Ronald Schwartz, NCAA director of television news service, will retire this month after serving the Association for 33 years.

Schwartz, who worked out of the NCAA's office in New York, has provided news clips to various networks and cable channels since 1968, when he was hired to bring more exposure for NCAA sports.

Schwartz has been employed by the NCAA the longest of any Association employee, and his service to the NCAA was noted at a recent NCAA service awards ceremony.

"You may not have ever met him, but you will certainly recognize his work and his contribution to the NCAA," said Cedric W. Dempsey, NCAA president. "He has provided a unique and long-standing service to the Association, and for that we are extremely grateful."

Schwartz began his work in the New York office back during the days when college football was shown on one network and only one game a weekend was featured.

"It was a different world then," Schwartz said. "My job was to open up college football to other networks. It was a tough sell back then."

An important part of that job was creating and maintaining good relationships with the networks.

"We now have a strong relationship with all of the networks. They've been very good for us and we've been good for them."

And, footage given to the networks could end up shown all over the country in a variety of ways.

A video feature sent to ABC, for example, could be incorporated into the local newscasts of affiliates, thus spreading the reach of that footage tremendously.

Perhaps the most amazing feat of all was that Schwartz was the only NCAA employee in New York. A one-man news and production association, Schwartz hired part-time production assistants and an assistant producer, all contractors.

"We did the entire process here," Schwartz said. "Stringers all over the country would shoot (video) for us. We produced the shows, lined up stations and did the entire syndication process."

Schwartz and his crew produced highlights of major games and features on individual players.

Men's and women's college basketball became a big part of the job, with interviews and highlights of all the top teams.

Throughout the regular season, Schwartz produced features on football, basketball, wrestling, swimming and baseball.

"Wherever there was a good story, we tried to tell people about it," he said.

"We provided footage that our clients couldn't afford to gather," he said. "As a result, college sports received coverage it wouldn't otherwise get."

An expanding menu

Over the years, Schwartz developed more and more materials for the NCAA.

There was "A Quest for No. 1," a syndicated football program that has been running close to 15 years in at least 40 of the top 50 markets.

Schwartz also did a women's basketball championship preview show for eight or nine years, a series of women's volleyball shows, a gymnastics show and a year-in-review, a comprehensive one-hour look at the entire year in college athletics.

Jim Wright, NCAA director of statistics, began working with Schwartz in 1975.

"Ron has had a unique role in promoting and representing the NCAA during his 33 years of service," said the NCAA's Dennis Cryder, vice-president for marketing, licensing and promotions. "Even with Ron not physically being in the national office, he had an ability and talent to focus on the positive stories and messages surrounding the student-athlete. Viewers had the benefit of learning more about the good work of the Association and role of the student-athlete in higher education through Ron."

Schwartz did videos for the annual NCAA Woman of the Year awards and for the NCAA Honors Dinner at the Convention. He also did NCAA Final Four salute shows. He was among the first to put music in the videos, giving the attendees of those NCAA events a package of programming like they would see on any TV awards show.

"Ron's work has projected the highest production values and, in turn, presented a high quality image of intercollegiate athletics," Cryder said.

"We had a very busy shop here," Schwartz said. "It was a lot of work, but it was very exciting. We were always busy and it was very rewarding to see all these programs reach the success they did."

On October 12, the NCAA's New York office will close and others will take on the work of promoting NCAA sports. To be sure, they have a good 33-year foundation to build on.