Maggart Wins ECAC's Bill Esposito Award
College Sports Information Directors of America
Throughout his four years as an undergraduate student at Le Moyne College, Jonathan Maggart has compiled a lengthy list of noteworthy achievements, and he recently added yet another impressive accomplishment to his resume when he was selected the 2005 Bill Esposito Award recipient by the Eastern College Athletic Conference Sports Information Directors Association.
The Esposito Award is presented to a graduating college senior who wishes to pursue a career in athletic communications. The Award is designed to honor the memory of one of the true patriarchs of the sports information profession. Bill Esposito served as the Sports Information Director at St. John's University in New York for 25 years. He served as president of ECAC-SIDA in 1971-72 and was the organization's Irving T. Marsh Award recipient in 1973. He was inducted into the CoSIDA Hall of Fame in 1984. Esposito passed away in 1995.
"Jonathan has been a fixture in the Le Moyne athletic department, and has been an unmatched asset to the Sports Information Office," says Le Moyne SID Mike Donlin. "He has patrolled the press box for his beloved baseball Dolphins since his freshman year and has mastered Sports Information duties for every other sport. More importantly, Jonathan has been willing to pass along his vast knowledge as a mentor to other students in the department."
Maggart has been a regular at a variety of other upstate New York sporting venues as well, serving in a host of capacities at Alliance Bank Stadium in Syracuse; handling occasional official scorer's duties for the Syracuse SkyChiefs and working assorted events at Syracuse University's Carrier Dome, including this past winter's NCAA Men's Basketball Regional.
Maggart may be most renowned, however, for his work with the Northeast Division I Baseball Coaches Poll. During his sophomore year at Le Moyne, Maggart independently initiated the weekly poll, which ranks the Top 15 teams in the Northeast and East regions. Subsequently, the poll has become sponsored by CollegeBaseballInsider.com, generating additional attention and notoriety for a bevy of deserving teams and athletes. The poll quickly became a fixture in newspaper columns and media notes from Maine to North Carolina.
"Jonathan toils numerous hours each week, not for monetary gain, but rather so that someone can settle the argument of who is the best team in the region \* and publicize it," Donlin adds.
Maggart will graduated with honors from Le Moyne on May 22, having earned a mathematics degree with a minor in statistics. He will receive the Esposito Award on Wednesday evening, June 8, during ECAC-SIDA's 50th anniversary workshop, slated for the Sea Crest Resort in North Falmouth, Mass. He accepted a summer position in scoreboard operations with the Washington Nationals and he will serve an internship in the sports information office at the U.S. Naval Academy during the 2005-06 academic year.