Jim Amidon — For about a decade, I represented the face of the Wabash College Athletics Department. As the sports information director, I worked with then-athletic director Max Servies to promote Wabash’s student-athletes to our competitive peers, the media, and the public at large.
It was a thrilling run. I wrote about football championships, Monon Bell wins, top-10 swimming teams, and some of the best cross country seasons Wabash has ever had.
When I moved into my present position, I heard lots of chatter about how big my shoes would be to fill; how important it would be to find a replacement sports information director with my level of unbridled enthusiasm and passion for all things Wabash — specifically Wabash athletics.
As it turns out, Brent Harris has more than filled those shoes. He’s taken the position to new levels of professionalism and passion.
Many of you know Brent; he’s lived in this community all his life, save a short stint working at a newspaper in Southern Indiana. Even then, he commuted back to Crawfordsville to volunteer as public address announcer for basketball games and statistician for football games.
I vividly remember when he came to campus to interview for the position maybe eight years ago. He seemed sure of his abilities, but perhaps unsure about the nature of the job.
Now, many years later, Brent has become the public face of the Athletics Department. But it’s funny because he’s not as public as I was; he puts our coaches and student-athletes out in front and tells their stories admirably.
Brent works in close collaboration with Athletic Director Vernon Mummert, and together they have lifted our intercollegiate athletics program to new heights, within our conference and nationally.
Brent has put an emphasis on hospitality and professionalism for our visiting teams, officials, and media. Vernon has emphasized sportsmanship, class, and fair play.
I applaud them both; I’m proud of them and all the Little Giants.
When reporters come to campus to cover our games, they’re treated with the same respect as if they were covering the Colts’ home opener for Sports Illustrated. Trust me when I say this is rare, if not unique in Division III.
Saturday we kicked off our 121st season of intercollegiate football. I feel safe saying that anyone across the country who cares about Division III football knew about our game with Franklin. Brent does his job that well. In fact, it was one of the featured games nationally thanks to Brent’s promotional efforts. That kind of effort helped land three of our football players on pre-season All-America teams.
He applies the same level of passion and professionalism to all of our sports. He has computer-generated statistics printed and ready for coaches and media poolside, on the track, soccer pitch, and baseball diamond. He prints the programs, sets up the sound system, provides meals for media, and has even sung the National Anthem once or twice.
He’s also becoming recognized nationally as one of the best in the biz — something we’ve known for a while.
Last week he was honored for his feature writing. Brent wrote a piece for Wabash Magazine about long-time football clock operator Rob Tomey’s battle with cancer and how precious his last games at Wabash were to him.
In competition with his peers at every level in the NCAA, Brent received second place in the Fred S. Stabley Sr. National Writing Contest — for all of the stories submitted for judging by the College Sports Information Directors of America. The story was honored as the best general feature in the nation and also swept the district judging.
On the same day we found out about his writing awards, the CoSIDA Digest — the national magazine for sports information directors — had a two-page feature on Brent Harris, Wabash, and how well he does his job.
It’s a good thing CoSIDA wrote about Brent’s good work because you wouldn’t otherwise notice; he draws no attention to himself. But he’s always the first person to arrive at the stadium and the last one to leave, making sure stats are reported, media are satisfied, and the website is updated.
All of us at Wabash are proud of Brent’s work and the public recognition of it.
For the record, those shoes I had to fill almost a decade ago? They’ve gotten a good bit bigger with Brent in them.
