Wednesday, March 2, 2016

PORTLAND, Ore. – Two of the longest tenured athletics communications professionals in the west and two of the most respected in the Great Northwest Athletic Conference will be honored for their service to the profession at the College Sports Information Directors of America’s annual convention this June in Dallas.

Longtime GNAC and Central Washington sports information director Bob Guptill and longtime Western Washington sports information director Paul Madison will receive Lifetime Achievement Awards from CoSIDA at a luncheon on Mon., June 13 at the Hilton Anatole Hotel. The Lifetime Achievement Award is presented to CoSIDA members who have served at least 25 years in the profession who are retiring or leaving the profession.

Guptill retired from the GNAC in June 2015 after serving as the only sports information director in the league’s 14-year history. He is known for having built the GNAC’s immense record book, considered one of the most extensive and complete in all of college sports. Prior to joining the GNAC, Guptill spent 20 years as the sports information director at Central Washington and one year as the information director for the Pacific West Conference. He was inducted into the Central Washington Hall of Fame in 2001 and received his 25-Year Award from CoSIDA in 2010.

Madison stepped down as Western Washington’s sports information director in Sept. 2015 after serving his alma mater in that role for 48 years and has moved a role as the university’s athletics historian. He was hired as WWU’s sports information director as a student in 1968. Madison has received numerous honors for his work, including induction in 2011 to the CoSIDA Hall of Fame and selection for the 2015 WWU Lynda Goodrich Legacy Award. Prior to the formation of the GNAC, Madison was named the 1993 recipient of the Clarence “Ike” Pearson Award, honoring the NAIA’s sports information director of the year.