Paterno Wins Award Posthumously

Joe Paterno has been named the 2012 recipient of the Dick Enberg Award by CoSIDA.

Joe Paterno, who guided The Pennsylvania State University to 409 victories during his 46-year head coaching tenure from 1966 through 2011, will be posthumously honored as the recipient of the 2012 Dick Enberg Award, presented by the College Sports Information Directors of America (CoSIDA).

Coach Paterno's son, Jay Paterno, will accept the honor on his family's behalf as part of the third annual Capital One Special Awards Gala on Monday, June 25th at CoSIDA's annual convention in St. Louis, Mo.

Joe Paterno was voted as the recipient of the Dick Enberg Award by CoSIDA's Special Awards Committee in March 2011 but was unable to attend last summer's workshop in Marco Island, Fla. to receive the honor. He was planning to appear at this year's event in St. Louis before passing away in January after a battle with lung cancer.

"I'm sincerely pleased that the Paterno family will accept the Enberg Award on behalf of Coach Joe Paterno," Enberg said of this year's honor. "The award was established to recognize those that embody my passion and commitment to academics and athletics. Coach Paterno's amazing record in that regard speaks of his greatness as a national leader in sport and education, and I'm deeply honored that his name will be associated with the meaning of this award."

For those who may not know, CoSIDA stands for the College Sports Information Directors of America.

The College Sports Information Directors of America (CoSIDA), now in its 56th year, was founded in 1957-making it the second oldest management association in intercollegiate athletics. Today, it is a vibrant 2,800-plus member national association comprised of the sports public relations, communications and information professionals throughout all levels of collegiate athletics in the United States and Canada.

CoSIDA has two primary missions: 1) Help the communications and media relations professionals at all collegiate levels with professional development and continuing education as it relates to strategically dealing in an effective manner with the various issues, challenges and opportunities that now exist within the fast-paced and ever-changing communications environment. 2) Play a significant leadership and resource role (i.e. "Strategic Communicators for College Athletics") within the overall enterprise of collegiate athletics.

CoSIDA founded in the mid 1950's the highly regarded "Academic All-America®" program, unquestionably viewed as the premier awards program in intercollegiate athletics for honoring combined academic and athletic excellence. CoSIDA, which became an affiliated partner with NACDA (National Association of Collegiate Directors of Athletics) in December of 2008, continues to fully manage and administer that program today.

Congratulations Coach Paterno!