College Sports Information Directors of America

Below, see the schedule of the 2012 Special Award recipient feature stories which will be written by CoSIDA members throughout the spring. The full slate of 2012 Special Awards was announced March 2. All awards will be presented during the 2012 CoSIDA Convention in St. Louis (June 23-26).

• Individual feature story schedule for 2012 Special Awards
• CoSIDA St. Louis Convention awards presentation schedule

Peter Schlehr, Towson University (retired) - Lifetime Achievement Award recipient

written by Ann King, The Sage Colleges SID

Peter Schlehr, who retired from Towson University in June of 2011, will be recognized with the CoSIDA Lifetime Achievement Award this summer at the national convention in St. Louis, Mo.

A veteran of more than 35 years as the Director of Athletic Media Relations at Towson University, served his alma mater with pride and professionalism during his tenure.

“Pete is a Tiger through and through and has dedicated most of his life to this University and our athletics program,” said Mike Waddell, the Director of Athletics at Towson University. “While we will miss him around campus on a daily basis, we are excited that he will remain involved working on future special projects.

“Pete has represented this program with a tremendous amount of integrity and professionalism,” he added. “He is a ‘Tiger for Life'.”

A native of Bel Air, Md., Schlehr graduated from Towson with a degree in political science and history in 1971. He was the sports editor of The Aegi*s for two years before taking a position with the sports staff of The Baltimore News-American. During his years with The News-American, he covered amateur, scholastic and college sports.

He was named as the Sports Information Director at his alma mater in December, 1975.

“That’s one of the things that’s kept me here all this time - the constant change and moving forward. When I first got here it was Division II, except football—it was Division III, non-scholarship,” Schlehr said. “It’s been a climb up the ladder. That’s what’s kept the juices going.”

A long-time member of the College Sports Information Directors of America (CoSIDA), Schlehr was the recipient of numerous publications awards for his work on football guides, men’s basketball guides, men’s lacrosse guides, swimming guides and football game programs.

From 1976 to 1978, Schlehr also served as the Information Director for the Mason-Dixon Conference. He was also the publicity director for the Greater Baltimore Chapter of the National Football Foundation and Hall of Fame for seven years.

Schlehr never missed a football game during his 35 seasons as the SID. In his first season as the SID, Towson earned an NCAA Division III playoff berth and made it to the national championship game, the Stagg Bowl.

One of Schlehr's finest accomplishments was the successful promotion of a running back-kick returner named David Meggett for the 1987 Walter Payton Award, presented to the top NCAA Division I-AA football player in the nation. Meggett went on to a Super Bowl-winning career with the New York Giants, as did another former Towson All-American, punter Sean Landeta.

While the Tiger football program ascended from NCAA Division III status to Division II affiliation to its current standing as an NCAA FCS program, Schlehr was present at 378 consecutive games. His streak of 378 football games worked stands as one of the longest streaks in CoSIDA history.

In addition, Schlehr worked more than 1,000 men’s basketball games, including five NCAA Division II Tournament games in 1976-77 and 1977-78. During those two years, he also served as the media coordinator for the NCAA South Atlantic Regional Tournament in the Towson Center.

In 1990, Schlehr accompanied the East Coast Conference champion Tigers to Austin, Texas for their NCAA Tournament game against number one-ranked Oklahoma. A year later, he travelled with the ECC champions when they were matched up with Ohio State in an NCAA Tournament contest in Dayton, Ohio.

He also served as the Media Coordinator for the ECC Basketball Tournament, which was hosted by the Tigers from 1984 to 1991.

Throughout his career, Schlehr worked more than 300 men’s lacrosse games for the Tigers, including NCAA Tournament appearances in 1989, 1991, 1992, 1994, 1996, 2001, 2003, 2004, 2005 and 2007. In 1991, he accompanied the Tigers when they reached the national championship game at Syracuse. He was also there when the Tigers qualified for the Final Four at Rutgers in 2001.

Well-regarded in college lacrosse circles, Schlehr was the winner of the USILA’s prestigious Doyle Smith Media Award in 1992. He also served as the official scorer for the NCAA Division I men’s lacrosse championship game five times. In 2003 and 2004, he was the media coordinator for the NCAA Division I, Division II and Division III men’s lacrosse championships at M&T Bank Stadium in 2003 and 2004.

An active member of CoSIDA, he served on a number of panels during his career. In 2001, he was the recipient of CoSIDA’s 25-Year Award. The longest-tenured member of the Tigers’ athletic department, Schlehr was honored for 35 years of service by Towson University in May.

He and his wife, Sande, are both Towson graduates and they reside in Bel Air, Md. Their children, Kristien Foss and Peter Schlehr, also graduated from Towson. Sande, Kristien and Peter are currently teachers in the Harford County School system.

Schlehr said he will still be involved with Towson athletics. But after 40-some years in the media business, he’s ready to spend some evenings and weekends at home with his wife, Sande—also a Towson alum.

“Whatever I do, it’s not going to be any night work or work on the weekends,” Schlehr said. “My whole professional career has been working nights and weekends.”

Individual recipient feature story schedule for 2012 Special Awards

General 2012 Special Awards release

March

• Mon., 5: Kim Wenger (Centennial Conference): Rising Star Award (College Division) – by Ann King (The Sage Colleges)
• Wed, 7: Malcolm Moran: Jake Wade Award – by Joe Hornstein, CoSIDA 2nd Vice President
• Fri., 9: Maurice Williams (Hampton University): Rising Star Award (University Division) – by Ed Hill, Jr. (Howard University)
• Mon. 12: – by Debbie White (Old Dominion)
• Wed. 14: Peter Schlehr (Towson University): Lifetime Achievement Award – by Ann King (The Sage Colleges)
• Fri. 16: Debbie Copp (University of Oklahoma): CoSIDA Hall of Fame
• Mon. 19: Roy Pickerill (Kentucky Wesleyan): 25-Year Award
• Wed. 21: Bob Condron (USOC): Lifetime Achievement Award and Keith Jackson Eternal Flame Award
• Fri. 23: Jack Neumann (University of Calgary): Warren Berg Award
• Mon. 26:
• Wed. 28: Kennan Timm (Wisconsin-Oshkosh): CoSIDA Hall of Fame