Haverbeck Wins Arch
Ward
Award
Former Penn State 1st Female
Winner
Former Penn State Associate Sports Information Director Mary Jo Haverbeck has won the
2000 Arch Ward
Award from the College Sports Information Directors of America.
The award is named for the late sports editor and columnist of the Chicago Tribune
and is
presented to a member who has made an outstanding contribution to the field of
college
sports information or has brought dignity and prestige to the profession.
Haverbeck is the 43rd recipient of the award and the first woman to receive the
profession's highest honor.
She served three years on CoSIDA's Board of Directors, was the first woman inducted
into the organization's Hall of Fame in 1995 and became the first woman
to reach 25 years of service in 1998 when she also received a Lifetime
Achievement Award.
She recently completed 25 years with the Penn State Sports Information Office taking
early
retirement in December, 1999.
A 1961 University of Delaware graduate, Haverbeck
worked in corporate public relations with the Bank of Delaware and the United Fund
of
Northern Delaware after teaching elementary education for four years in the Alfred
I. duPont School District.
She worked in broadcasting for several years including
stints as a news reporter with WHYY-TV,
WAMS Radio and WNRK Radio, all in Delaware, before spending six months in England
with the BBC in Liverpool.
She came back to the U.S. to attend graduate school at Penn State in 1973 and
received
a master's degree in journalism in 1976. She worked part-time in Penn
State's
Sports Information Office while completing her studies.
Haverbeck was named the school's first assistant sports information director for
women's sports in 1974 and
promoted to associate sports information director in 1984. "Ms" magazine named
her one of its 80 Women To
Watch In The 80's.
Haverbeck developed a national newsletter and the first national computerized
statistical rankings
for women's college basketball in the late 70's and early 80's.
She helped bring national coverage to Penn State women's sports program.
Highlights include placement in major newspapers, "Sports Illustrated," and ABC's Wide World of
Sports. A photograph of a Penn State women's lacrosse player appeared on the
cover of "Time" magazine.
Haverbeck made a dramatic turn in her sports information career in the mid-90's
becoming the editor of Penn State's award-winning athletic department web site.
Today she remains active with special events involving men's and women's sports.
She writes a column on field hockey for USA Today.com and teaches basic
news writing and reporting part-time for Penn State's College of Communication.
She has been a member of the NCAA Women's Basketball Final Four Media Committee
since 1992.