College Sports Information Directors of America

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. 

John Heisler — UCF (retired)

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). The McGrane Award is the FWAA's highest honor and goes to a member who has made great contributions to the FWAA, journalism and to college football. It is the association's Hall of Fame honor.

Heisler also received 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.

Terry Mohajir, UCF Vice President and Director of Athletics: "Since he arrived in 2019, John has been a strong asset for our department. He’s worked in this business for over 50 years, has a wealth of knowledge and experience working with the local and national media.

John is a collegiate icon with media relations and has done a great job telling our story. We thank him for all of his contributions to UCF and wish him all the best in his retirement."

Gus Malzahn, Florida State football offensive coordinator, former UCF head football coach: "It’s been a blessing to work alongside John Heisler the last three years, someone who’s one of the best in the business and a CSC Hall of Famer. We wish him nothing but the best in his retirement."

Malcolm Moran, IU Indianapolis Director, Sports Capital Journalism Program, United State Basketball Writers (USBWA) Executive Director, award-winning national journalist, CSC Keith Jackson Eternal Flame Award (2020), CSC Jake Wade Award (2012): "John Heisler did not merely bridge the decades-long press box gap from typewriters and carbon paper to iPhones and Wifi. He came to represent a place and its values, just as the legendary Roger Valdiserri, his predecessor, had once done. Regardless of the nature of the news, triumphant or embarrassing, you knew that whatever John said could be taken directly to the bank. The collective work of the sports journalism industry is better for that. A professional lifetime worth of trust is priceless."

Mike Brey, Atlanta Hawks Assistant Coach, former University of Notre Dame Head Basketball Coach: "What comes to mind is that John was in the high-profile hot box of Notre Dame Athletics when things could quickly become a crisis with the media. His poise and how calm he was was very reassuring and helped people realize that it wasn’t a crisis at all. There were also a lot of times when he helped save coaches from themselves. John always had a poise and calmness in suggesting that we might want to think a little more about a certain approach or comment, and he was usually right."

Heisler on the leaders that helped contribute to his successful career…
“I owe so much to two accomplished Hall of Famers in our profession - Missouri’s Bill Callahan and Notre Dame’s Roger Valdiserri - for believing in me and providing me so many opportunities to learn and grow in the media relations business. Working for Roger meant if you rode around on his coattails you met everyone in college athletics. Most recently, (UCF athletics directors) Danny White and Terry Mohajir gave me the chance to help tell UCF’s story as we moved into the Big 12 Conference."

Reflecting on his award-winning career…
"I distinctly remember stuffing a couple of hundred football media guides into envelopes before I attended my first class at Mizzou. Then I attended my first CoSIDA Convention in 1977. I am so grateful for all the connections I made along the way - with so many great friends among the media, athletes, coaches, sports communications professionals and athletic administrators. So many individuals I met through CoSIDA/CSC remain some of my closest friends.

My freshman year at Mizzou I met people like (former College Football Playoff executive director) Bill Hancock and (National Football Foundation executive director) Steve Hatchell. Now, more than 50 years later, they remain good friends and professional colleagues.

As much as I loved it, after 51 years of working football games every fall, that just seemed like enough. 

None of this would have been possible without the constant support and encouragement from my late wife Karen, who worked in and around this business her entire career and was my best proof-reader, and my sons Scott (associate head men’s lacrosse coach at Trinity College in Hartford, Connecticut) and Tim."

From his Q&A while winning the 2021 FWAA Bert McGrane Award (the FWAA's highest honor and goes to a member who has made great contributions to the FWAA, journalism and to college football)…Best interview you ever had and why?
"Quite some time before Lou Holtz's third season at Notre Dame, I suggested to him that we consider a book on what it's like day to day to be the football coach in South Bend. For all the things that had been written about the job and how difficult and pressure-packed it supposedly was, no one had explained exactly why that was. I had never done anything like that before, but Lou bought into the idea. It became a national championship season, and the book became a best-seller. And it was fascinating sitting down with him to talk at least twice a week that fall. It was football, motivation, how to deal with people and all sorts of other subjects. And it was magical to see how the light went on with Lou the minute I turned on the tape recorder."