Adam MacDonald
armacdonald@valdosta.edu

The VSU football team has played 274 games since its creation in 1982. Steve Roberts, VSU’s sports information director, has been there for every one of them.

And now, after 24 years of service as VSU’s director of sports information, Roberts will retire at the end of May.

“We’ve expanded and we’re very successful and that’s fun, but it brings a lot more work, and [the athletic] office has never gotten any full-time sports information help,” Roberts said. “And that’s the primary reason why [I'm retiring]– I’m tired.”

Roberts began working for VSU parttime at sports information while working as the Sunday editor at the Valdosta Daily Times. When former VSU president Dr. Hugh C. Bailey decided that VSU should add football to its list of athletic teams, Roberts was granted fulltime status as the sports information director in December 1981.

Roberts still remembers the very first game he covered as the sports information director–the football team’s first game, a loss to Mississippi College on Sept. 17, 1982.

“We got beat 28-13, but we were expected to get beat by 1,000, so it was kind of a moral victory,” Roberts said. “The very next week we played Troy State at home and had over 9,000 [people] at the old Cleveland Field, and we upset [them] 24-21 for the first win ever.”

As director of sports information, it has been Roberts’s duty to keep track of statistics for every sport, attend sporting events, deal with media, promote student athletes and know the ins and outs of every thing that goes on in VSU athletics. “I don’t know if you can describe what he has meant [to VSU],” Herb Reinhard, VSU’s athletic director, said.

“He really is recognized as one of the deans, the stalwarts in the field of sports information on a national level. He can be considered a legend and for us to have had him here and for him to perform his profession here, we’ve been blessed. He will be tremendously missed.”

In his time at VSU, Roberts has seen VSU athletics’ greatest moments, including both national championships. Roberts said he didn’t think the Blazers would win a football championship in his time.

“You always hope for a [championship] but you rarely expect something like that to happen,” Roberts said of the Blazers’ 2004 title.

Roberts also got to see the baseball team win it all in 1979.

“I was working part-time in 1979 when baseball won its national championship in Springfield, Ill. Dr. Bailey sent me up there for that even though I wasn’t full-time and that was a thrill. I’ve had a lot of great thrills and seen great games in all sports. It’s been a good ride.”

Although the championships are among Roberts’s fondest memories at VSU, he said his greatest accomplishment was when Dusty Bonner won the Harlon Hill Trophy in 2001. The Harlon Hill is Division II’s equivalent to the Heisman.

It is the sports information directors’ job to promote student-athletes when it comes to conference and national awards. Roberts knew that Coach Hatcher was going to win the Harlon Hill in 1994 and Bonner was going to win it in 2000, but he wasn’t sure if Bonner would repeat in �01. However, thanks to hard work and promoting, Bonner was awarded the trophy in �01.

Roberts said it was special because the voting for the trophy is done by all the sports information directors in D-II, and for them to recognize the work he did in promoting Bonner was touching.

“That moment when they announced [Bonner's] name was probably the most satisfying and thrilling moment I had,” Roberts said. “It was very moving because a lot of work into that.”

As the athletic program at VSU grows, it has taken its toll on Roberts. With new facilities being planned and the planning for additional sports, the job as sports information director has become more demanding.

“Frankly, the last two years I feel have taken a toll. I love it, but there’s a lot of it I’ve gotten weary of,” Roberts said.

Roberts still plans to attend VSU sporting events and looks forward to being a fan instead of being at work. “It’ll be great just to come to a VSU athletic event and sit in the stands and holler at the umpires and referees and all that kind of stuff which I love to do,” Roberts said.

After retiring Roberts would like to find part-time work, something not to hard or strenuous and along the lines of his hobbies. “I love yard work and gardening and I love to play golf, which I haven’t been able to do any of,” Roberts said. “I just want to see how it is on the other side.” Applications for the new director of sports information are currently being taken by Reinhard.

“It will tough for us to go out and replace him, no doubt about it,” Reinhard said. “He’s built our sports information to a position so that we will have a ton of applicants. It is a coveted job.”

According to the athletic Web site, the position requires a lengthy list of skills including strong public relation skills, writing skills, computer skills, design skills and experience in working with football. Whoever meets these demand is will have to meet one more demand that will be the toughest of all– filling the shoes of Steve Roberts.