Minutes from the APSE executive committee opening meeting Saturday, Feb. 9, Doubletree Hotel, Lake Buena Vista, Fla. Called to order at 4:10 p.m. EST
Officers present
Gerry Ahern, president
Tim Stephens, first vice-president
Mike Sherman, second vice-president
Tommy Deas, third vice-president
Appointed officers
Jack Berninger, executive director
Region chairs/representatives present
Jeff Kuehn, Great Lakes
Mike Harris, Mid-Atlantic
Hank Winnicki, Northeast
Don Shelton Northwest
John Bednarowski, Southeast
Nick Matthews, Southwest
Mark Faller, West
Former presidents present
John Cherwa
Glen Crevier
Garry D. Howard
Phil Kaplan
Jerry Micco
FINANCES
Executive director Jack Berninger shared “housekeeping” details on judging logistics, including the location of the contest room, meeting rooms, etc.
Berninger shared the financial report that showed a budget shortfall of $5,000 attributed to a drop in membership. He noted that this was the third straight year APSE used money from its savings to cover a budget shortfall.
COMMISSIONERS’ COMMITTEE
Jeff Rosen is coordinating the commissioners meeting for the fourth year and said the agenda’s been set for meetings with the NFL, MLB, NBA, MLS and NASCAR on April 25-26 in the midtown Manhattan offices of the Associated Press. Rosen noted that the dates coincide with the NFL Draft but the leagues could not meet any other week. Those attending would need to find their own hotels. Rosen asked members who found a good rate to let him know and he will share it with others planning to attend.
CONTEST
Contest chair and first vice-president Tim Stephens said 98 judges signed up but committee assignments had to be change due to snow storms on the East Coast. Some judges were not scheduled to arrive until Sunday.
CONVENTION
Detroit Free Press sports editor Gene Myers is serving as host for the 2012 APSE Convention in Detroit. Myers said an opening night reception is set for June 26 at Comerica Park, prior to the Tigers-Angels games.
Future conventions: USA TODAY Sports is the lead sponsor for the 2014 Convention in the Washington, D.C. area. Ahern said APSE was prepared to hear proposal from San Diego to host the 2015 Convention. UT San Diego sports editor Larry Graham said sponsorships are already set up. The Tennessean sports editor Dave Ammenheuser said he would delay a proposal to host a convention to 2016.
DIVERSITY
Committee chair Jorge Rojas thanked NABJ for contributing $1,000 to the APSE Diversity Fellows program. He welcomed the 2013 Diversity Fellows participating in judging and asked them to stand. In attendance were: Tony Adame of the The Wichita (Kan.) Eagle; Peter Fuentes, copy editor/designer for the Los Angeles News Group; Michael Wallace, NBA columnist and “Heat Index” reporter for ESPN; Monica Holland, sports desk chief and outdoors editor for the Fayetteville (N.C.) Observer.
Rojas recognized the progress in hiring minority sports editors, citing the 2012-13 hires of Greg Lee in Fort Lauderdale and Ronnie Ramos in Indianapolis. Members are reminded that AWSM is looking for $500 sponsors for its 25th anniversary convention June 20-23 in Scottsdale, Ariz.
Phil Kaplan discussed the annual Diversity Day at Hampton University, highlighting a great lineup of speakers but expressing disappointment at the turnout and how Hampton promoted the vent.
FUTURES
Committee chair Joe Sullivan discussed the three issues the committee had been charged with covering.
1. Sharing the APSE convention with AWSM: APSE/AWSM shared a 2012 Convention in Chicago and Sullivan said it was unanimous among committee members that this setup should continue if it can continue.
2. Membership: Sullivan emphasized the need for more creative ideas like the student membership program, pointing out the success of that program. He asked membership to be proactive and think more about online organizations for membership,. He pointed out that Cinesport had requested that it be considered for membership.
3. APSE members now publishing three days a week: Sullivan said a proposed bylaw change had been drafted by Greg Brownell in an effort to keep long-standing members in APSE even though they no longer publish daily.
LEGAL AFFAIRS
Committee chair John Cherwa spotlighted two problems, mostly dealing with the NCAA and social media. He informed members that a coalition of journalistic organizations was set to send a strongly worded message to the NCAA.
OLYMPICS
Committee chair Jerry Micco informed members of upcoming deadlines for the 2014 Sochi Winter Games, including April 15 for a signed copy of the credential agreement, June 30 for half of the cost to be paid and Sept. 30 for the balance.
OUTREACH
Committee chair Phil Kaplan said he is hoping for a good turnout of student members for the Convention in Detroit. Rojas suggested growing interest among student members by sponsoring and administering a college contest. Ahern said he liked the idea of APSE judging a college contest.
Kaplan said the @APSE_sportsmedia Twitter account is up to close to 9,000 followers and almost 500 people have liked the APSE Facebook page.
PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT
Committee chair Ron Fritz said that while the APSE student member program was a good start we need to provide a clear benefit for those members and communicate what that benefit is. Ahern said 50 student members is a good start that can and should be doubled this year. It is suggested that we use to the ASPE website for posts with student members describing what they are getting from their relationship with APSE.
RED SMITH AWARD
Ahern reminded members of upcoming dates including the Feb. 18 close of nominations, emailing of ballots on March 11 and the March 13 announcement of the 2013 Red Smith winner.
REGIONS
Committee chairman Josh Barnett is not in attendance. Ahern informed members that Mike Szvetitz of the Opelika-Auburn (Ala.) News is the new vice chair in the Southeast Region. Keith Campbell of the Dallas Morning News is stepping down as Southwest Region chair with Nick Matthews of the Houston Chronicle stepping up from his role as vice chair. A new vice chair is needed in the Southwest Region.
Ahern shared Barnett’s impassioned plea for more news and notes.
Dates for upcoming region meetings: Mid-Atlantic, April 15 at State College, Pa.; Southeast, April 29 in Birmingham; Great Lakes, April 21-22 at the Tribune Building in Chicago; Northeast in May (date TBA) at Marist.
SCHOLARSHIPS
Committee chair Joe Sullivan reminded members that deadline for applications is June 1 and that winners would be announced in July.
WRITERS COMMITTEE
Ahern thanked Committee chair Mark Faller for the restart of this important committee, expressing regret that the NCAA recently had removed a substantial number of courtside seats for the NCAA Tournament. Ahern said that it is precisely these kinds of issues that the Writers Committee can address in the future and possibly prevent.
Ahern said nominations for second vice president would be taken at the Wednesday morning meeting.
NEW BUSINESS
Additional officer proposed: Kaplan suggested the addition of an extra officer who would serve a one-year term and work in concert with the officers in doing whatever is needed (help with the website, etc.) He said he would like to see the addition made by Detroit. He said the new position would be elected and open up the organization for someone else to serve. Garry D. Howard said he liked the idea but suggested using region chairs more, pointing out that we had nine regional chairs who could be asked to do more. He also asked whether we are leveraging our relationship with Indiana University enough to maintain and post stories on the website.
Writers as APSE members: Kent Babb of the Washington Post proposed adding a writers wing/membership to APSE and gave several reasons why this is the right time to open up ASPE to writers. Babb said he would be around all week for judging and looked forward to discussing the idea more with members.
Motion to adjourn. Seconded. Meeting adjourned.
