< Previous18 | I’m usually into the office around 9 a.m. when I have morning meetings. Typically I’m meeting with my admissions office, athletic directors from around the conference and my enrollment and marketing teams on campus throughout the mornings before getting a chance to catch up on emails, issue any Letters of Intent, talk with staff, or grab a bite to eat at my desk before my next meeting. My afternoons tend to be filled with committee meetings that I’ve been appointed to or chose to help out with. This could include NAIA Eligibility Center Advisory group calls, NAIA Cabinet calls, CoSIDA Executive Board meetings and early this year I was selected to help out with the Columbia College Strategic Planning committee. No matter the group, assisting and getting to be a part of making a difference has had a huge impact on my life. I’m grateful for my husband’s schedule as the early morning shift leaves him available to pick up the kids from school and I try to join them all as soon as I can. The kids and my husband go down for the night around 8:30 p.m. and because bedtime isn’t always smooth, I usually stay close to the kid’s rooms and do dishes or just tidy up until they have gone to sleep. As soon as I think they are settled, I head downstairs, where my desk is set up, to start work. I typically work on Columbia College projects until around 12:30 a.m. I then start working on my ‘other’ job as a Disney travel agent. I decided to apply to become an agent almost two years ago now after I realized just how much I truly enjoyed helping other people plan their trips. Most nights I stay up late working on Disney things because it really doesn’t feel like work, but every once in a blue moon I call it a night about 1 a.m. More often than not, I head to bed after my husband gets up for work. Part of it is just the amount of work to be done and choosing to not put it off until the morning. The other part of it comes back to having a Type 1 Diabetic child. I have no issues falling asleep so usually I’m out by 3 a.m. and ready to do it all over again the next day. I’ve heard all the comments before about ‘your lifestyle is not healthy.’ But this is my life and I choose every day to work in this field, to volunteer for committees and boards, to be a wife and a mom, to have a side hustle, and I choose every day to get up and do it again. Ultimately the days can be long but getting involved and volunteering adds an infinite amount of pride and satisfaction to my life. I want my kids to see that helping others and working hard doesn’t always equate to a paycheck and sometimes it’s far more important to volunteer than it is to work for emotional and mental purposes. (Top) 1st VP Cindy Potter says her long list of volunteer commitments is the life she chooses; (Middle) Kevin Lanke will add another 30-plus hours to his week with the Academic All-America program kicks in to full swing; (Bottom) Tommy Chasanoff (in red) is the vice chair of the CoSIDA Membership Recognition Committee among his many volunteer roles. Ph ot o p ro vi de d b y C in dy P ott er . Membership Ph ot o p ro vi de d b y K ev in L an ke . Ph ot o p ro vi de d b y T om m y C ha sa no ff.CoSIDA 360 | MAY 2021 | 19 “Life’s most persistent and urgent question is, what are you doing for others?” — Martin Luther King, Jr. Tommy Chasanoff, Cumberlands NAIA Cabinet, Vice-Chair/Membership Recognition Committee, Diversity & Inclusion Committee I believe volunteering is giving your time to a cause and trying to make your community or profession better while setting an example for your family, colleagues and friends. Growing up I learned the importance of giving back as my parents and grandparents were always some of the first people to step up when volunteers were needed and even when they had a full plate in front of them. Throughout high school, college, and post-college life I’ve embraced the opportunity of giving back whether it was within the sports information profession or our local community. As I reflect on my volunteer work, two days stick out. The first is Dec. 14, 2019, when I woke up early to work Mountain Outreach gift day. We braved the frozen temperature to help provide local families with food and toys for the holiday season. It was so rewarding seeing multiple athletic teams, student- athletes, and coaches all assisting and bringing smiles to their faces. From helping select gifts for their kids to loading their cars with a weeks worth of food, their appreciation made it all worthwhile. It also was a reminder of the generosity of people. I left that project at noon and arrived by 12:30 p.m. for our basketball doubleheader. With games at 2 p.m. and 4 p.m., it meant that I wouldn’t leave until close to 8 p.m. once stories were finalized. Those games we fun, but I went to bed remembering the joy and happiness we brought to so many families. The other example came this year as we were preparing for “Thank Your SID Week” in January. On one day I had a CoSIDA Membership Recognition Committee call, an NAIA Cabinet call, and an interview set up for one of my features. That was all while trying to cover our sports at UC and preparing for basketball and swimming later that week. Those committee calls take away from my job responsibilities, but I always make time for them because they provide an opportunity to help shape the future of the profession. One of the first things that I learned was the importance of getting involved at both the divisional and national levels. I’m proud to serve on multiple committees and even though that involvement can add hours onto the workday, the networking and professional development growth that comes from those experiences are worth every minute of it. “Service to others is the rent you pay for your room here on Earth.” — Muhammad Ali Kevin Lanke, Rose-Hulman Chair, CoSIDA Academic All-America Core Committee We have 20 sports and a staff of myself, a graduate assistant, and a few student workers. Typical days involve previews of events, award nominations and stories about student-athletes earning recognition, and cropping and tagging photos. Game days in the current circumstances might involve up to eight sports and can be 12-14 hour days. We’re fortunate to have multiple HD cameras and the technology needed to provide a Division III school with Division I look coverage. My primary areas of volunteerism are with the CoSIDA Academic All-America Team as Core Committee Chair — and as the advisor to the Rose-Hulman online radio station WMHD radio. About six months after I was hired, my boss in public relations came to me and said, “I’ve decided that you should run our campus station. It should only take an hour a week and you don’t need to become overly invested.” For the first 10 years, we had an FCC over-the-air station and I literally knew nothing about FCC regulations. Eventually we sold the radio tower and became an online station, which is easier to manage. On many days when there are no athletic events, I’m helping them setup and run events. The club became popular and grew to over 40 members entering the spring of 2020. In the second week of the quarter, the Covid-19 pandemic hit and it was announced the school would be virtual and students needed to return home. We called a meeting in our campus station. I saw the look of panic — almost 40 students not knowing their futures, not knowing where they were going to go. Each one asking me questions about their experiences. It was my saddest day at Rose-Hulman, but we had online meetings over the next 10 weeks to make sure everyone okay. It was a long way from not becoming ‘overly invested’ but since I don’t have kids of my own, I wouldn’t want it any other way. In terms of the Academic All-America Committee, most weeks don’t involve a ton of time commitment. We field inquiries, put together the rules manual during the offseason, and handle other administrative tasks. It takes in the range of five hours per week. When the contest process is active it becomes a nearly full- time job. Between reviewing nominations, system generated teams and nomination information, making sure reports are correctly formatted and usable for the organization, and administering the back end of the process, we’re usually 30-40 hours per week during the eight contest weeks. I would say another 10-15 hours on the subsequent 8-10 weeks that voting takes place and results are generated. We want to honor and recognize deserving student-athletes, and we want the teams to be reflective of the quality of students competing in intercollegiate athletics. I have a passion for the program and a belief in honoring these students. That’s why I choose to volunteer in this role as committee chair. Membership20 | There is never a ‘typical day’ in athletic communications. However, this spring the roles have changed tremendously for athletics communicators. Some institutions haven’t competed in a sporting event since March of 2020. Others have faced what many athletic communicators call “sprall” — a spring filled with fall, winter and spring sporting events. On top of this, sports information staff are still managing the pandemic and Covid-19 protocols on their campuses. For the five people who responded to this story, they’ve been working through “sprall.” They have been juggling multiple sporting events each week as fall, winter and spring seasons begin to blend into the summer. They show us what a day in the life is like at their respective institutions this year. Thanks to these five members who took time out of their busy schedules to provide a look into what things have been like these past few months: • Jesse Campbell, Cornerstone Assistant AD for Communications and Marketing • Daniel Hasko, Murray State Media Relations Graduate Assistant • Kevin Lanke, Rose-Hulman Assistant AD for Sports Information & Communications • Romanda Noble-Watson, Claflin Sports Information Director • Krista Pirtle, Baylor Associate Director of Athletics Communications How many events do you have on the weekends? Campbell: Right now we are ranging from 11-12 events per Saturday with 6-7 on a Friday, and about half of those at home each weekend. The school has a total of 19 varsity sports, but things started to slow down as basketball ended and volleyball and soccer started to wind down. Hasko: While spring seasons are always hectic, this year has truly been a challenge with traditional fall sports competing in the spring due to the pandemic. This “super crossover” season presented new obstacles — especially when basketball and football overlapped, and our department covered 15-20 events on the weekends on a pretty consistent basis this spring. Lanke: We added fall sports of football, soccer and volleyball into the winter and spring. We’ve had as many as 14 events played by 11 different teams on the same day. It’s a little intense! Pirtle: (On a recent week) I had five. Soccer played A Day in the Life of ‘Sprall’ Athletic communicators are grateful and tired. by Danielle Potts CoSIDA Intern on Wednesday, softball had one game on Thursday and a doubleheader on Friday and men’s basketball played in the Final Four on Saturday. I traveled with softball, so I kept up with soccer to be able to tweet highlight clips and take care of the post game recap from the hotel. I also do in-game social for men’s basketball, so we got back to Waco just in time for me to be able to take over for our Final Four win over Houston to advance to the title game. What is game day like on campus for you right now? Hasko: Game day has been a unique experience this year in that no two have been the same. In the beginning of the year, it was an odd feeling. For example, we got to play our first home softball game in 685 days in early March. The emotions that came with that were really unique. Overall, while things like capacity restrictions and social distancing have given game day a bit of a different feel, I think that we’re all just grateful to be covering live events again. Campbell: Game day is pretty thin. Usually we have four events at once, but we have an awesome staff that works together to help each other to cover things. I have a lot of student workers, and then we have other administrators and coaches who help when needed to cover the sports info side and the general game administration duties when we have multiple events at once. I think our athletes and fans are just generally grateful to be playing so the environment is not super different right now than it normally is which we are grateful for. Lanke: We still use a combination of students and our graduate assistants to stream live coverage of multiple events. The one major change we’ve made in the pandemic is to hire more student photographers to help cover more events. Pirtle: A blur. No matter how much I do beforehand to prepare, it always seems like I’m running around like a chicken with my head cut off. Especially this season with only Tier 1 people having access to the field. I used to send a student worker down to handle line ups for softball, but now I’m running down to get them, running back up to put them in StatCrew and then back down again to hand them out. I definitely get my steps in on game days. Noble-Watson: We have created a small bubble for game days so a typical game day starts three hours before the start of the game. Our protocol is set up that we get tested each game day so it makes for long days. Outside the LinesCoSIDA 360 | MAY 2021 | 21 student managers with the team we task with giving social media updates to take that off our plate. Hasko: Before Covid, I was able to travel to most of our away games. This year, due to restrictions on visiting personnel and home schedule conflicts, I’ve only been able to travel occasionally. I’ve relied on watching the live streams of our away games much more than I ever have before to provide the best coverage of our teams when they are on the road. Additionally, the amount of help I’ve gotten from SIDs at opposing schools has been incredible. They have sent photos or video clips numerous times to help make our coverage as great as it can be in the circumstances. It really goes to show that, as a community of sports information directors, we really are all in this together. Lanke: We link to visiting coverage and write stories at the end of the day. Our view is to post something on every team that plays in a day before we go to bed. Even if that sometimes means midnight. Pirtle: Thankfully I get to travel to them. In the spring when I overlap as I have soccer and softball, I go with softball as I traveled with soccer during the fall. Thankfully we have somebody who can fill in for me for home soccer matches while I’m out with softball this spring. What are the Covid protocols on your campus? Noble-Watson: We have done a really good job as it relates to Covid in my opinion. The staff on campus is scheduled to get tested every two weeks and the students every week. The institution has made it extremely convenient by bringing the testing to us. Campbell: Masks are to be worn basically at all times. Outdoor athletes have a little more freedom in that, but when together with the team they are to wear masks. Staff are to wear masks and space as best as possible as well. We allow minimal home fans to indoor events and then basically treat outdoor events as normal, we just provide limited seating and encourage fans to bring their own chairs to space around the field. All fans Do you have any help during this time? Student workers? Assistants? Pirtle: We have student workers which makes things on game days easier. My students run the stat computers, so I can update social media and handle any photos or videos that come in as well as keep an eye on any stat trends that need to be highlighted. A fun fact? My brother is actually one of our student workers. So, when he used to say that I wasn’t the boss of him … I am now (she says with a smile). Hasko: While we each have our own “sport assignments” in our department, this year has really been the definition of a team effort. Student workers and even some professors have pitched in on game days this year to help cover various tasks. We are extremely fortunate to know a lot of people at Murray State that are willing to take photos and assist with various game-day responsibilities that help us provide the best possible coverage for our teams. We could not do it without them. Campbell: We are big on trusting students with responsibilities so I have a good chunk of student workers, interns, and a graduate assistant. Seth Walters, my GA, does a great job splitting roles with me on weekends and covering some sports. Our student workers and interns do a great job with broadcast, stats, and photography help as well and I trust them to take care of things even if I am tied up at other events. Noble-Watson: I have student-interns who work remotely and a couple of student-interns who work the camera for our streaming. I’m the only one in my office daily. How have you been handling away games? Campbell: My GA and I split road coverage each week. With the craziness of this year, we do not assign specific sports but instead are flexible to cover any sport at any time and just do what is best within both our schedules. It has been a relatively good system as we each take about half of the road events and do recaps and social media for those. In game road coverage we have Outside the Lines Romanda Noble Krista Pirtle with David Kaye Jesse Campbell22 | Campbell: For the most part I enjoy staying active so yes I have been able to find time to do that. Our structure at CU is awesome because we are pretty flexible in terms of office hours when we are working so many events so sometimes I will do something in the morning if I know I am going to be working all night. Our coaches and staff have started “noon ball” once a week as well where those who want to just take a break and play basketball for an hour on Wednesdays at noon just to have some fun together. Family and friends have been a little more of a struggle with events every night, but I do my best to stay in communication and they are all pretty understanding. Pirtle: Not really. One of the hobbies I picked up during quarantine last summer was running, and we’ve got a great loop around our athletics facilities here on the Brazos River. Ideally, I’d lace ‘em up and put in a couple of miles when I’d leave the office, but this spring has been crossover season on steroids with not much time to breathe, much less sleep. I’m also trying to stay in a bubble as much as I can with my sports in season so the only people I ever see at this point are the guys I work with. As far as eating right, I’m super thankful for whoever puts Oreos and peanut butter in my softball snack bags for road trips. I’ve also made plenty of use out of the Keurig on my desk as I’m constantly caffeinating to keep up with everything. But when I do get the rare moment of time off, I make sure to prioritize getting rest and eating healthy. What do you do to decompress after a day full of games? Campbell: Honestly, sitting on my couch and watching a show is the best way for me to decompress and then I try and just sleep. Need that time to just shut my brain off and TV does that for me and helps me to stop thinking and get into a mode where I can rest before starting a new day. Hasko: This might sound crazy, but after a day filled with sports, I usually decompress by tuning in to another game or competition that’s on TV. Working in this field has really made me appreciate the times where I can watch my favorite teams or sporting events as a true spectator. and athletes are required to fill out a screening form each day as well that they come to campus. Hasko: For our non-ticketed events, we have social distancing measures and mask policies in place to ensure a safe environment for both spectators and student-athletes. For our ticketed events, we have also implemented capacity restrictions on top of these measures. Lanke: Our teams — and visiting teams in every sport — are required to test within 72 hours of a game to compete on our campus. Our workers that go into the field of play — onto the bench or dugout to take pictures as an example — are also in the testing pool, as are the main sports information staff. We mask and distance, trying to maintain no more than 15 minutes within 6 feet over two days, at every opportunity. Pirtle: I feel like they’re the same for most everyone else across the country. Wear your mask. Keep your distance. We’re getting tested at least twice a week now, so I’ve finally stopped having to sneeze after getting swabbed. Have you been able to find the time to exercise, spend time with family or friends, eat right, etc.? Lanke: I’ve been trying to take Tuesday and Friday afternoons off to be more mentally ready for our busy Wednesday and Saturday sessions. It’s literally over 60 days in a row without a day off if I don’t do that. Noble-Watson: I try to make time to get at least a 30-minute walk every day for the most part. My husband and I always make time to smell the roses so to speak, so we maximize my off weekends. Hasko: In my position as a graduate assistant, there has been very little “free time” this spring. With an increased workload due to the unique challenges that this year has presented, balancing work while still making progress in master’s classes eats up most of the day. I will say, I did find a new hobby this year in the game of pickleball. My roommate and I played intramurals and had an absolute blast. Outside the Lines Dan Hasko Kevin LankeCoSIDA 360 | MAY 2021 | 23 massive impact on the student-athlete experience. And at the end of the day, that’s who it’s all about — the student-athlete. If you had to do this schedule again, what would you do differently? Pirtle: I honestly don’t want to even have to think about doing this schedule again. Let’s keep those fall sports in the fall because this spring is absolutely nuts. But if we had another spring like this, I think I’d do what I’ve been doing. I work with a great group of guys who are always there to help out with anything. And after being stuck at home with no live sporting events this time a year ago, I don’t want to take the grind for granted again. Noble-Watson: Prayerfully we won’t, but the one thing I would do is use my time more wisely from the onset. Learning to work in a virtual environment was hard for me. I had so many ideas of what I would do at home but didn’t. I had to figure out how to be equally as productive at home versus in the office, I didn’t figure that out until shortly before I returned back to the office on a part-time basis. Campbell: Honestly I don’t know what I would do differently if I had to do this again. The most insane part of this year is despite the fact we are dealing with a pandemic that seems like we are stuck in the same thing over and over again, every single day presents a new thing or a new challenge. I think just accepting the fact that I literally have to take things a day at a time and be okay with that is what I have learned to do and I would say if I could have gone into this semester accepting that a little better that would probably be what I would do differently. Hasko: It’s all about prioritization. Obviously, hindsight is always 20/20, but gaining an understanding of where various job functions rank on the scale of importance is crucial. I think it’s critical to have open lines of communication with administrators, coaches, and student-athletes to gain a feel of the things that have the biggest impact on the game-day experience. Lanke: Hopefully we don’t have to do this schedule again — it’s not sustainable for mental health and well-being long-term. We pretty much got it right. Trust our students and staff to do their jobs and try to get everything done that we can. Have you had to pick up any Covid-related jobs/responsibilities on your campus? Lanke: I’ve been a Support Coordinator for students that do test positive. Basically we created an infrastructure where every positive student has a point person that they can use to help get through the quarantine time, both mentally and academically. We’ve tried to be there to help. I’ve been assigned about a dozen students — mostly athletes — but fortunately our overall school positivity rate has been about 0.4% so our school has done a great job minimizing the number of positive cases. Pirtle: Not that I’m aware of. Just let me give a quick shout out to our fantastic Athletic Medicine team at Baylor. They’ve done a phenomenal job of keeping us safe and healthy during this crazy time. From scheduling testing times to making sure we’re taken care of at home and on the road, they’ve done so much for us so that we could return to play. Noble-Watson: I generally watch my favorite TV shows on DVR and sleep. Pirtle: I try my hardest to stay off my phone and laptop once I get home. I’ve been on social media all day for game coverage, I don’t need to keep staring at a screen once I get home. I’ll usually take my dog for a walk around the neighborhood and either read or watch something on TV. I’ve got one of those over-the-door basketball hoops in my house, and I’ve been working with my dog on becoming the next Air Bud. It’s not going well… Have there been any ‘lessons learned’ during this chaotic time? Lanke: I’ve learned to appreciate what we DO have. We didn’t play anything at all for almost 10 months, so I’d rather have an 11-event Saturday that ends at 1 a.m. than have no events at all for our student-athletes. The other lesson I have been reminded of is trust. I can struggle with that at times as I am often a control freak when it comes to my work, but I have been forced to let go of some things this spring and just trust people to help. Through that, I have learned that there are a lot of people I can trust and a lot of amazing people who are just willing to help. Noble-Watson: Yes, be sure to do self-care, mentally and physically. When things started last year, I did not do any physical activity for the first month, but then my husband and I made the decision that we need to at least walk to keep our minds and bodies stimulated. I also learned that so many things that I thought were a necessity — weren’t. Pirtle: I can’t remember who said it, but I heard something before everything shut down that I’ve tried to keep in mind as things got crazier. It’s something about juggling, and you’ve got some of the balls that are rubber and others are glass. The rubber ones will be OK if they get dropped. The glass ones not so much. Instead of trying to stay perfect and answer every email instantly or constantly striving to stay one step ahead all the time (which is exhausting, by the way) I’ve changed my perspective to decide what’s OK if it gets fumbled for a moment and what needs to be my top priority. Campbell: There have been tons of lessons during this time. First and foremost, I have been reminded that my attitude reflects the result of how I am going to feel about busy days. I have been reminded so many times this spring that despite the craziness, God has blessed me with a job that I love, amazing people surrounding and supporting me, and outstanding leadership at our university who continually invests in me as more than just an employee. Hasko: I think the biggest lesson I learned during this chaotic time is that, in this field, we’re all in this together. Going the extra mile to help out an SID at an opposing school could mean more to them and their student-athletes than you’ll ever know. I remember sending some softball photos to an SID at an opposing school back in February and him thanking me because his team wasn’t scheduled to be at home until April 10th and photos of his team would be hard to come by until then. Going the extra mile when preparing for a broadcast, capturing that extra bit of detail in a game recap, and all of those little things that we do have a Outside the Lines24 | TAKE PART IN DIVISIONAL DAYS Canadian institutions – Thursday, May 27 Two-Year Colleges – Friday, June 11 NAIA – Monday, June 14 NCAA Division II – Tuesday, June 15 NCAA Division III – Tuesday, June 15 NCAA Division I – Wednesday, June 16 CELEBRATE OUR AWARD WINNERS All four pre-recorded shows will debut at 7 PM (ET) 2020 Academic All-America® Hall of Fame Monday, June 7 2020 CoSIDA Hall of Fame Tuesday, June 8 2021 Academic All-America® Hall of Fame Wednesday, June 9 2021 CoSIDA Hall of Fame Thursday, June 10 Previewing #CoSIDA21 The 2021 CoSIDA Convention will again be held in a virtual format. Main convention dates: are Monday-Wednesday, June 7-10. And it’s all FREE! CoSIDA has partnered with Cvent to introduce a new virtual hub with all educational sessions, awards ceremonies and an exhibit hall in one, user-friendly location. All current CoSIDA members will be automatically registered for the event. For all the latest information and to log into the attendee convention portal, go to Convention preview get excited Support GET INSPIRED, ENGAGED AND LEARN IN OUR 12 EDUCATIONAL SESSIONS Keynote: Transform Your Self-Confidence and Accelerate Your Career with Dr. Ivan Joseph, Author and Award- Winning Performance and Self-Confidence Coach/former collegiate athletic director and soccer coach Your Social Media Presence: How To Know and Grow Your Audience and Engagement Name, Image and Likeness: From The Strategic Communications and Storytelling Side NCAA LiveStats Diversity, Equity & Inclusion: Converting From Conversations To Actions Personal Financial Literacy: Your Toolkits to be Prepared Anxiety of the Unknown: Exploring Your Mental and Emotional Health Compliance Issues & Social Media Rules for the SID Communications and Public Affairs: Strategies and Messaging Managing Media Relations Expectations Elevating Your Communications and Public Affairs: Working With Institutional Leaders on Strategies, Crises and Messaging Keynote: Controlling the Message and Content Management & Creation with Joanne C. Gerstner, award-winning sports journalist, author and researcher Plus, the State of the Association, the Presidents’ Roundtable and annual CoSIDA Business Meeting. Dr. Ivan Joseph Keynote Speaker - June 7 Joanne C. Gerstner Keynote Speaker - June 10CoSIDA 360 | MAY 2021 | 25 MAKE CONNECTIONS IN OUR EXHIBIT HALL Discover the latest products and services for athletics communications professionals in our Virtual Exhibit Hall. Meet live via Zoom with representatives from the various companies through their dedicated partner and exhibitor pages within the convention portal. CoSIDA U CAMP Programming is being developed for our third CoSIDA U Camp with sessions specific for students, graduate students, interns or those young professionals new to the profession. These sessions are planned for June 2-3. EDUCATIONAL LOUNGE Later in the summer, be on the lookout for our popular Educational Lounge small-group learning labs on numerous topics. Details will be added to the convention homepage. SIGN UP FOR THE VIRTUAL 5K/2 Mile Walk For a $15 donation, you can run a 5k or walk two miles between June 5-15 to have fun and to support the Goodwill & Wellness Committee’s contribution to Learn more on page 31 or at CoSIDA.com/2021convention. Sign at to join the fun. DONATE TO OUR COMMUNITY SERVICE PROJECT Don’t want to participate in the 5k? You can still donate to the virtual community service project. CoSIDA has partnered with Frontline Outreach in Orlando, Fla., to help fund the Frontline SportsCenter Youth Network, a program that teaches students to sportscast live games and be part of a broadcasting crew. Make your donation to this worthwhile project at one of two locations: • On • On the race registration page: MORE OPPORTUNITIES FOR FUN Two opportunities for networking, relaxation and fun are being planned leading up to convention week. More information about these events and how to sign up will be available on the convention homepage as details are firmed up. #CoSIDA21 Open Online Golf Tournament Partnering — a company that specializes in providing organizations simple tools to launch competitive Esports leagues and tournaments — CoSIDA will be hosting a WGT by TopGolf online golf tournament. This single elimination tournament will begin on May 31 with a live championship match the morning of Wednesday, June 9. Trivia Night We’ll crown the CoSIDA members with the most knowledge about the organization, pop culture and other useless knowledge in an online trivia challenge on Tuesday, June 1. For the most up-to-date schedule and details, visit: Use hashtag #CoSIDA21 to join in the conversation online.26 | 2021 and 2020 CoSIDA SPECIAL AWARDS RECIPIENTS Congratulations! Mark Fleming Moravian Rosa Gatti ESPN (retired) John Kean Missouri S&T Chris Plonsky Texas Herb Vincent SEC Chris Wenzler John Carroll (posthumous) Bob Beretta West Point Kent Cherrington Lasell Doug Hauschild Dayton Joe Mitch USBWA (retired) Blake Timm GNAC David Worlock NCAA Winning a CoSIDA Special Award is one of the most meaningful and humbling honors for the recipients being honored for their accomplishments, contributions and years invested in the sports communications profession. It’s a career highlight to walk across the stage at the live convention in front of peers to accept the award. Even though we can’t meet in person (again), these award winners deserve to be celebrated. CoSIDA is pleased to honor and recognize all our deserving Special Awards winners for 2021 and 2020 in our lead-up and during the #CoSIDA21 Virtual Convention. The CoSIDA Hall of Fame classes of 2021 and 2020 will be honored with a video presentation during the convention week of June 7-10. You’ll want to be sure to register (free) for the convention in advance to watch the shows. Details are at All other 2021 special award winners are being spotlighted in our Special Awards Salute series. Access these features at from the 2020 awards winners can be found at HALL OF FAME CLASS OF 2021 HALL OF FAME CLASS OF 2020CoSIDA 360 | MAY 2021 | 27 ARCH WARD AWARD 2021 Pete Moore – Syracuse 2020 Judy Willson – LSU WARREN BERG AWARD 2021 Dave Reed – Colorado College 2020 Cindy Potter – Columbia College (Mo.) JAKE WADE AWARD 2021 Gus Johnson – FOX Sports 2020 Ivan Maisel – ESPN.com KEITH JACKSON ETERNAL FLAME AWARD 2021 Jim Carr – NAIA 2020 Malcolm Moran – USBWA / IUPUI MARY JO HAVERBECK TRAILBLAZER AWARD 2021 Jessica Poole – Chicago State 2020 Sam Atkinson – Gallaudet BOB KENWORTHY COMMUNITY SERVICE AWARD 2021 Chris Mitchell – Granite City School District 2020 Patrick Walsh – Little Rock BUD NANGLE AWARD 2020 Tony Altobelli – Orange Coast College LESTER JORDAN AWARD 2021 Doug Hauschild – Dayton 2020 Bill Jones – Skidmore College CoSIDA ACHIEVEMENT AWARD 2021 Dan Surdam – SUNY Cortland (College) 2021 Brian Mason – Wisconsin (University) 2020 Dan McDonnell – Southern Indiana (College) 2020 Kara Fisher – Michigan State (University) RISING STAR AWARD 2021 Anthony O’Hagan – Yeshiva (College) 2021 Katie Mucci – Missouri Valley Conference (University) 2020 Danielle Percival – Piedmont (College) 2020 Chas Dorman – Princeton (University) LIFETIME ACHIEVEMENT AWARDS 2021 Norma Bertoch – BYU 2021 Debbie Copp – Oklahoma 2021 B.L. Elfring – Southern Maine 2021 Gregory Goings – Bowie State 2021 Jerry Hanson – Clarke 2021 Tom Nelson – St. Cloud State 2021 Kevin Ruple – Baldwin Wallace 2021 Jim Thies – Wisconsin-River Falls 2020 Blair Cash – Multnomah 2020 Debbie Darrah – Texas A&M 2020 Doug Dull – American 2020 Joe Hernandez – Ball State 2020 Stew Salowitz – Illinois Wesleyan 2020 Jeff Schwartz - North Dakota State 2020 Jim Sheehan – Hofstra 2020 Jim Vruggink – Purdue 2020 Matt Zircher - Northwestern Ohio (posthumous) 25-YEAR AWARDS 2021 Norma Bertoch – BYU 2021 Mike Cihon – Bowling Green 2021 Amy Dambro – Wyoming 2021 Liza David – UCLA 2021 Lonza Hardy, Jr. – MEAC 2021 Jim Heath – Hampton 2021 Brian Laubscher – Washington & Lee 2021 Adam Levin – Brandeis 2021 Brett Marhanka – Wheaton (Ill.) 2021 Kyle McRae – California 2021 Mark Mentone – Felician 2021 Clint Often – Mary Washington 2021 John Schild – Culver-Stockton 2021 Len Skoros – Hofstra 2021 Amy Villa – San José State 2020 Mark Bedics – NCAA 2020 J.D. Campbell – Indiana 2020 Scott Cummings – McKendree 2020 Eric Etchison – Maryville 2020 Ray Fink – Northwest (Wash.) 2020 Steve Flegel – Whitworth 2020 Bill Franques – LSU 2020 Tom Galbraith – Simpson 2020 Joe Gorby – St. Francis (Ill.) 2020 Scott Guise – York (Pa.) 2020 Ricky Hazel – Stetson 2020 Gene McGivern – St. Thomas (Minn.) 2020 Paul Misner – Dubuque 2020 Donny Nadeau - Saint Mary’s (Minn.) 2020 Layne Pitt – Wisconsin-Stout 2020 Jerry Price – Princeton 2020 Mike Robles – CCCAA 2020 Scottie Rodgers – Sun Belt Conference 2020 Mike Scala – Montclair State 2020 Greg Seitz – Jacksonville State 2020 Chuck Sullivan – American Athletic Conference 2020 Jon Terry – Bucknell 2020 Kevin Trainor – Arkansas 2020 Mike Tuberosa – Drexel 2020 Mark Wallington – UNLV All listed institutions are the school or organization the awards winner was at when they were selected for their special award.Next >