Special Awards Profile: 25-Year Award recipient Dave Beyer of Mercer University

May 25, 2011

in Awards,

College Sports Information Directors of America

Today's profile on 2011 CoSIDA 25-Year Award recipient Dave Beyer is the 24th in a series of profiles and features on CoSIDA's 2011 Special Awards recipients.

Please see the full list of award winners and links to their profiles below the Beyer feature.

by Tamara Flarup, University of Wisconsin Director of Website Services and Chair of the Special Awards Committee

Dave Beyer was named sports information director for Mercer University in January of 2010. He will receive a CoSIDA 25-Year Award for his long tenure in the profession during the CoSIDA Convention next month in Marco Island, Florida.

Beyer has more than 25 years of service in the athletics media relations field, most recently serving in a similar capacity at Benedictine University (Ill.). He has also worked as the SID at Rockford College (Ill.), Loras College (Iowa), Aurora University (Ill.), Cal State-San Bernardino, Rancho Santiago Community College (Calif.) and Biola University (Calif.) during his career.

With his appointment to the NCAA Division I Mercer position, Beyer now has the unique distinction of having worked at every level of collegiate competition: two-year, NAIA, NCAA I, II and III at some point during his tenure in the profession.

In addition to his full-time sports communications duties, Beyer concurrently served as the conference publicist for the now-defunct Northern Illinois-Iowa Conference for 10 years. He was a volunteer at the 1996 Atlanta Olympic Games and spent seven seasons as the head statistician for the Quad City Steamwheelers of the arenafootball2 league.

He has overseen media relations for numerous league, regional and national championship events, most recently serving as the media host for the 2006 NCAA Division II women's lacrosse championships and 2006 NCAA Division III men's and women's outdoor track and field championships (the largest championship event for DIII).

Professionally, Beyer is a member of the College Sports Information Directors of America (CoSIDA) and is in his 11th year sitting on the prestigious Capital One Academic All-America® Committee. He is also in his sixth year as a member of CoSIDA's Publication Contest committee. Personally, Beyer has earned a total of 38 awards for publications and writing.

Beyer is a native of Whittier, Calif., and is a 1984 graduate of Biola University. He earned his Bachelor of Arts degree in communications and was also a four-year member of the Eagles' wrestling team. He prepped at Whittier Christian High School.

Beyer is single and resides in Macon.

"I am so blessed to have the opportunity to work for an outstanding university such as Mercer," said Beyer. "Once I visited the campus, it took me all of about 30 seconds to know how much I wanted to be here and be a part of the Bears' team.

"The beauty of the campus and the quality of the facilities was second only to the genuine and caring nature of the people I encountered everywhere I went. I look forward to helping spread the word to others about the many great aspects of Mercer University and the exciting things happening in its athletics program."

The Dave Beyer File

(1 yr.) SID - Biola University (Calif.) - 1984-85
(1 yr.) Statistician/Publications Coordinator - Rancho Sanitago C.C. (Calif.) - 1987-88
(1 yr.) SID - Rancho Santiago (Calif.) - 1988-89
(3 yrs.) SID - Cal State San Bernardino - 1989-92
(6 yrs.) SID - Aurora University (Ill.) - 1992-98
(4 yrs.) SID - Loras College (Iowa) - 1998-2002
(3 yrs.) SID - Rockford College (Ill.) - 2002-05
(4 1/2 yrs.) SID - Benedictine University (Ill.) - 2005-2009 (Dec.)
(1 1/2 yrs.) SID - Mercer University (Ga.) - 2010 (Jan.)-present

• Concurrent with employment at Benedictine, Rockford and Aurora, was also the Conference Publicist for the Northern Illinois-Iowa Conference for a total of 10 years. 9/92-6/98 & 7/2002-6/2006
• Member of Academic All-America Committee (6/99-present)
• CoSIDA Publications Committee (7 years)
• Has attended 12 CoSIDA workshops
• Has the unique distinction of serving as an SID at all levels of college athletics: NCAA I, NCAA II, NCAA III, NAIA/NCCAA, & community college
• Has a total of 38 awards for publications and writing from various organizations, including 5 "Best in the Nation" citations from CoSIDA