Sports Communications Discussed at C of C Forum

April 26, 2002

Phil Kornblut, sports director for the South Carolina News Network, moderated the panel discussion.

A panel of coaches, players, sports journalists, broadcasters and college athletics officials gathered at C of C's Education Center on April 8 to participate in a forum entitled "The Current State of College Athletics: A Communications Perspective." The forum was co-sponsored by the College's Department of Communication and the School of Humanities and Social Sciences. "We like to hold public relations forums a couple times a year," said event organizer Vince Benigni, assistant professor of communication. "In this case we decided to a have an athletics forum where the discussion revolved around the mass media and public relations efforts to try to promote teams...what are some of the issues involved in college athletics today such as amateurism versus paying athletes, and what is the role of the media as being boosters versus objective reporters."

Pictured after the forum are panelists, from left, John Hollis, John Kresse, Alyson Van Cleave, Steve DeShazo, and C of C professor Vince Benigni who organized the event.

An impressive 10- person panel was organized and what resulted was a lively 90 minute discussion before a large audience of C of C students, staff, faculty and community members. Event moderator Phil Kornblut, the sports director for the South Carolina News Network, expertly kept the topics moving and had all the panelists involved in the discussion. Audience members were time at the end to ask questions or offer their views on issues in athletics. The panelists (listed alphabetically) were Debbie Antonelli, a former standout basketball player at N.C. State and currently a broadcast analyst for the WNBA, CBS, and ESPN; Ken Burger, award-winning columnist and executive sports editor of The Post and Courier; Tony Ciuffo, assistant athletic director for media relations and radio announcer for Cougar basketball; Steve DeShazo, award-winning columnist and sports editor for The Free Lance-Star (Fredericksburg, VA); John Hollis, beat writer for Georgia Tech athletics and general assignment reporter for The Atlanta Journal Constitution; John Kresse, recently retired coach of C of C men's basketball (560 wins, four NCAA Tournament appearances and an NAIA National Championship in 23 years); Dr. William Moore, C of C Distinguished Professor of Political Science and the faculty athletics representative; Warren Peper, long-time sports director and news anchor for WCSC-TV in Charleston; Alyson VanCleave, All-Southern Conference volleyball player as a senior and honor student at the College, and Nancy Wilson, a long-time basketball coach at both C of C and the University of South Carolina.

Women's basketball analyst Debbie Antonelli speaks to communication students after the forum.

The Department of Communication, which regularly sponsors informational forums, has more than 900 majors in three concentrations: Communication Studies, Corporate and Organizational Communication, and Media Studies. The College of Humanities and Social Sciences, under the direction of Dean Samuel M. Hines Jr., is the largest of the five schools at the College of Charleston.

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Contact: Patrick Harwood
College Relations
(843) 953-2548
harwoodp@cofc.edu