March 2, 2011
BELLINGHAM, Wash. --- Paul Madison, longtime Sports Information Director at Western Washington University, has been selected to the College Sports Information Directors of America (CoSIDA) Hall of Fame as part of the 2011 class to be inducted June 28 at Marco Island, Fla.
Madison, 63, is in his 44th year as Western's SID. He initially began sports information work as a student in 1966, and except for a six-month break after graduation, has been with the Department of Athletics ever since.
"It is a most deserving award for Paul," said Western Director of Athletics Lynda Goodrich. "It certainly recognizes his numerous years of outstanding service not only to WWU, but to the Sports Information profession. Our coaches and athletes have always admired Paul and have been grateful for the hard work he puts in on their behalf."
During his time at Western, Madison has seen his field move from one featuring mimeograph machines and game statistics done by hand to websites and computerized stats instantly streamed across the world.
"For the past 40 years, Paul has been the constant not only for Western Washington University athletics but for the region's sports information directors as well," Great Northwest Athletic Conference Information Director Bob Guptill said. "The contributions he has made to Viking athletics go way beyond his duties as a sports information director providing thoughtful advice to the administrators and coaches he has worked with as well as leadership to all the SIDs throughout the region."
Madison served as Chair of the GNAC Sports Information Directors Committee for nine years, and spent the 2000-01 academic year as a member of the CoSIDA Board of Directors. In 1993, he received the Ike Pearson Award, given annually by the NAIA Sports Information Directors Association for outstanding contributions to the profession.
Joining Madison, who is a 1966 graduate of Ferndale High School. in the 2011 Hall of Fame class are Charles Bloom of the Southeastern Conference, Rich Herman of Clarion University, Mark Beckbach of Ohio Wesleyan University, and Dan McDonald, the former sports information director at Northwestern State (La.) and Southwestern Louisiana. McDonald was selected by the Veterans Selection Committee, the others were selected by a vote of over 90 CoSIDA Hall of Famers.
The formal induction ceremony is part of the annual CoSIDA convention.
CoSIDA Special Awards Profile: Western Washington's 44-year SID Paul Madison to be inducted into CoSIDA Hall of Fame
This profile on Western Washington University Sports Information Director Paul Madison is the 11th in a series of profiles and features on CoSIDA's 2011 Special Awards recipients.
by Blake Timm, Pacific (Ore.) Sports Information Director
Paul Madison felt that, from an early age, his long career in sports information at Western Washington University was pre-ordained.
"All of my coaches at Ferndale (Wash.) High School were former Western coaches. One of them knew that I had a real interest in sports, but no athletic skills," Madison chuckled. "When I was registering for classes my first year, he asked me if I would help keep statistics for the football team. That was a life-changing event for me."
That coach must have known how to scout talent as Madison is being honored not only for his long career in sports information, but also for being one of the best at his craft. The 44-year veteran at WWU is one of five members of the 2011 class of the College Sports Information Directors of America (CoSIDA) Hall of Fame. Madison will be inducted at the organization's Hall of Fame Gala on June 28 in Marco Island, Fla. during CoSIDA's annual Convention activities.
After his work in high school, Madison's coaches recommended him to handle statistics for the athletics program at WWU, located in Bellingham, Wash., just 20 minutes south of the Canadian border. Within three months after Madison began his freshman year in 1966, the graduate assistant handling the sports information duties decided the work wasn't for him.
While already passionate about the job, Madison was somewhat overwhelmed when he was asked to assume the sports information duties as a first-year student. "I talked to a senior athlete who I trusted, and he said I should go for it. I did, and it was the best thing that could have happened to me."
It also helped out financially. At the time, tuition at WWU was $88 per quarter. His wage as sports information director was $80 per month.
Upon earning his degree in journalism from WWU in 1971, Madison left for a short time to work for a recreation center in Spokane, Wash. He returned to Western after six months, first working as the part-time sports information director before being elevated to full-time status in 1974. The move was a win-win proposition.
"It is a most deserving award for Paul," said WWU Director of Athletics Lynda Goodrich. "It certainly recognizes his numerous years of outstanding service not only to WWU, but to the sports information profession. Our coaches and athletes have always admired Paul and have been grateful for the hard work he puts in on their behalf."
Madison has been able to chronicle the highs and lows of the Western athletic program over four decades. Among the highlights was the selection of WWU basketball player Grant Dykstra for the 2006 V Foundation Comeback Award and six straight NCAA Division II national titles by the women's rowing program. He promoted a catch by football receiver Chris Moore, which won an ESPY Award for "best college catch" in ESPN's first ever awards show back in 1992. Madison then campaigned for nearly 16 years to have the award delivered into Moore's hands.
Madison also guided the WWU media relations efforts after the death of a star men's basketball player in 1990, just a day after the Vikings had clinched a NAIA district playoff spot.
Through it all, Madison has been recognized as a professional of the highest degree by his colleagues in the Northwest.
"Paul is truly the one of the classiest, hardest working and most dedicated individuals in the profession," said Jonathan Gordon, assistant athletic director for media relations at arch-rival Central Washington University. "I consider Paul to be one of my best friends in the profession, and someone I can turn to if I am in need of advice - professional or personal."
"His knowledge of not only the Vikings, but for most of Northwest small college athletics over the past 35 years, in encyclopedic," said Frank MacDonald, former SID at Seattle Pacific University and current member of the media relations staff with the Seattle Sounders. "Through it all he has been a model of character, being thorough and thoughtful of all of those involved. Yes, he's just doing his job, but what matters most is that he cares."
"For the past 40 years, Paul has been the constant not only for Western Washington University athletics, but for the region's sports information directors as well," said Bob Guptill, publicity director for the Great Northwest Athletic Conference (GNAC). "The contributions he has made to Viking athletics go way beyond his duties as a sports information director, providing helpful advice to the administrators and coaches he has worked with as well as his leadership to all the SIDs throughout the region."
In addition to his work at WWU, Madison served nine years as chair of the GNAC sports information directors, one year as an at-large representative on the CoSIDA Board of Directors and two terms as Area I representative on the NAIA-SIDA Executive Committee. He spent five years as publicity director for the Evergreen Conference, three years as the SID for the Northwest Women's Basketball League and one season promoting the Washington Intercollegiate Basketball Association.
In 1993, Madison was honored by NAIA-SIDA with the Ike Pearson Award, presented annually to honor outstanding contributions within the profession.
Working with other sports information professionals has been a big reason for Madison's long stay at WWU. "Sports information is the greatest thing ever in that we always have each other's back," Madison said. "I have never known of another profession where people are so willing to help one other. It's very special."
Another thing that has kept Madison going is the opportunity to promote the success of his alma mater.
"Western has had so many stories to tell with its student-athletes and coaches, as well as our program overall," Madison said. "I feel so blessed that I have been the one who has been able to get these stories told.
"Each day, I wake up looking forward to going to work."
Joining Madison as members of the 2011 induction class of the CoSIDA Hall of Fame are Charles Bloom of the Southeastern Conference, Rich Herman of Clarion University, Mark Beckenbach of Ohio Wesleyan University and Dan McDonald, former sports information director at Northwestern State (La.) and Southwestern Louisiana.
Paul Madison - SPORTS INFORMATION DIRECTOR
In 44th year as director of sports information at Western, the last 36 being full-time, following two on part-time basis and five as student ... Chair of Great Northwest Athletic Conference Sports Information Directors Committee for nine years (2001-10) ... Served one-year (2000-01) as College Division Representative (West Region) on College Sports Information Directors of America (CoSIDA) Board of Directors ... Received WWU President's Exceptional Effort Award in 2010 ... 1993 recipient of Ike Pearson Award, given annually by NAIA-Sports Information Directors Association to honor outstanding contributions to profession ... Has received 43 CoSIDA and NAIA publications awards; including eight Best in the Nation ... Served two terms as Area I Representative on Executive Committee of the NAIA-SIDA ... Past member of the gambling awareness and job attrition committees of CoSIDA... Also served as publicity director for Evergreen Conference (five years), Northwest Women's Basketball League (three years), and Washington Intercollegiate Basketball Association (one year) ... Director of Public Relations at Holiday Hills Recreation Center in Spokane in 1972 ... Obtained bachelor's degree in journalism at Western in 1971 ... In 1969, received Rodstrom Scholarship from Puget Sound Sportswriters and Broadcasters Association ... 1966 graduate of Ferndale High School ... 63 years old ... He and wife Geri Forsberg have one child, son Aaron 12.
Sports information director honored
Written by Kristy Kim, The Western Front
After 44 years of hard work, adaptation and dedication, Western's Sports Information Director Paul Madison has been selected to the College Sports Information Directors of America Hall of Fame, as part of the 2011 class to be inducted June 28 at Marco Island, Fla.
Madison, 63, said his career in sports started during his years attending Ferndale High School, he was asked to keep statistics for the football team. He said he became the football, basketball and baseball manager during high school.
"In junior high school, I was a person that loved sports, but I wasn't gifted enough to play," Madison said. "Then I was able to help out with the sports teams at Ferndale and that was something I could do that involved sports. It was just fantastic."
Madison said he wrote for Ferndale High School's newspaper and for the small weekly newspaper in Ferndale. Once Madison graduated high school, he said his high school coaches recommended him to the athletic director at Western.
He worked and learned the ropes of the sports information directors in his first quarter at Western in 1966, Madison said. After that quarter, the graduate student who was doing that job quit, so they offered Madison the position as a second-quarter freshman.
Madison said working as a sports information director as a student, Western didn't have a lot of records or different archive material. He said he went through every Western school newspaper, through every file that every coach would allow him to, and built off of that.
"Calculators didn't exist when I first started working as a director at Western," Madison said. "We used the `slide rule' long division, and we had a very large book with different percentages."
Madison graduated from Western in 1971. It was Madison's junior year at Western when he said the journalism program was first implemented. Afterward, Madison said he worked in Spokane for six months but ended up coming back to Western to work as a part-time director during the fall of 1972.
"It was during my three years working part-time when I went to my first national convention for CoSIDA," Madison said. "I drove to Minneapolis-Saint Paul without knowing if I had any place to stay."
At the convention, Madison said sports information directors of University of Washington and Washington State University had an extra bed for Madison to stay in. He said they brought him to all the different meetings at the convention.
Madison said the best thing about being a sports information director is the relationships he builds with people at other schools. He said sports information directors wouldn't be able to do their jobs without everybody helping one another at different schools.
Butch Kamena, the NCAA compliance coordinator, academic advisor and the assistant sports information director at Western has also been an influential part of Madison's years as a director.
Kamena said he met Madison during Kamena's second year attending Western in 1986, when he was assigned to write about a Western game for The Bellingham Herald.
"When I met Paul, he said, `I got some things I need done during the spring,' and asked, `are you interested in helping out?" Kamena said. "I've been a part-time, so'metimes a full-time, assistant for Paul ever since."
Kamena received an e-mail on Feb. 28 saying Madison was chosen for the CoSIDA Hall of Fame. He said it is a much-deserved honor for Madison.
There are an assortment of different tasks that go into being a sports information director, Kamena said. He said for every significant thing that has happened during the past 40 years of Western athletics, Madison has been there.
"Paul has adapted to the changing technology and done a great job of finding creative ways to publicize Western," Kamena said. "Maybe he has been hesitant to embrace the newest technology coming down the road, but once he embraces it, he embraces it fully."
Kamena said it's great Madison is being honored by his peers. He said it's the people who understand the work Madison does more than anyone else.
The sports information director at Pacific University of Oregon, Blake Timm, said he submitted the CoSIDA Hall of Fame nomination for Madison in January 2010.
Timm said he was not the only one involved in the nomination process. He said he received letters of recommendation from a number of individuals who have looked up to Madison.
"If you talk to anyone who has been a sports information director in the Northwest, they would tell you what a class-act and what a tremendous person Paul is," Timm said. "Paul handles things with the upmost professionalism. He's also one of the nicest guys you're ever going to meet."
Timm was at a Pacific University of Oregon baseball game when he received a phone call about Madison being accepted into the Hall of Fame. He said he tried to get a hold of Madison that day but didn't get to talk to him until the following Monday.
"It made my week to give him the news that he was going to the Hall of Fame," Timm said.
Longtime colleague Bob Guptill, the GNAC information director, was happy to hear about Madison's Hall of Fame award. Guptill has worked with Madison for about 30 years and said he respects him as one of the best sports information directors throughout the region.
"I was the sports information director at Central Washington University in 1980," Guptill said. "It's the nature of the job when you're playing another team you work quite closely with their sports information director as well. Paul has had a great career at Western and I'm very happy for him."
Madison said being a sports information director takes up a lot of hours, usually 50 to 70 hour work weeks depending on different times of the year. He said the great thing about being a sports inormation director is everything changing each season.
Madison said being a sports information director is basically a one-man shop, but he has many different people who help.
He said he deals with media, coaches, athletes and any crises situations that may occur within the athletics department.
"I think the thing that makes me good at what I do here at Western is that I'm fairly good at everything and not great at anything," Madison said. "I think I do a good job in making sure the student athletes and coaches get all the accolades they deserve for their accomplishments. You wouldn't put in the hours if it wasn't something you loved to do."
Through all of Madison's experiences as a sports information director, Kamena said it is about time Madison is honored for his achievements. He said what is most remarkable about Madison is his humility.
"Paul doesn't want credit," Kamena said. "Paul wants to see other people get credit. It's kind of neat that after 40-some years, he's being forced to accept a little bit of the credit."
