September 4, 2007
The stories, not the scores, are the real thrill for
athletics’ Dennis O’Donnell
Sports Information Director Dennis O'Donnell
In the early fall of 1988, Dennis O’Donnell
boarded an 8 a.m. flight out of LaGuardia with a pot of chili on his lap.
He was headed for his first home game at Rochester, a place where he has
built a remarkable career as the University’s sports information
director.
O’Donnell says his “lucky chili” had
been a great way to open the seasons at Kings Point, the U.S.
Merchant Marine Academy, where he worked for almost a decade. His wife,
Carol, had suggested that he continue the tradition in Rochester.
“I called ahead to find out if I could arrange
to have a hotplate and some dishes in the press box. I think the folks in
Rochester were starting to wonder about this guy they had just hired. The
check-in person at the airport looked at me funny when she put the chili
through screening. ‘Is that your lunch?’ she asked.
‘No,’ I told her, ‘it’s my in-flight snack.
I’ve flown this airline before.’ She just looked at me, a
little confused. I picked up my chili and walked through the gate.”
The game started at 1 p.m., and O’Donnell says
the chili was still in good shape at kickoff. Rochester played Union
College and won big.
In O’Donnell’s nearly 20 years at
Rochester he has seen his fair share of big wins, including the 1990 NCAA
men’s basketball championship, an experience that he describes as one
of the “wow” moments in his career. He’s also seen lots
of long hours, thousands of games, and an endless stream of stats, many of
which he recalls in remarkable detail.
The down-to-the-wire showdowns and overtime thrillers
keep the work exciting, but it’s that search for the great story that
O’Donnell says makes it seem less like a job and more like a passion.
“What I love most about this job is that I get
to tell the students’ stories. When I was growing up in Long Island
my parents used to watch this police show called Naked City. At the end it always
had the same line: ‘There are eight million stories in the Naked
City. This has been one of them.’ On a college campus, there are
thousand of stories, and as a sports information director I get to tell a
few of them. I love writing, and I love what I do. I try to share that
passion with my student interns.”
O’Donnell oversees a student staff of 15 who
handle a variety of tasks at home games. Rachel Askin ’07, who
interned for O’Donnell for four years and is now the athletic
media relations assistant director at West Texas A&M University, says
she would never have discovered her own passion for the public relations
side of athletics if it hadn’t been for O’Donnell.
“Working with Dennis was one of the best
experiences of my life because I learned so much from him, both about
working in sports information and about life. I owe him much thanks for
offering me the opportunity to learn and grow under his tutelage,”
says Askin. “What truly makes Dennis stand out is his patience,
knowledge, and dedication to Rochester athletics. Many people don’t
fully understand how demanding the sports information director position is.
When the athletes, coaches, and fans have all gone home, Dennis is often in
his office working for hours to make sure that all scores are reported and
that the game story is sent out to the media. There is no one more devoted
to promoting the Rochester athletic program than Dennis, and he does so
solely because he loves the University and loves athletics.”
This summer O’Donnell received national
recognition for his work in the field. He was inducted into the CoSIDA Hall
of Fame by the College Sports Information Directors of America.
O’Donnell is one of fewer than a dozen sports information directors
from Division III schools to receive the honor from an organization whose
members include those from high-profile Division I programs. Later this
year O’Donnell will travel to Boston to receive another prestigious
honor, the Elmore ‘Scoop’ Hudgins Outstanding Sports
Information Director Award from the All-America Football Foundation.
Eric McDowell, director of sports information for
Union College, nominated O’Donnell for the CoSIDA hall of fame.
McDowell says sports information directors at small colleges, such as
Rochester, have to do everything themselves. There is no to-do list, you
have to know how to do it all, and you have to think on your feet to be
able to handle whatever situation develops. O’Donnell, he says, has
done that for years, while adapting to a rapidly changing field. McDowell
says Rochester has been fortunate to have that consistency and level of
professionalism.
“Beyond the new technology and the intense
80-hour weeks, Dennis loves what he does and knows that in the end
it’s a people business. He is a model person, both personally and
professionally, as a father, husband, and sports information director.
He’s the example I point to when I want to show young people that you
can do what you love, you can stay in this field for a long time and be
passionate about the work you do, and you can succeed. That’s who
Dennis is, someone who is passionate about his profession and about the
students who play the sport. He’s exactly the kind of person who
should be in the hall of fame.”
Dave Hilbert, an assistant athletic director from the
University of Chicago, has known O’Donnell for years and describes
them both as “grizzled veterans.” While the profession has
changed dramatically in the past two decades, from the days of typewriters
to today’s world of Web sites and instant stats, O’Donnell
has adapted well while staying true to his roots as a writer and reporter.
“He’s always looking for that unique
story. He’s genuinely interested in the person behind the
athlete—who they are as students and as human beings. Dennis also
is a great sounding board. I probably call him once a week for advice or
just to see how he would approach a certain issue. I think I speak for all
my colleagues in the UAA in saying that he is an invaluable resource on how
to do this job and do it well. Whatever the issue, you know he’s been
there.”
Terry Gurnett ’77, associate director of
athletics and the women’s soccer coach, says he is fortunate to have
worked with the same sports information director for nearly two
decades. O’Donnell, he says, throws himself completely into the job
and cares deeply about the athletics program and the young people who take
part in it.
“Dennis personalizes his work. He knows every
kid, who they are and where they grew up. He not only knows them while
they’re here, but keeps in touch after they leave. We have athletes
from around the country, and their parents just can’t wait for the
game stories to hit the Web site. Dennis knows that and he makes it happen,
game after game.”
It’s in his office in the Goergen Athletic
Center where he makes it all happen. The space is a chaotic landscape of
athletic programs, paperwork, binders of stats dating back to the 1930s,
and crates filled with 20-ounce bottles of diet coke—the latter may
explain how he’s able to get those game stories up so quickly on
those long Friday and Saturday nights.
Ask O’Donnell what he’d be doing if he
weren’t working in this field, and there’s a rare moment when
he’s speechless. “I’ve got the mouth to be a lawyer, but
I don’t have the discipline,” he laughs. “Well, maybe the
hours could be better, but, really, I love what I’m doing.”
Jenny Leonard is editor of Currents.
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