 Sports Information Director
Jeff HodgesJeff Hodges is
in his 22nd year as sports information director at the University of
North Alabama, where, since 1991 he has helped promote four national
championship teams, two Harlon Hill Trophy winner, and worked at
both the Summer and Winter Olympic Games. In July of 1997 he
was honored by the College Sports Information Directors of America
as the 1997 recipient of the Warren Berg Award, presented annually
to a college division member who has made an outstanding
contribution to the field of college sports information, and, who by
his or her activities outside the field, has brought dignity and
prestige to the profession. In addition to becoming the
youngest recipient ever of the Berg Award at age 36, Hodges was also
inducted into the CoSIDA Hall of Fame in 1997.
He was also honored by UNA as an
Alumni of the Year for 2001. In February of 2002 he served as
Venue Press Chief for Ski Jumping at Utah Olympic Park at the
Olympic Winter Games in Salt Lake City. Hodges was also the Venue
Press Chief at the 2001 U.S. Nordic Ski Festival in Park City, Utah.
At the 1996 Centennial Olympic Games in Atlanta, Hodges served as
Venue Press Chief for volleyball at the Omni, where he supervised
all press operations for both the men and women's volleyball
competition. Hodges had previously served as press officer for
the U.S. Olympic Committee at the 1987 U.S. Olympic Festival in
North Carolina, the 1993 U.S. Olympic Festival in San Antonio,
Texas, and the XVII Olympic Winter Games in Lillehammer, Norway in
1994.
He has served as media coordinator
for the NCAA Division II Football Championship Game since 1986 and
has served as chairman of the National Harlon Hill Award Committee,
which presents the NCAA Division II College Football Player of the
Year Award, since its creation in 1986. In 1995 he
successfully promoted the first defensive player to win the trophy
in the award's history, in UNA linebacker Ronald McKinnon.
During Hodges time at UNA, the school's athletic publications have
received more than 70 national awards from CoSIDA, including 19
"Best in the Nation" awards.
In 1995, Hodges was appointed to the
Honors Court (selection committee) of the College Football Hall of
Fame, and in 1996 he was named to the selection committee for the
United States Olympic Committee's SportsMan, SportsWoman and Team of
the Year. Among his numerous involvements within CoSIDA,
Hodges is currently on the CoSIDA Board of Directors as the national
secretary for the organization, and he served a previous three-year
term on the CoSIDA Board from 1992-95. He had also previously served
as chairman of the CoSIDA Olympic Liaison Committee from 1995-2002.
A 1982 graduate of UNA with a B.S.
degree in Journalism and History, Hodges worked two years as a
student assistant in the Office of University Relations. He was also
a two-year letterman on the Lions' tennis team, and was a member of
the 1981 Gulf South Conference championship tennis squad.
Following his graduation, he worked for six months as a sports
writer at the Florence Times Daily newspaper before being hired as
the full-time SID at UNA in July of 1983.
In addition to his other duties at
UNA, Hodges is chairman of the school's Athletic Hall of Fame and
handles the voting for the Alabama Sports Writers Association's
Small College Athlete of the Year award. In all, Hodges has worked
230 of the last 231 Lion football games, including a streak of 217
consecutive games from 1983-2001/ He has also worked 18 straight
Division II Championship football games.
He and his wife Karen have a son,
Dillon and two daughters, Shanna and Melanie.
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