General | 1/11/2024 9:44:47 AM
Ann King, former Director of Athletic Communications at Russell Sage College was posthumously awarded the Division III Commissioner's Association Dan Dutcher Meritorious Service Award at the 2024 NCAA Convention on Jan. 11.
King, who passed away on September 14, 2023 after a battle with cancer, was honored as the first member of the Empire 8 25th Anniversary Legends series earlier that month.
A legend in the Sports Information/Athletic Communications field, King was in her 37th year as a Sports Information Director and her 15th season at Russell Sage College, where she was hired as the institution's first full-time Director of Athletic Communications in the summer of 2009. Prior to that, King spent 17 years as SID at The College of New Jersey and six years as SID at her alma mater, Drew University.
King was elected to the CoSIDA Hall of Fame in 2006, and was named the first recipient of the organization's Warren Berg Award in 2003. She was also selected as the 2018 recipient of the CoSIDA Mary Jo Haverbeck Award, which is presented annually to a CoSIDA member who is a pioneer in the field of sports information who has mentored and helped improve the level of ethnic and gender diversity within CoSIDA.
King is a past president of the Eastern Athletic Communications Association (formerly ECAC-SIDA), serving as the organization's President in 2003-04, and prior to entering the presidential rotation served as the organization's secretary from 1995-2002. She is the 2007 winner of ECAC-SIDA's Irving T. Marsh Award. In 2020, King was named the ECAC-SIDA Pete Nevins Award winner for Distinguished Achievement. She also served as a past president of D3SIDA and from 1999-2002, served as a College Division Representative on the CoSIDA Board of Directors, becoming just the 10th female named to the Board of Directors in the organization's 60-year history.
She was named to the NCAA's Division III-CoSIDA Strategic Communications Committee in the spring of 2012 and was elected as the group's chair. She also served as a member of the NCAA Media Coordination Advisory Board from 2012-2015. One of the founders of WoSIDA (formerly FAME), King has been active in the creation of an organization whose mission is to discuss issues facing women in the sports media relations field. She served as the first president of FAME from 2008-10.
For all King's professional skills, her innate kindness and unwavering willingness to help others will be her legacy. She would do anything for anyone, without hesitation. King was an extremely loving and passionate person, touching the lives of many through work and her personal life. She had a unique ability to connect with others, no matter their background.
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The members of the Empire 8 Conference are committed first and foremost to the pursuit of academic excellence and the league is regarded as an outstanding NCAA Division III conference. The membership has distinguished itself among its peer group for its quality institutions, spirited and sportsmanlike competition, outstanding services and highly ethical policies and practices. Its commitment to serve the educational needs of its student-athletes is the hallmark of the E8. For more on the Empire 8 visit www.empire8.com.
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