Everybody should have a day like I had June 25 at least once in their life. That was my day to be inducted into the College Sports Information Directors of America Hall of Fame and receive the organization's Arch Ward Award. When football coach Mike MacIntyre read about the award, he called it the Heisman Trophy for SIDs.

I was very fortunate that my mom, dad, sister and nephew were able to be there. Deputy director Marie Tuite was there, too, for the Hall of Fame induction ceremony, before heading to the annual NACDA convention in Dallas.

The day started with a congratulatory message from incoming AD Gene Bleymaier.

Literally, I worked on my acceptance speech up until 10 minutes before it was my turn for induction. The ballroom was filled with attendees. In fact, it was the first time in my memory that there was overflow seating outside in a hallway. Big East Conference associate commissioner John Pacquette did the introduction and he was very eloquent with his message.

Being fourth of the seven inductees, I did get a chance to gauge the room. The induction class included two women and five men. One inductee is deceased and his wife accepted on his behalf.

During my Hall of Fame acceptance speech, I offered a perspective of Title IX and how it applied to sports information directors, offered a dose of politics, referenced the 1934 San Jose State-Whitter College football game, mentioned the notion of personal seat licenses, glossed over 35 years of being a SID, thanked a lot of people and then stepped down. My remarks were supposed to be limited to five minutes. I probably went closer to nine and it was one of the shorter ones.

Then, later that night, I accepted the Arch Ward Award. The award is named after a former sportswriter for the Chicago Tribune who came up with the idea for the Major League Baseball All-Star Game in the 1930's and the one-time College Football All-Star Game that matched the best college players heading to the NFL against the previous year's NFL champion.

I didn't know that the Arch Ward Award presentation would be the first in a night of four SID-related awards prior to the Academic All-America Hall of Fame induction. After an introduction from COSIDA Board member Joe Browning of North Carolina Wilmington, my remarks were limited to about 45 seconds, but did include an "Oh My!" comment for the nationally-known sports broadcaster Mr. Dick Enberg who was in attendance. 

There were more handshakes, hugs and photos afterwards.

Simply, it was a day to remember. Thanks to San Jose Mercury News sportswriter Jon Wilner, who wrote a marvelous story preceding my once-in-a-lifetime day.

There still are more folks to thank from around the country and I will get to them as quickly as possible. The CoSIDA Workshop ends June 26.

I'll be back in the office on June 28, simply as San Jose State's athletics media relations director.