Greetings once again! In the coming weeks the agenda for the 2017 workshop in Valley Forge June 6-9 will be made public, but in the meantime I have some very exciting news to announce. The Executive Board has completed its voting on the annual awards. I have had a chance to notify each award winner and am pleased to present to you this year's honorees.
 
College Division Marsh Winner: Kevin Beattie, RPI
Kevin Beattie was hired at RPI as the sports information director in August 1998 and was named associate athletic director for communications & compliance in March 2010. He also served as acting athletic director during the 2007-08 academic year.
 
His current responsibilities include corresponding with the NCAA as RPI's compliance officer for each of Rensselaer's 23 sports, including both Division I hockey programs. He also oversees six of the Institute's athletic programs as well as the athletic communications and strength & conditioning aspects of the department.
 
Beattie has also been the director of media relations for numerous NCAA Division I Men's Hockey Championships at the Times Union Center, including the 2001 Frozen Four, as well as numerous NCAA Division III and Liberty League Championships. He is Rensselaer's Athletics Hall of Fame selection committee chair, serves as a member of the College Sports Information Directors of America (CoSIDA) Capital One Academic All-America Committee, as well as ECAC-SIDA (Eastern Collegiate Athletic Conference-Sports Information Directors Association). He is a frequent panelist at educational workshops and is a past president of ECAC-SIDA (2013-14).
 
Full Bio (http://www.rpiathletics.com/staff.aspx?staff=38)
 
 
University Division Marsh Winner: Mike Mahoney, Penn
Mike Mahoney has been the Director of Athletic Communications at the University of Pennsylvania since 2005. Prior to arriving at Penn, Mahoney had stops at Dartmouth and Northwestern. Mahoney is serving on the ECAC-SIDA Workshop organizing committees for Valley Forge and also served on the committee in 2009 that was held in Avalon, N.J.
 
Mahoney currently holds the position of President of Philly-SIDA since 2010. He has been instrumental in continuing to grow the local organization that honors student-athletes for academic success. He coordinates the 24 Academic All-Area teams that are recognized each year by Philly-SIDA as well as coordinating monthly meetings of the organization. 
 
 
Bob Kenworthy Award Winner: Roger Crosley
Roger Crosley served as Director of Sports Information and Communications at MIT from 1986 through March, 2003. From 1995-1997 the role of Intercollegiate Scheduling Coordinator for MIT's 42 intercollegiate sports was added to his responsibilities. In 2003, Crosley began an eight-year run as Coordinator of Athletic Operations at Emerson College.
 
During his time as a sports information director, Crosley nominated 84 College Sports Information Directors of America (CoSIDA) Academic All-Americas, and coordinated nominations for 24 National Collegiate Athletic Association Postgraduate Scholarship winners.
 
Crosley served as Eastern College Athletic Conference - Sports Information Directors Association (ECAC-SIDA) Treasurer from 1987-2014. In 1997 he was named the winner of the Irving T. Marsh Award given by ECAC-SIDA for dedication and contributions to, and excellence in, the field of collegiate sports information. In 2010 he was recognized by CoSIDA with inclusion in that organization's Hall of Fame. He also earned the ECAC-SIDA Pete Nevins Award for Distinguished Achievement in 2013.

Full Bio (http://ecac-sida.org/staff.aspx?staff=5)
 
 
Pete Nevins Award for Distinguished Achievement: Larry Dougherty, Temple
Larry Dougherty is in his 14th year at Temple and sixth as Senior Associate Athletic Director for Communications after serving the previous four years as Associate Athletic Director. In his position, Dougherty oversees the athletic communications of the University's 19-sport Division I-A athletic program as well as the television and radio operations.  He also is the varsity sport administrator for women's soccer, men's crew and women's rowing.
 
Active in regional and national organizations, Dougherty served as chair of the organizing committee for the 2009 ECAC-SIDA Workshop held in Avalon, N.J., and the 2005 CoSIDA Workshop held in Philadelphia. Dougherty served as the president of CoSIDA during 2010-11. He was the recipient of the ECAC-SIDA's 2011 Irving T. Marsh Award.  He was inducted into the CoSIDA Hall of Fame in 2015 and recently has been named the recipient of the 2017 CoSIDA Bob Kenworthy Community Service Award.
 
Full Bio (http://www.owlsports.com/staff.aspx?staff=172)
 
 
Bill Esposito Award: Katie Callahan, Ithaca
Katie Callahan has spent all four years of her enrollment at Ithaca working in the athletics communication office and has worked for three years at Colgate University as an intern, where she covers volleyball and women's ice hockey.
 
On two different occasions during her four years at Ithaca, the athletics communication office has been down a full-time position and Katie has been the first to step in. In 2014, she was the primary statistician for volleyball and continued her volleyball responsibilities, as well as aided in football stats since. This spring, Katie is serving as the primary contact for the Bombers softball team after the office is down another full-time employee. She went to Justin Lutes, Associate Director of Athletics Communication, and graciously volunteered to take on the responsibility.  
 
Katie has written numerous athlete of the week releases and assisted in the maintenance of Ithaca's website on a daily basis. She is always willing to help and is an extremely reliable person, no matter what is asked of her. Katie is a driven individual that is always trying to learn and grow in this field. Due to her experience within the athletics communication office, she has taken it upon herself to teach the younger students the ins-and-outs of our website, office and filing areas.
 
Katie will graduate from Ithaca this May with a degree in sport media and has already accepted a position to work within the athletics communication office at the University of Florida.
 
 
Monahan/Wallace Media Award Winner: Matt Leon, KYW-AM 1060
Matt Leon, who was born and raised in southern New Jersey, is a radio veteran who moved away from the Delaware Valley for several years before returning to join the newsradio team at KYW-AM 1060.
 
A 1992 graduate of Clayton High School in Gloucester County, N.J., Leon attended York College of Pennsylvania where he majored in mass communications with an emphasis in radio and TV. He earned his degree in 1996.
 
Leon is currently the play-by-play announcer for Philadelphia University men's and women's basketball, a position he has held since 2008. Prior to 2008, spent five years as the radio play-by-play voice for the University of Pennsylvania football team.
 
Full Bio (http://philadelphia.cbslocal.com/personality/matt-leon/)
  If you have a chance, make sure you take time to congratulate these wonderful individuals on the achievement. I also hope you will be able to join us on the evening of June 8 in Valley Forge, Pa., as we formally honor these greats of our profession.
 
Continue to stay tuned to our website and social media outlets over the coming weeks. Not only will we be getting out more information on the upcoming workshop, we will also be sharing more about exactly who these award winners are and why we found it fitting to honor them.
 
I wish everyone the best during this time of crossover season.
 
Mark Fisher
 
ECAC-SIDA President
412-268-3087
mwfisher@andrew.cmu.edu