John Humenik
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John Humenik, who has over 30 years of experience in the sports public relations and communications industry, serves as the Executive Director for the College Sports Information Directors of America (CoSIDA), a 2,300 member national organization comprised of the sports public relations, communications and information professionals throughout all levels of collegiate athletics. He was named to that post, the first Executive Director in the history of the organization, in January 2008 and serves as the organization’s senior administrator working closely with its Board of Directors and staff in handling the organization’s day-to-day administration and operations as well as the development of short- and long-term strategic planning and initiatives. He also serves as the organization's primary liaison with all of the nation's collegiate sports governing bodies, sports management organizations and coaches associations.
Prior to assuming is current post, Humenik served on the senior management staff for Sports Publishing L.L.C., the nation’s largest publisher for sports related books, as a acquisitions editor and coordinator for five-and-half years (August 2002- January 2008) where he coordinated author and media relations and development, collegiate relations and development and project acquisitions for the Champaign, IL based organization. He represented that firm for the vast majority of its college-based projects while also coordinating acquisition efforts for various NFL, MLB, NBA and NHL teams.
Humenik became one of the nation’s most highly decorated professionals in the collegiate sports public relations and communications field while serving as the Sports Information Director at three of the nation’s premier universities from 1976-2002 (Princeton 1976-80, Michigan 1980-82, Florida 1982-2002). In 1993, Humenik was named to the College Sports Information Directors of America (CoSIDA) Hall of Fame and in 1994 he received the Arch Ward Award and the Jordan Award from CoSIDA. The Arch Ward Award, CoSIDA's highest honor, is presented to an individual who has made an outstanding contribution to the field of sports information and athletics public relations and who, by his/her prestige, has enhanced the profession. At that time in 1994 he became the youngest person in the organization's 35-plus year history to receive that prestigious award. The Jordan Award is presented for meritorious service to CoSIDA's Academic All-America programs. Humenik became the first person in the history of CoSIDA to be honored with Hall of Fame recognition while also receiving the Arch Ward Award and Jordan Award and he is now one of only four people in that organization's history (1953-2007) to receive each of the those three awards.
In June of 1998 Humenik was presented with the Enberg Award, named for nationally acclaimed sportscaster Dick Enberg, which is awarded to a person who has provided exceptional leadership in promoting the joint values of education and athletics. Legendary North Carolina basketball coach Dean Smith received this award in 1999, NBA great Bill Russell was the 2000 recipient, NFL Hall of Famer Alan Page was the 2001 honoree and in 2002 the award went to University of Miami President Dr. Donna Shalala. In 2003 that award went to legendary Nebraska football coach Tom Osborne, in 2004 the Enberg Award was presented to Ted Leland, Director of Athletics at Stanford University, the 2005 honor went to Notre Dame’s Father Hesberg and the 2006 award to former President Gerald R. Ford. Pat Summitt, Tennessee’s Hall of Fame basketball coach, became the 2007 recipient.
In May of 2000, Humenik was selected an honorary inductee into Florida Blue Key, the University of Florida's most prestigious leadership honorary. He was presented with that distinguished honor for his leadership accomplishments and service to the entire University of Florida public information efforts and the athletics community at-large. In July 1997, he was named to CoSIDA's National Board of Directors and served in that capacity for three years.
Humenik started his athletic public relations career as a student at Clarion University in 1972. He graduated from Clarion in May 1974 with a degree in management and he was one of 10 business administration/management students to receive a National Student Achievement Award from the Wall Street Journal. He returned to Clarion in August 1974 and served as the school's SID (Sports Information Director) for one and one-half years while working on his master's degree in business administration, which he received in December 1975.
After serving an internship with the Eastern College Athletic Conference (ECAC) in the winter-spring of 1976, he was named assistant SID at Princeton in June 1976 and then promoted to SID in March 1977, a post he held until August 1980 when he was named the Director of Sports Information at the University of Michigan. He was there until July 1982 when he was named SID at Florida. He was promoted to Assistant Athletics Director at Florida in 1989, a post he held until May of 2002.
Humenik mentored over 50 student assistants and interns in his 26 years in the collegiate campus ranks who moved into full-time positions in the sports public relations and communications field. Also during that time he directed communication operations that garnered 183 total national publication awards from CoSIDA from 1977-2002. Forty-seven (47) of those awards were for athletics related publications named the best in the nation while another 38 finished as the national runner-up. One hundred fifty-one (151) national publication awards, including 44 "Best in the Nation" citations were presented to the University of Florida Sports Information Department over his 20 years (1982-2002) at the helm. Prior to his arrival in 1982, UF had never received a national publications award. From 1988-98 Florida’s SID office placed among the top three schools in the nation in the number of national publication awards presented in each of those 11 years and ranked first in the nation in total publications awards awarded in 1989, '90, '94, '95, '96 and '98.
Humenik served as National Chair of CoSIDA’s (College Sports Information Directors of America) Academic All-America Committee from 1979-1988. During that nine-year period, the program grew from four to eight national awards programs, the program emerged as the nation’s premier scholar-athlete awards program, the committee negotiated and signed a national corporate sponsorship agreement with GTE (now Verizon) that resulted in extensive annual financial marketing support for the Academic All-America program, and the Academic All-America Hall of Fame was established in 1988. In June of 1998 Humenik’s efforts on behalf of the Academic All-America programs resulted in him being presented with the first annual Enberg Award, named for nationally acclaimed sportscaster Dick Enberg, which is awarded to a person who has provided exceptional leadership in promoting the joint values of education and athletics. Humenik continues to serve on the Academic All-America Hall of Fame Selection Committee.
In the spring of 2005, Humenik was asked to serve on the organizing committee for the “The Wuerffel Trophy” which now honors each football season a player who best combines exemplary community service with outstanding academic and athletic achievement. He was asked to serve on that committee by Danny Wuerffel, who in 1996 at the University of Florida became the first player in college history to receive the Heisman Trophy and also the Draddy Trophy which is presented by the National Football Foundation and College Hall of Fame to the nation’s premier football scholar-athlete. Humenik served as Wuerffel’s information director throughout his Florida career.
Humenik is married to the former Lee-Ann Hughes, who served as Director of Women's Sports Information at the University of Iowa in the early 1980’s. She currently serves as the Director-Annual Fund for Shands Hospital at the University of Florida as well as coordinating the Children’s Miracle Network program for much of the state of Florida.