Army West Point Athletics
Black Knight Blog - Wednesday, Aug. 25
August 26, 2010 | General
Sorry for the delay about today's blog (Mady Salvani), so I didn't get off to a good start this week even though I was reminded.
Today reminded me of fall even though I still have two more weekends of hitting Delafield to go swimming. Of course it will be interrupted because of sports, but that is where I spend my leisure time in the summer. It is like having your own private pond, and unlike last summer when it was too cool to jump in, it turned out great for 2010.
It was a busy summer as Brian Gunning was married to Chris (Juliano) on July 3rd and our office had a great time at their wedding meeting both families. A bunch of us got together to go in on the gift so we could get them something nice. Shak (Ryan Yanoshak) was the person in charge and as always he did a great job.
The food was tremendous at the wedding and the bride and groom made a lovely couple. The first time I met Chris was at a get-together at Bob Beretta's house in the summer. I could tell right away that they were perfect for each other. They had only been going together a few weeks, but they were so in tune each other. I was not surprised when Brian asked Chris to marry him - of course she said yes, and that is why we had a great wedding to attend.
Prior to the wedding, we attended the Eastern College Athletic Conference Sports Information Director's Conference Workshop on Cape Cod in June. We were right on the beach and my hope was to have a view of the ocean - AND MY DREAM CAME TRUE when our room had a backdrop of the ocean.
I roomed with Tracy Nelson and the newest member of the staff Pam Flenke, and somehow I convinced them to allow me to leave the curtains open so that in the morning the first thing we would see is the ocean. Reluctantly Tracy agreed, and Pam being new went along.
The next day I was awakened at 5 a.m. as the sun splashed its rays into our room and I was afraid I had overslept and missed the morning session of the workshop. I couldn't find my glasses and was trying to figure out the time of day. I got up and looked out the window and enjoyed the view, find a clock, then realized I could get another two hours of sleep.
But I didn't know where Pam was because there were just a lot of covers scattered all over the pull out couch. When Tracy got up a few hours later she told me flat out that I lost my privilege and that the shades would be pulled from that point on. Then I found out that Pam was in the bed with clothes and everything she owned pulled over her head to keep out the sunlight. It was fun while it lasted because after that it rained the rest of the week,
There were a lot of seminars and discussions with the folks from our office, Shak, Tracy, Brian and Tim (Volkmann) and Dallas (Miller) on various panels along with our boss Bob Beretta.
The highlight of the week was cheering on Bob when he was awarded the 2010 University Division Irving T. Marsh Award at the annual ECAC awards dinner. It is one of the awards given annually to a University (Division I or II) and College Division (Division III, NAIA) or Junior College ECAC Sports Information Directors Association member who, in the opinion of the ECAC-SIDA membership and Executive Board, has exhibited excellence in the field of sports information. First presented in 1966, the awards are named after Irving T. Marsh, the ECAC Service Bureau founder and director until his retirement in 1973.
There are Division I and II Irving Marsh Awards along with ECAC-SIDA Media Award along with the Bill Esposito Award. Each one has a presenter and I was very, very honored when Bob asked me to introduce him. It was the highlight of my day and I called everyone to tell them the news, and I could not get in touch with anyone.
I kept my introduction light and tried to be funny, pointing out that when Bob first started working in our office right out of college, all the young females wanted to meet him and asked me to call them (prior to cell phone days) when he was in the office. So I did, but for a PRICE - I was well stocked with potato chips, candy bars and sometimes hot fudge sundaes. The only problem was when Bob told me he had a steady girlfriend and I kept it secret for as long as I could.
Also a highlight of the dinner was the arrival of former Army Athletic Director Carl Ullrich who who flew in from Virginia with his wife Becky. Mr. Ullrich hired Bob right out of college and came to support him that evening. It meant a lot to Bob and all in attendance.
Teams are in competition and we will be putting up a lot of releases so don't forgot to follow the action through releases, videos and photos.
