Special Awards Salute: Paul Madison (Western Washington), Lifetime Achievement Award

March 9, 2016

in Awards,

College Sports Information Directors of America

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Special Awards Salute: Paul Madison (Western Washington), Lifetime Achievement Award

• 2016 CoSIDA Special Awards general announcement/release • Special Awards feature story schedule

by Jack Neumann, University of Calgary (retired) /CoSIDA Special Awards Committee member 5497

The awards keep coming for former Western Washington University Sports Information Director Paul Madison. Madison, who retired after 48 years of service as the Vikings’ main media contact on Sept. 30, 2015, will receive a CoSIDA Lifetime Achievement plaque at the organization’s annual convention in Dallas in June 2016.

Madison joined Western Washington, a school a mere 20 minutes south of the British Columbia-Washington border in Bellingham, Washington, on a full-time basis as a freshman in 1966 and has been a fixture in the Vikings athletic department ever since. He served as full-time SID for 40 years, following five years as a student while attending WKU and three years as a part-time employee.

Madison was inducted into the CoSIDA Hall of Fame in 2011, one of two SIDs from the state of Washington to achieve this honor. In 2001, he was recognized with the CoSIDA 25-Year Award. In 1993, Madison received the prestigious Ike Pearson Award presented annually by the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics-SIDA to those in the profession. He was the 2015 Lynda Goodrich Legacy Award recipient at Western Washington, and in 2010, was recognized with a WWU President’s Exceptional Effort Award.

"I've been very blessed to be in a position where I wake up every morning looking forward to going to work," said Madison,

While at WWU Madison received 43 CoSIDA and NAIA publication awards, including eight recognized as Best in the Nation.

Despite a busy schedule at Western Washington, Madison found time to serve his profession. He spent one year as West Region representative on the CoSIDA Board of the Directors, and served on the gambling awareness and the job attrition committees of CoSIDA. Madison also served as publicity director for the Evergreen Conference (five years), Northwest Women's Basketball League (three years), Washington Intercollegiate Basketball Association (one year) and Chair of the Great Northwest Athletic Conference Sports Information Directors Committee for nine years (2001-10).

"Paul was an amazing SID whose attention to detail and ability to pitch a story to local, regional and even national media was incredible,” states T.H. (Butch) Kamena, Assistant Director of Athletics for Compliance and Academics at WWU. “He was also a person of incredible generosity, who would open his home to visiting SIDs and others working post-season events so they didn't need to stay in a hotel. Starting as a student in 1966, he served Western Washington University for nearly a half-century. Paul isn't just a worthy recipient of this award, he is an exemplar of all it stands for.”

Though officially retired from Western Washington, Madison remains involved serving as the school’s athletics historian on a part-time basis.

Madison and wife Geri Forsberg, who is a member of the English department at WWU, have one child, son Aaron 17.

Special Awards Salute: Paul Madison (Western Washington), Lifetime Achievement Award

College Sports Information Directors of America

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