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Bill Turnage will conclude an illustrious 30+-year career in athletics communications when he accepts CoSIDA’s Lifetime Achievement Award on Monday, June 25 at the CoSIDA Convention in St. Louis.
His most recent stop was at Florida Southern where he served the past 10 years, two years as assistant sports information director, then as the sports information director after his promotion in 2004. In that role, he supervised of all aspects of Florida Southern's athletic media relations office.
He also served as chairman of the Florida Southern Sports Hall of Fame Committee. He was the master of ceremonies for the annual FSC Hall of Fame Induction Ceremony, as well as the Sunshine State Conference Hall of Fame event.
Florida Southern Athletic director, Pete Meyer, said of Turnage,"Bill is the ultimate professional in the collegiate sports information world. He has been a leader for Florida Southern and the Sunshine State Conference for the past 10 years. His career has spanned over three decades and he will be sorely missed by the staff and student-athletes at Southern!
I have been fortunate to work with Bill in the sport of baseball and as the Director of Athletics.....I will miss him more than anyone! Just remember to look at his hand and notice the big national championship ring from the 2005 baseball team! Bill will always be part of the family at Florida Southern College," noted Meyer.
Lisa Coffey, a sports reporter for the Ledger newspaper in Lakeland, Fla., had this to say about Turnage: “Bill is a top-notch professional who knows his FSC teams inside and out. I always use the FSC sports information department as a terrific example of how sports information reporting should be done. Bill, and Tim (Carpenter) as well, never miss a detail. They make our jobs so easy, it’s almost to their detriment. They cover their own athletics so well, we don’t have to send a reporter to cover them."
Turnage came to Florida Southern after serving 21 years as sports information director at Central Missouri State. Prior to becoming Central Missouri's SID, he was the play-by-play voice for Central Missouri State football, basketball and baseball for 12 years. In recognition of his 33 years of service to the school, he was inducted into Central Missouri's Athletic Hall of Fame in March of 2008.
Fred Huff, formerly of Southern Illinois-Carbondale who will be inducted into the CoSIDA Hall of Fame as a 2012 inductee this June, said this of Turnage: "I remember him well at SIU as he was a talented young kid who obviously was headed for a successful career wherever he landed. SIU's radio-tv department back then was outstanding. It was quite common for its grads to move into meaningful positions quickly."
He received his bachelor's degree in radio-television in 1969 from Southern Illinois University-Carbondale.
A member of the College Sports Information Directors of America (CoSIDA) since 1981, Turnage has served on CoSIDA's Academic All-America Committee since 1987, and including service as the national coordinator for the College Division volleyball and softball programs. In 2002, he received the Lester Jordan Award for outstanding service on the Academic All-America Committee.
In 2007 he received a 25-year award from CoSIDA, recognizing his 25 years in the sports information profession.
He has been SID for six NCAA national championship teams - three at Central Missouri (1984 men's and women's basketball, 1994 baseball) and three at Florida Southern (2005 baseball, 2007 women's golf and 2010 men's golf). He has served as host SID for two NCAA Division II championships - 1996 women's volleyball at Central Missouri and the 2003 men's basketball Elite Eight at Lakeland, Fla.