The College Sports Information Directors of America will honor several of its members at its annual workshop on July 1. Including among the award winners are Debbie Copp, Oklahoma; Debby Jennings, Tennessee; and Langston Rogers, Mississippi.

Copp, an assistant at Oklahoma since 1977, will receive the Bob Kenworthy award for community service. She has worked as a press officer for three Olympic Festivals and has assisted local charitable organizations including Habitat for Humanity and the American Cancer Society. She serves on various boards and committees within the Norman community.

Jennings, associate athletics director for media relations at Tennnessee, was named the 2008 Arch Ward Award winner. Only the second woman to win the award, it honors a CoSIDA member who has made an outstanding contribution to the field and has brought dignity and prestige to the profession. She is the chief spokesperson for the Tennessee Lady Vols and women’s basketball coach Pat Summitt.

Rogers, senior associate athletics director for media relations at Mississippi, will receive the Trailblazer Award, which honors a pioneer who has mentored and helped improve the level of ethnic and gender diversity within the field. A past organization president, Rogers was involved in promoting Delta State’s women’s basketball team and coach Margaret Wade when he was at that school. He has also served in a communications role at the NCAA Women’s Final Four.

The organization also announced new members of its Hall of Fame, including the NCAA’s own Director of Statistics Jim Wright. Wright, who will be inducted July 2 along with Kevin Ruple of Baldwin-Wallace and Steve Roberts of Valdosta State, entered his career in sports information with Air Force, later moving to Southern Colorado. In 1975 he joined the NCAA statistics staff and now interacts with sports information officials from all divisions. He has been acknowledged for his work with baseball by the American Baseball Coaches Association and the National Collegiate Baseball Writers Association.

Ruple began his career at Wooster, where he received CoSIDA’s Warren Berg Award.  He is also active in Ohio’s high school athletics and other state sports events. He is also a past member of CoSIDA's board of directors and is a member of the Academic All-America committee.

Roberts served as the sports information director at Valdosta State for 25 years before his retirement in 2006. He is also a former staff writer for the Savannah Morning News. He was active in CoSIDA throughout his career and still provides the statistics crew for the Gator Bowl. His son is now in media relations at the Atlantic Sun Conference.

For more information about any of the honorees, visit www.cosida.com.