2010-11 ECAC-SIDA Executive Board

Wally Johnson Vendor Relations Chair St. Lawrence wjohnson@stlawu.edu

Now in his 32nd year at St. Lawrence University, Wally Johnson was named director of athletic media relations in the fall of 1999 and is the “Dean” of ECAC Division I hockey sports information directors.

Wally is in his 21st year on the ECAC-SIDA Board and serves as Vendor Relations Chairman. He has conducted mini-workshops on graphics and new computer advancements for Windows based programming at the annual ECAC-SIDA Workshop several times.

The 2001 recipient of CoSIDA’s Warren Berg Award and the 1995 winner of the ECAC’s Irving T. Marsh Award for contributions to field of sports information and the 1971 Vermont Sportswriter of the Year, Wally is currently active as both a member of the College Sports Information Directors of America and the ECAC Sports Information Directors Association. He recently completed a long tenure as chairman of the CoSIDA Workshop Exhibits Committee.

A 1971 graduate of the University of Vermont, he was the assistant sports editor of The Burlington Free Press prior to joining the staff at St. Lawrence. He was also a sportswriter and columnist for The Vermont Sunday News and St. Albans Messenger and worked as a commentator on University of Vermont basketball broadcasts. He currently does the color commentary on Saint hockey games on WPAC radio in addition to providing home and away articles for various North Country newspapers.

He oversees a staff of three which covers St. Lawrence’s 32-sport athletic program. The Saints feature 30 NCAA Division III sports and two NCAA Division I offerings…men’s and women’s ice hockey. In addition to day-to-day sports information duties, he also provides the University with sports photography and does the graphic design for special posters and other projects within the athletic department.

He has served on the University’s Athletic Hall of Fame committee and was St. Lawrence’s NCAA Compliance Officer until the start of the 2000-2001 academic year, a position he gleefully relinquished. Wally serves on a number of committees within the St. Lawrence athletic department and is also the award-plaque designer and creator for several high school athletic halls of fame in the North Country.

An avid golfer and reader, he is the house-human for three cats.