas State University
Director of Men's Basketball Communications
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Scott Goode
Harding University
Assistant Athletic Director for Sports Information
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Stephen Gorchov
Hofstra University
Senior Associate Director of Athletics for Marketing and Communications
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Dan Lukes
St. Norbert College
Assistant Athletics Director/Athletics Communications
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Colin McDonough
Northwest Missouri State University
Assistant AD / Media Relations
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Marlene Navor
Auburn University
Director of Communications (Men's Basketball)
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David O'Brian
Binghamton University
Manager of Athletics Communications
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Trevor Parks
Youngstown State University
Director of Athletics Communications
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DeWayne Peevy
DePaul University
Vice President and Director of Athletics
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Greg Royce
City University of New York Athletic Conference (CUNYAC)
Director of Communications
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Mark Simpson
Big South Conference
Senior Associate Commissioner - Communications & Branding
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Jill Skotarczak
Southeastern Conference (SEC)
Associate Director of Communications
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Jim Stephan
Belmont Abbey College
Director of Athletic Communications |
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John Sudsbury
Allstate Sugar Bowl
Director of Media Relations and Communications |
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Kurt Svoboda
University of Washington
Deputy Athletic Director for External Relations
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Blake Timm
Pacific University (Ore.)
Associate Director of Communications
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Joseph Vanden Acker
Lawrence University
Director of Athletic Media Relations |
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Tim Volkmann
Rochester Institute of Technology (RIT)
Director of Athletic Communications
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Larry White
University of Alabama (retired)
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Tammy Wilson
Southeastern Conference (SEC)
Director of Communications
At the SEC, Wilson currently oversees the communications efforts for women's basketball as well as both men's and women's tennis. She also coordinates the SEC's Football and Basketball Media Days. She has served in the SEC since 1997, joining the conference in 1997 as a media relations assistant after holding a sports information internship at East Carolina University for a year. |
