College Sports Information Directors of America

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Layne Pitt – University of Wisconsin-Stout, Sports Information Director

CoSIDA 25-Year Award

by Logan Myhre, Stoutonia sports editor (UW-Stout student newspaper)

If you need to know something, anything, about University of Wisconsin–Stout’s athletics, there’s one man to go to. That man is UW–Stout’s sports information director Layne Pitt, who has been informing people and creating stories about UW-Stout sports for more than 40 years - ever since he stepped onto campus in 1978 as a student.

As the sports information director, Pitt is basically the keeper of all things having to do with Stout athletics. His job entails storytelling - writing feature stories game recaps, previews; taking photographs; filming games; assisting with social media; statistics and record-keeping; maintaining Hall of Fame records; and countless other duties. While Pitt is the only full-time sports information employee, he has a student staff of up to 15-20 students depending on the time of the year that works predominately with stats, photography, video and livestreaming.

This spring, Pitt is receiving a well-deserved CoSIDA 25-Year Award for his long-time commitment and service to the athletic communications professions.

Pitt is teaching photography to middle-school aged kids in a “College for Kids” class in 2003.

Getting his love of sports and history from his father, sports has been a constant in Layne’s life. He also loves history, not only sports history but American and world history as well.

“I’ve always had a knack for memorizing statistics and stupid stuff,” Pitt said.

Don Steffen, Stout’s University editor, has known Pitt since they were both students at Stout. He refers to Layne as a “walking, talking Blue Devil history book.”

“I’ve yet to stump him with a question, though on the rare occasion he’s had to look something up to answer,” Steffen said.

Although Pitt has an incredible wealth of sports knowledge, his favorite part of the job is his ability to do photography and the creativity that it entails.

“When I have the chance to grab a camera, that’s almost like a sense of relief. I just love when I’m shooting, particularly sports,” he said, “If they would say that I could only do one thing that would be it. I’d dump everything [else] in a minute.”

Pitt’s passion for photography shows in his work. He captures intense and interesting moments during Blue Devils games. During his newspaper days, Pitt was able to shoot some professional sports, saying he did once get run over by a Green Bay Packer kick returner.

Although he enjoys photography, his other duties are equally as important to the athletics department.

“Layne is probably one of the most important staffer in terms of gaining knowledge, getting knowledge and getting information and stories out to the public so they can be a part of what we’re doing,” UW-Stout athletic director Duey Naatz said, “We’d be in trouble without him.”

Pitt became involved with Stout athletics when he transferred to the university in 1978 to study industrial education. A photography major at Milwaukee Area Technical College, he immediately joined The Stoutonia, the UW-Stout student newspaper, as a photographer. He went on to serve as the paper’s photo editor, sports writer and managing editor.

“I got interested in journalism through The Stoutonia, really. I never planned to be a writer but English and writing always came fairly easily to me. Journalism was just a natural step,” Pitt said.

That step into journalism turned into a career. After graduating from Stout in 1981, he worked at the local newspaper for 11 years, serving as a photojournalist, sports editor and editor-in-chief. Stout sports coverage was part of the job.

Pitt joined UW-Stout Photographic Services in the fall of 1992 and also served as the adviser to The Stoutonia before taking on the sports information role in December, 1994. He has served in that position ever since. While the physical office has stayed the same, the job has changed dramatically.

Starting in an analog world, he has moved into the digital age and digital content. From his early professional days, Pitt recalls having to develop photos in a darkroom and send articles out by fax.

Pitt built the first website for Stout Athletics himself, going to the Administrative Office and manually and meticulously writing HTML code for sports schedules. Although the website has since been updated and overhauled numerous times to include much more information, he still runs and manages it.

Doing things in the digital age is a double-edged sword, Pitt noted. Information is easier to obtain or send out through email or online, but the appetite for information has increased. As people want to see live streams of games and with the rush of social media, they want to know things as quickly as possible.

He wouldn’t want it any other way, however.

“I have a job where you get paid to watch sports. It’s not brain surgery or rocket science, but it’s enjoyable and rewarding,” Pitt said. “I’ve been able to spend the last 40 years watching other people’s kids play sports.”

Gallery: (5/5/2020) Layne Pitt, 25-Year Award

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